go your own way

[Nefertiti]

Hi there.

1. What does "go your own way" mean? Is it a common usage?
Is it OK to say, "you can go your own way if you don't love me"? (i.e you can leave me as you like.)
Is it OK to say, "you can go your own way if you don't trust me"? (someone doesn't trust me when I'm trying to give them some guidelines, say they don't know how to get to a library.)

2. " If I could
Maybe I'd give you my world
How can I
When you won't take it from me"

Does it refer to 'my world'?

3. " Tell me why
Everything turned around
Packing up
Shacking up is all you wanna do"

What does 'turn around' mean here? Does it mean change? Is it a common usage?

'shacking up' Does the writer suggest his lover go to find someone else or come back to the writer?


_________

The Song PEARL JAM - GO YOUR OWN WAY LYRICS
(Source Cambridge)
pack (sth) up (COLLECT) phrasal verb [M]
to collect all your things together when you have finished doing something:
I'm about to pack up my things and go home.

shack up phrasal verb INFORMAL
to start living in the same house as sexual partners without being married:
I hear Tony and Helen have shacked up together.
She's decided to shack up with her boyfriend.

[Naamplao]

Originally Posted by Nefertiti

Hi there.

1. What does "go your own way" mean? Is it a common usage?
Is it OK to say, "you can go your own way if you don't love me"? (i.e you can leave me as you like.)

It is a reasonably common phrase.

In this context it means that you are giving the person freedom to find someone else to love if they cannot be in love with you.

Is it OK to say, "you can go your own way if you don't trust me"? (someone doesn't trust me when I'm trying to give them some guidelines, say they don't know how to get to a library.)

You are telling them to do it their way if they think their way is better....but you won't follow them.

2. " If I could
Maybe I'd give you my world
How can I
When you won't take it from me"

Does it refer to 'my world'?

My world refers to my environment, everything about me.

3. " Tell me why
Everything turned around
Packing up
Shacking up is all you wanna do"

What does 'turn around' mean here? Does it mean change? Is it a common usage?

Yes, everything has suddenly changed. Yes it is a common expression.

My life was in ruin until I met her and then my world turned around.

'shacking up' Does the writer suggest his lover go to find someone else or come back to the writer?

You don't give the whole verse of the song so it is hard to tell from this snippet of verse.

The person wants to know why things have changed... Packing up in this context could mean someone is leaving or ending a relationship.

Shacking up means living together but not married. Because the person seems upset, it may be that his/her lover is leaving suddenly to live with someone else and he/she wants to know why...what went wrong?
_________

The Song PEARL JAM - GO YOUR OWN WAY LYRICS
(Source Cambridge)
pack (sth) up (COLLECT) phrasal verb [M]
to collect all your things together when you have finished doing something:
I'm about to pack up my things and go home.

shack up phrasal verb INFORMAL
to start living in the same house as sexual partners without being married:
I hear Tony and Helen have shacked up together.
She's decided to shack up with her boyfriend.

............

[Nefertiti]

Hi, NP.

We've got a copyright problem. I was warned not to post the whole song. You can click on The Song PEARL JAM - GO YOUR OWN WAY LYRICS. to get the lyrics.

'shacking up' Does the writer suggest his lover go to find someone else or come back to the writer?

I hope you can answer my question above. Thanks for the reply.

_________
NP wrote:
"You don't give the whole verse of the song so it is hard to tell from this snippet of verse."

[Naamplao]

Originally Posted by Nefertiti

Hi, NP.

We've got a copyright problem. I was warned not to post the whole song. You can click on The Song PEARL JAM - GO YOUR OWN WAY LYRICS. to get the lyrics.

'shacking up' Does the writer suggest his lover go to find someone else or come back to the writer?

I hope you can answer my question above. Thanks for the reply.

_________
NP wrote:
"You don't give the whole verse of the song so it is hard to tell from this snippet of verse."

Song interpretation is always fraught with peril. Again, as I have said in other song translations, song material is poetry set to music. Poetry is usually full of hidden metaphor and usually is almost impossible to understand unless you have great insight into the mind of the poet when he/she wrote the piece.

For example: the song "Brown-eyed Girl" is not a song about love of a brown-eyed girl but rather it is a song of a love for heroin, believe it or not.

But this song seems to be straight forward enough.

One clue comes in the first few lines (this is why we must know the whole song...not just a line or two)

Loving you
isn't the right thing to do

So it seems that this is a one-way love. He loves her...she??? not so much.

so now this section makes more sense

"Tell me why
Everything turned around
Packing up
Shacking up is all you wanna do"

If I had to guess, she is a free-spirit. She is after a good time....not a long time. This guy thought he had found his true love but I supposed she is bored with him now and has found a new lover. He cannot understand why she is wanting to leave him.

Packing up (means quitting their relationship) shacking up (living in sin - so-to-speak) seems to him to be her lifestyle.

" If I could
Maybe I'd give you my world
How can I
When you won't take it from me"

He was serious about her and had ambitions/plans. He would have liked to include her in them but she seems to be not interested (probably boring to her and she wants excitement is my guess)

"go your own way"

So he is telling her, he won't stand in her way. He thinks she has made a mistake, she has hurt him and made him feel bitter but he finally understands and she can disappear as far as he is concerned....he is through trying to save their relationship since she is obviously not interested in him anymore.

That is my interpretation anyway. It makes sense to me but you never really know for sure.

Poetry is like visual art. Anyone looking at a picture may see something that is totally different from the artist's intent. Is that person wrong? No!!!! that is often the purpose of art...to spur thought and discussion. The fact that someone likes your painting "for the wrong reasons" is immaterial...the fact is that they liked the painting.

It is the same for poetry/song.

I hope this helps you....hopefully I have shown you that you cannot analyze a poem line by line, independent of each other. You need to see everything to figure out the words/symbolism.