Deprecated: mysql_connect(): The mysql extension is deprecated and will be removed in the future: use mysqli or PDO instead in /home/penguin/mysql_connect.php on line 14
The Penguin Discography: Loving Cup




  - Advanced Search

    Song Title »
Loving Cup
    Authors »
Lindsey Buckingham

    Year Written »
1984

    Lyrics »

Faces of liars, faces of glass
Walk on the wire but they won’t get past
Hold me darlin’, don’t let go
Save each other from a world of woe

I want you darlin’ I want you right now
Come to me baby, we’ll show each other how
You are the object of my desire
Open your mouth and put out the fire

You and me, you and me
We’ve got the magic, don’t you see?
We fall down, we get hurt,
We get up, and take a drink from the loving cup

Resurrection of original sin
Calls to me on the midnight wind
You are the object of my desire
Open your mouth
Put out the fire

    Fan Interpretation »

Faces of liars, faces of glass
Walk on the wire but they won't get past

Glass is a fragile thing. When the glass is in the form a mirror..it reflects the face that stares into it. When he is staring into the glass, he sees the face of a liar. If he uses the glass in the sense of a clear object, something that you can look straight through, he sees someone across the glass, someone who shares in his lie of true love and true lust.

Walking on wires, I believe its connecting good to bad. Like if you try to escape the bad or the truth and walk over to the light, to the good side, where you can live and lie and be satisfied; once you do that, you cannot get past, you can't deny the truth - for it always will resurrect itself.

Hold me darlin', don't let go
Save each other
From a world of woe.
Though you cant escape the past, he wants to try. One can know the truth, but can ignore it and just go for the easier route. He wants to hold on and try to see for himself if maybe he can escape the only truth he has knows when it has come to this woman, that they are not destined for happiness together.

I want you
I want you right now
Come to me darlin'
We'll show each other how.
Bluntly said, he is saying he wants her. He has another song from this album simply called "I Want You", not only stating that he "wants" in a physical, sexual way-but he also wants the past back. He wants everything to be as it used to be. Still holding on to the hope of making it through the easier way, he pleads for her; to hold her and squeeze out all the things that kept them apart.

You are the object of my desire
Open your mouth and put out the fire.
Desire and love are two different things. He does not say "I love you", he says that he wants her. He wants her in a sexual way. The fire is his lust, is their unruly passion, is his desire. To open her mouth could mean to blow out the flame of hatred, or could mean more in the actual action of putting out his own fire.

You and me, you and me
We've got the magic, don't you see
We fall down, we get hurt
The magic he speaks of is how all the troubles seem to dissipate in the bedroom. They can't get along in any other sense, not as friends, or as bandmates, as housemates but only as lovers.

We get up and take a drink
From the loving cup
Resurrection of original sin
Calls to me from the midnight wind.
The loving cup symbolizes creation and sex. The two go hand in hand. When the world was created, two people were created, and together they created their own. The original sin being sex, he is saying that no matter what they go through, they will always have sex to fall back on, to lean on, to grab onto. Its their only savior.

The midnight wind is the dark side of oneself. So gentle, it doesn't seem harmful, like the sin he wants to commit. Darkness hides many things, and it would hide the truth that is ever so present in the light, in every ones eyes. Midnight is when loneliness occurs and when normal thoughts turn themselves around and turn into thoughts of unreality or near insanity. One can think it is right when the darkness surrounds you, but once the sun comes up it suddenly becomes a mistake.

You are the object of my desire
Open your mouth
Put out the fire
He makes "open your mouth" and "put out the fire" two separate thoughts. Opening is a symbol of freedom, he's saying just to let go of whatever hurt exists between them. Put out the fire, again, extinguish his raging desire and lust, as well as the turmoil between them.

You and me, you and me
We've got the magic, don't you see
We fall down
We get up and take a drink
From the loving cup.
Since this song was written in 1984, many believe that this song is about Carol Ann, the woman he lived with for many years and had broken up with that year. He never really described their relationship as a sexually charged one. His relationship with Stevie Nicks, on the other hand, was a very intense one. In an interview Lindsey had in 1984, he stated that Stevie and him were always "very good lovers" but not good friends. By stating this, he is clearly saying that as much as they loved each other, they couldn't see eye to eye with life, her life and his just didn't connect hand in hand. Sex was the only thing those two could share, connect and agree on. "We fall down" is saying that they fight, argue and break up. "We get up" meaning they get through it and survive without dying or killing each other. They can still look each other in the eyes. "Take a drink for the loving cup" is stating that as they can still look each other in the eyes, they can also desire each other. He can look at her and see all that he wants to full fill his five senses.

Musically, the beginning of this song reminds me of 'Big Love'. Then it goes into a series of whip sounds, various sounds from the synthesizer and a deep electric guitar. His voice is very edgy, desperate; screams and moans round out the background. The beat is almost like a heart beating, like his own beating faster for her, for his own desire just to screen out the bad things and follow with his heart and not his brain.

Lindsey wanted just to quench his desire without thinking of the consequences afterwards. It's when the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other scream into each ear and he just swipes the angel away and goes with the side that he should not go with. We all fall, and for those who always think before committing an action, like Lindsey seems to do, they fall a lot harder. As much as he loved Carol Ann, and as much as the album Go Insane is about their love and the problems in their relationship, Lindsey says he never got over he and Stevie breaking up until he left the band in 1987..or maybe never at all, but in 1984, the questions still raged as did the desire for her physically as well as the yearning for the past.

(The interpretations to these lyrics were compiled through discussions on the message boards of the Penguin, The Ledge. It is entirely possible that the artists had something completely different in mind.)

    Tabs »
If you would like to submit tabs for this song, click here.

    Performances »
Running Time 4:58
Performers Lindsey Buckingham (All Performances By)
Appears On
Go Insane (1984)
Lindsey Buckingham

    Comments »

(C) 1984 Now Sounds Music (BMI)

    Reviews »
Add your review of Loving Cup here.

    Last Modified »
2007-10-10

    Discography Credits »
Lyrics contributed by Erik Grebner. Interpretation prepared by Janet Strayer, Stewy, Ocean and Rhiannon.