Julia - Song Meaning?
 

Since many think "Julia" may be included on the new CD, it got me thinking again about the song's meaning. What do fans think is the meaning behind the song? Is Julia wanting in or out of the relationship? I always wondered if Julia was in a in a controlling, possibly domestic violence relationship and wanted out, yet conflicted about what she really wanted to do. Stay or leave. Why does she "suffer for the love?" Dreaming of a horse and carriage that will take her away from the relationship. Is she running in or out through "your door"? Does she "love the stars" because she is dreaming for a better life.. or a way out? Any thoughts?

Stevie said in an interview a while back that Julia is based on the movie Julia starring Jane Fonda & Vanessa Redgrave. Stevie viewed herself as Lily (as she sang in RAL), and Robin was Julia. They were good friends, and felt entirely themselves when together.

Oh okay.. so it's based on a movie about the relationship of Lillian Hellman and Dashill Hammiet..with the feminist Julia angle. Smuggling money out of Nazi Germany. I guess the song would have been socially relevant in the 1930's I suppose. Thanks for the explanation.

well, really the movie and certainly the song for sure is about the relationship between the two women. Stevie was particularly taken by the bond between the two women and the notion of them taking tremendous risks for each other and the trust they had, really life-and-death trust, between them.

And that could be something she said to Robin, telling Robin that she didn't have to put up a brave front for everyone else when she was facing death. She could admit that she was afraid.

Michele

Sometimes I take a song for it's full meaning, and sometimes I interpret words in relation to what I'm going through. I find something in them that speaks to me and my situation even if that's not what the songwriter intended. Sometimes it's only a line in a song that will do that for me and Julia has one of those lines.

I would suffer for the love, I would cry to be moved

In the late 2000's I was going through a rough time. I was about to turn 40 and had never been in love. Well, that's not entirely true. I had been in love with a guy in my 20's but he was straight and even though we cared very deeply for each other it really could never be. That heartbreak launched several songs when I was singing in a band. Suffering heartache is an exquisite pain that can be a major inspiration for a songwriter. But none of the other guys I'd dated since ever got me close to that aching passion I'd had for that one guy. Julia became very special to me because that line "I would suffer for the love" was the way I was feeling. I knew I would go through it all again just to feel that amazing feeling of aching to be near someone. Thinking about them every moment when they weren't around. And basking in the glow of their love when they were around, even if it couldn't be returned. For many nights I cried and I felt that my tears were a tribute to how much I wanted to love and be loved. I would cry to be that moved and I did, often. Come 2012 and I met someone incredibly special. We're still together and it's the longest relationship I've ever had. And the feeling I felt for the guy in my 20's has been overshadowed by a love that not only burns passionately inside me, but is finally returned. And every once in a while I play Julia and I still cry because I am moved. And not a day goes by that I don't appreciate what the Universe has brought to me.

Beautiful.. Thanks for sharing that with us, and making me for one remember that for me..it's what this fan site is really about...all connected to how the songs of Stevie, Lindsey or Christine have affected our lives over the years. If they had not, I doubt we would give this site so much of our attention. I'm so glad to hear how much "Julia" has and continues to move you. "She loves the stars....."