Damien Rice – I Don't Want To Change You lyrics

At first glance, this appears to be a sweet love song ("you know that I adore you"...) but I think if you listen carefully some lines make you want to take a second listen.

"I just came across a manger
Out among the danger
Somewhere in a stranger's eye" - this could very well be the reference to an affair he had, "out among the danger in a stranger's eye", the world is a place full of "dangers" to love, different people you meet, different places you go, it's hard to always be faithful to just one person even if it's the one, he may have slipped up, made a mistake

"I've never been with anyone
In the way I've been with you
But if love is not for fun
Then it's doomed" - this could further confirm my hypothethis with the affair. he pleads with the person this song is directed to that he/she might understand him, he kind of turns it around on him/her, implying that sex is fun and love is for fun, so besides the very serious stuff between the two people bonded in true love there might be others "for fun". or implying it hasn't been fun with her in a while and that's why he cheated.

also in the two lines above he states how she's his special one but then there's a "but", "but if love is not for fun". basically he says he adores her but then again love if for fun, so hey, girl, don't be such a nag.

"Cause water races
Water races down the waterfalls" - time flies by and things will be forgotten. he might want to say that the affair shouldnt matter that much because everything changes so fast constantly.

"I just came across a manger
Where there is no the danger
Where love has eyes and is not blind" - this might refer to his true love - whereas the other similar lines above referred to his affair - now his true love is the manger and because she's the one, there's no danger and real love "has eyes", is sophisticated enough to know that true love is above the wordly things such as sex and making a mistake. one last time he pleads with the one this song is directed to to forgive him and believe him that she's really the one and the other one was just a mistake.

personally i think this is a typical man-move. they make a mistake and then they have all these pretty words and show so much emotion that women are instandtly wooed and want to forgive them. also they turn it around on us so that we almost feel like we're being stupid if we don't forgive them, that it's the only logical step to forgive them.

so in the end this song leaves me with a weird feeling that the love explained here isn't as unconditional as the speaker wants us to believe it is. in fact, it's very conditional. the condition is that they play by his rules. he explains away his mistake so that she doesnt have any 'right' to be angry anymore.

he says "i dont want to change you/r mind", but in fact that's all this song wants. this song basically wants to manipulate her - softly and sweetly - into forgiving him. so he's lying. he wants to change her mind. why does he not just say so?

i do not in any way think this is the only interpretation for this song. i might be totally off, but that's how i make sense of the lyrics personally. im excited to know what you think of it.