This song is about the true nature of love and the struggle that humans go through when defining love. Oftentimes love is devalued by peoples' projected judgements and preconceptions about what counts as love. Ironically, it is common that people reject others' ideas of love out of fear and hostility, desperately trying to prove the ways their own idea of love is "correct", which then leaves angry stains of hatred out there in the world lingering and festering.
Mattie is a woman whose husband has passed away, and she finds herself falling in love with another woman. The new love she finds is foreign and new to her, and she tries to come to terms with accepting herself and her love as valid and worthy of expression.
Hearing this explanation of the lyrics might cause some people to interpret parts of the song differently than they had before. In light of this subject matter, I'll preemptively address the line "...it was your right to change your mind...." At first, this may seem like an indication that the intention is to reassure Mattie that it's okay that she alter her sexuality, which implies that sexuality is a choice rather than an orientation. This is not the case, as the true intention is to reassure her that it is okay to change her mind from a state of hiding who she is to a state of embracing who she is. That noted, here ya go...
Mattie, why don't you run after the only one you love?
It was your right to change your mind,
If you decide not to bring it back into the light for all of their dark and shaming eyes.
But go on outside where the night is alive with fireflies; I'll stay in so you can cry.
Daddy once said you were stubborn, but you were a baby when they lowered Uncle Johnny down.
And I know I shouldn't speak about people I can't see,
But I was holding a photograph of you and he in some church singing praises to Jesus
With everyone on their feet.
But you never smiled such a smile as you did when she was near,
And I think that it's safe to say, in all your life, for what was and what was not right,
He forgives you and loved you anyway.
And if I were eighty years old,
I would shout from the depths of my soul
"Fear is a prison and love is love is love is nothing more than love"
And Mattie, I just can't believe that you owe for the air that you breathe,
'Cause you ain't no sinner and love is love is love is nothing more than love.
Now I can guess the hem of your dress wouldn't have ever touched the ground
If they had opened up the clouds.
But nothing so bold would embellish the story you told,
And silence hurt less than the truth.
But give me the keys to your car; I don't want you going far
In case I need to hear your voice.
Yeah, I know you swore you're much happier now than before,
But I know you and I don't have a choice.
And if I were eighty years old,
I would shout from the depths of my soul
"Fear is a prison and love is love is love is nothing more than love"
And Mattie, I just can't believe that you owe for the air that you breathe,
'Cause you ain't no sinner and love is love is love is nothing more than love.
Mattie, who are they to you? They are frightened and bitter and blue,
And shy of believing that love is love is love is love is love...