It is the guitar riff that refuses to age. You know the one. Those first few jangling notes of "There She Goes" by The La’s hit like a shot of pure, unadulterated sunshine, immediately transporting you to a world of 1960s-inspired British pop perfection. It’s catchy. It’s light. It has been used to sell everything from birth control to family-friendly movies like The Parent Trap and Snow Day. But if you actually sit down and look at the there she goes lyrics, you might start to feel a little bit uneasy about that sunny exterior.
Lee Mavers, the enigmatic frontman of The La’s, wrote a song that is essentially a Rorschach test for the listener. To some, it’s the ultimate tribute to unrequited love—a guy watching a girl walk by, unable to find the words to talk to her. To others, specifically those who’ve spent time in the darker corners of the 1980s Liverpool music scene, it’s a thinly veiled love letter to heroin.
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The debate has raged for over thirty years. Is it about a girl? Is it about a needle? Honestly, the answer might just be both, or perhaps it’s about the very nature of addiction itself—whether that addiction is to a person or a substance.
The Hook, the Line, and the Sinker
Let’s look at the structure. The song is incredibly repetitive. It’s basically one verse and a bridge looped over a shimmering melody. "There she goes... there she goes again... racing through my brain." If you’re thinking about a crush, those words make perfect sense. We’ve all been there. You see someone you like, and your thoughts start spinning. It’s a literal race. Your pulse quickens. You feel that "pulsing through my vein" line—wait.
That’s where things get twitchy.
"Pulsing through my vein" is the line that usually tips people off. Most pop songs about girls don't talk about blood vessels. When the song first hit the airwaves in 1988, and later when it became a massive global hit in 1990, the "heroin" interpretation was largely a whisper among music critics and hardcore fans. It wasn't until much later that the band’s bassist, John Power, kind of nudged the door open. He once famously remarked that he didn't know if Mavers intended it that way, but he certainly knew people who used the song as a soundtrack for their habits.
A Masterpiece of Ambiguity
Mavers was a perfectionist. He famously hated the version of the album that was eventually released, claiming the vintage mixing desks didn't have the right "dust" on them. This obsessive nature suggests that every word in the there she goes lyrics was chosen with surgical precision.
Consider the bridge: "There she blows... there she blows again... she calls my name, pulls my train."
"Pulls my train" is old-school slang. It refers to a powerful force dragging you along, something you can't stop even if you wanted to. It’s a heavy metaphor for a song that sounds so light. It’s the contrast that makes the track a masterpiece. If the music sounded dark and gritty like The Velvet Underground’s "Heroin," the secret would be out immediately. By masking the lyrics in a bright, C-major jangle, Mavers created a "sugar-coated pill." You swallow the melody, and the meaning seeps in later.
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Why the Song Persists in Pop Culture
It’s kind of hilarious how often this song shows up in PG-rated media. Seriously. Go watch The Parent Trap (1998). When Hallie (as Annie) arrives in London, "There She Goes" starts playing to signal her arrival in this beautiful, exciting new city. The filmmakers clearly saw the song as a "London anthem" or a "cool girl anthem." They definitely weren't thinking about a 1980s Scouse musician’s internal struggle with Class A drugs.
But that’s the beauty of great songwriting. A song becomes what the listener needs it to be.
- For the romantic: It's about that girl you see at the train station every morning but never talk to.
- For the cynic: It's a dark commentary on how we use "love" to describe things that actually destroy us.
- For the music historian: It's the bridge between the 60s Merseybeat sound and the 90s Britpop explosion.
Without this song, we might not have had the same trajectory for bands like Oasis or Blur. Noel Gallagher has spoken at length about how much he admired The La's. They proved that you could take the DNA of The Beatles and turn it into something modern, raw, and slightly dangerous.
The Sixpence None the Richer Effect
In 1997, the American Christian-pop band Sixpence None the Richer covered the song. Their version was even more polished and radio-friendly than the original. Leigh Nash’s ethereal vocals gave the there she goes lyrics a whimsical, almost angelic quality.
For a long time, this was the version people knew. It played in grocery stores and at weddings. It’s the ultimate irony: a band known for their faith covering a song that—if you believe the rumors—is about one of the most destructive substances on earth. Sixpence None the Richer later admitted they weren't fully aware of the drug connotations when they first recorded it, or at least they chose to interpret it as a pure love song. And honestly? That’s fine. Once a song is out in the world, the artist doesn't own the meaning anymore. The audience does.
Looking Closer at the Lyrics
Let's break down the actual text without overthinking it for a second.
"There she goes again... pulsing through my vein... and I just can't contain... this feeling on the inside."
If you take out the "vein" part, it’s just a song about excitement. "Can't contain" is what you feel when you're winning a game or falling in love. But that word "vein" anchors the song to the physical body. It’s not just in the heart or the head. It’s everywhere. It’s systemic.
Then there’s the line: "No one else can heal my pain."
This is the classic "Double Meaning" trope. In a love song, your partner is your healer. In an addiction song, the substance is the only thing that stops the withdrawal or the emotional numbness. Mavers was reportedly going through a lot during the late 80s. Liverpool was a tough place to be. The economy was a mess, and the drug scene was rampant. It’s almost impossible to think that his environment didn't bleed into his writing.
The Mystery of Lee Mavers
The La's only ever released one album. One. It’s widely considered one of the greatest debut albums of all time, yet Mavers basically vanished from the public eye afterward. He became a recluse, obsessed with re-recording the same songs over and over again to find a "perfect" sound that probably only exists in his head.
Because Mavers hasn't spent thirty years doing press tours explaining his lyrics, the mystery of "There She Goes" remains intact. We don't have a definitive "Yes, it's about drugs" or "No, it's about my neighbor Sarah" quote to kill the conversation. We just have the music.
How to Truly Experience the Song
If you want to understand the track, you have to listen to the original 1988 single version, not just the 1990 remix that became the hit. The 1988 version is a bit more jagged. It feels more "real."
When you listen, try to ignore the commercials you've seen. Forget about the movies. Just listen to the way the bass interacts with the acoustic guitar. There is a sense of urgency in the rhythm that contradicts the "laid back" vibe people usually associate with it. It’s a nervous song. It’s a song about a heartbeat that won't slow down.
Actionable Insights for Music Lovers
If you've been humming this song for years and only just realized it might have a darker side, don't let that "ruin" it for you. Instead, use it as a gateway to explore more nuanced music.
- Check out the rest of The La’s self-titled album. Tracks like "Son of a Gun" and "Timeless Melody" are just as good, if not better, than their big hit.
- Compare the covers. Listen to the original, then the Sixpence None the Richer version, then the Boo Radleys version. See how the different vocal tones change your perception of the lyrics.
- Read up on the 1980s Liverpool music scene. Understanding the context of the city at that time—the poverty, the "Cosmic Scouse" movement, and the rise of Britpop—adds so much depth to the songs that came out of it.
- Look for "The Dust." Since Mavers was so obsessed with the sound of the recording, try listening to it on a high-quality pair of headphones. Look for the imperfections. The slight grit in the guitar. That’s what he was worried about losing.
The there she goes lyrics represent a perfect moment in songwriting where simplicity meets complexity. It’s a 2-minute and 42-second miracle that manages to be both a bubblegum pop hit and a haunting look at human longing. Whether "she" is a person or a chemical, the feeling of being "pulled" by something you can't control is universal. That’s why we’re still talking about it thirty-plus years later. It’s not just a song; it’s a feeling that races through your brain, and once it’s in there, it’s never really going to leave.