[4]The story as told in the song takes place in a room where a woman lies dying of tuberculosis and is visited by the story-teller, her lover.
[5] John Collis described the song's meaning as: "First of all, the singer chides the terminally ill invalid for crying.
[6] Brian Hinton described the song's music: "Here is a Dickensian tale of death and decay in a big city.
Organ and drums go free form, then a stately groove, fitting Van's voice like a garrote, led by nagging lead guitar.
Van's harmonica hurts the ear, then he's like a terrier, lecturing his girlfriend, 'Julie,' about it not being natural her staying awake at night, dying.
As life saps steadily from the singer’s beloved, tuberculosis-ridden Julie, there is no trite drama, no nostalgic sugar coating or grand deathbed epiphany, but rather an 'Is That All There Is?'
'The sunlight shining through the crack in the window pane numbs my brain,' Morrison moans over a skittering Hammond organ.
[9] Lydia Lunch and Cypress Grove included a cover on their 2014 album A Fistful of Desert Blues.