You probably know him as Hozier, and he is famously known for is incredible song, "Take Me to Church" *heart eyes*. However, today I will not be taking and evaluating that song. I will be analyzing his music video and lyrics for his song "Cherry Wine", which is raising awareness about domestic violence, which you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdSCCwtNEjA (Please watch it!! Show sum love <3)
This video (and the overall song) is really sweet, or so it seems. When I first watched/ heard this song, I thought it was beautiful. I still think that, but I find it beautiful in a new light. It's a very simple song and a very simple video, but an overwhelmingly powerful message.
The video starts out as a young woman staring at herself in the mirror, with her hair slightly covering her left eye. The song starts with the light notes on the guitar, and is all acoustic. The lyrics begin.
Her eyes and words are so icy
Oh but she burns
Like rum on the fire
Hot and fast and angry as she can be
I walk my days on a wire.
Here, he is explaining his relationship with this woman. By saying he "walks his days on a wire", this is implying he is always on the look-out, he never feels safe. He has to watch his balance, because if something goes wrong, he will cause her to flame up and cause a "fire." What I like about this stanza is that he does acknowledge that domestic violence comes in verbal form ("words so icy") and not just physical form.
His lyrics go on to say
It looks ugly, but it's clean,
Oh momma, don't fuss over me.
This is implying that he got hurt, and received some sort of physical trauma, like a bruise. He is using an excuse like "I'm fine", "Don't worry about it", "Don't fuss over me."
He then says the chorus for the first time
The way she tells me I'm hers and she is mine
Open hand or closed fist would be fine
The blood is rare and sweet as cherry wine.
Batterers tend to see people as objects, possessions rather than as human beings with individual wills. They can do what they want, but the beaten party cannot. The abused must listen very precisely, an obedient servant, or their means of enforcing compliance, physical violence, will come out. The looming threat ensures compliance, their complete possession of their property.
Meanwhile, battered parties tend to see being beaten as a sign of love. The passion of the anger is interpreted as indicative of exactly how much, how passionately their abuser cares about them.
The really terrible thing about this is that with enough exposure, if an abused person is attempting a relationship with someone who isn't abusive, they tend to interpret the lack of cutting words and beatings as apathy -- as a lack of love on the part of their lover. Hence, it's very specifically getting hit and abused and "corrected" that makes battered people know that they're loved, that their abuser's heart is theirs. They couldn't feel so angry, so passionate about their failures if they didn't really, really love them.
Gosh it ain't even Emo Friday yet!! What the heck Grace??
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| Here's a really adorable puppy eating a tiny biscuit and a tiny cappuccino to make yourself happy. :D |
Nice post! I like this song a lot and especially like the way the speaker's position reflects common trends in abusive relationships. The speaker's line "Oh mama, don't fuss over me," reflects the fact the victims in abusive relationships often try to justify the aggressor's wrongdoings. This line is basically saying, "It's not that bad." Same with the line in the chorus, "The blood is rare." The speaker is basically saying, "I'm not even abused that often," which is another reference to victims rationalizing their abusers' actions. I still have no idea what "cheap as cherry wine" means though.
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