Cages

If you google: "Start to Finish: Emma Louise's" you'll find a great article on abc.net.au (Australian Broadcasting Website) that details the rough meanings of her songs. She's quite brilliant and I'm glad that I found her wonderful art.

Here what she says about Cages. It's quite heartbreaking:

"I moved around a lot when I was growing up. I've been to seven different schools and lived in around 14 houses. My parents renovated houses in their free time and my brother and I were more than happy to pack up and move around with them. I think I have inherited my mother's gypsy feet. I am only 21 and have lived in four houses outside of my parent's latest home in Cairns.

When I first moved to Brisbane, I made my small nest in a tiny house in a big city, not knowing anyone. It was in this space I brought home a very special tiny animal, Henry.

I was driving to my manager Rick's house one day and thought I'd drop into a pet shop I'd always passed on the way over. At the back of the store I saw a cage with some of the most beautiful looking parrots I'd ever seen. It was then I instantly fell in love with a small blue Indian Ringneck, who seemed to be picked on constantly by his brothers and sisters. Having just got fired from my job for shaving my head (that's a long story) I had no money to get him, but I knew we were destined for each other. When I got to Rick's house I must have used up all the air in my lungs talking about him. Rick gave me $50, I spent the rest of my money on him and took him home that night. I was never seen without him on my shoulder. I moved into a blue house with my blue bird, Henry. He was my best friend and we were bonded together. I was slowly meeting new people and making new friends and Henry was with me the whole time, chatting away on my shoulder. My new friends knew Henry as much as they knew me. I busked at the West End Markets to pay my rent, with my loyal blue son mischievously putting on a show of his own, crawling around my body as I sung. I can honestly thank him for the money people threw in my guitar case. He was a good investment in many ways.

The song 'Cages' is written about one of the hardest things I have ever had to sacrifice for my music. When I started touring it pulled Henry and I apart and it broke my heart having to hear him scream at me when I left for a string of shows. When I got back he would ignore me because he was angry with me and I knew it wasn't healthy for him to go through the stress of having me leave him every few days. I was having him looked after by an amazing couple I had met at the West End Markets where we would busk. They had three other birds, including another Indian Ringneck, Stevie. Each time I'd pick Henry up he'd be more displeased with me and eventually I knew it was time to give him to this couple and their birds who Henry had bonded and made friends with. It was the most emotionally devastating thing I have had to deal with in my freshly adult life. I see Henry a few times a month when I am back home and he always remembers me. I don't think we will ever forget each other and will always share a special connection.

'Cages' was written fairly quickly, I think because my feelings were still so raw. It was a very sensitive time and I struggled to play the song a whole way through without getting a lump in my throat. I was playing the song in the tracking room of the studio and Matt told me he wanted to record it the next day. At first I sang it as another character called 'Joseph'. We sped up the track on tape and I sung to my chipmunk sped-up voice so that when it was slowed to real time my voice became a soothing low male-like voice. I really loved the way it sounded and was tempted to just leave the vocals like that. 'Cages' as a song became a space I didn't want to touch. Like it was such a neat bundle of all my feelings about Henry that I didn't want to risk diluting it. I ended up singing over Joseph but leaving his voice travelling softly beneath mine like he was cradling me through the song with his masculine hands while it hurt me to sing."