| Warren Zevon – Accidentally Like A Martyr Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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As with so much of Zevon’s work, the lyrics here are abstract enough that they fit to your own personal circumstances - and that probably drives my own interpretation - but here goes: I see Accidentally Like a Martyr as a song about a relationship that has grown old and stale but the protagonist is stuck in it and cannot leave. The chorus refers to the state of their physical relationship going from making “mad love” when they were first together and passionate, though “shadow love” when they were always together and happy, through “random love” as their intimacies became more sporadic with time and finally to “abandoned love” as they no longer interact in that way. The title suggests that as a “martyr” he has given his life for a cause which is why I think that he is still stuck in the relationship. I see him as being married and probably with children and deciding to forfeit the life that he wants — that makes him happy - in order to protect his family from the hurt of separation and divorce. He didn’t actively choose to get to this point but probably acquiesced to the point that he has no choice left, hence he is “accidentally like a martyr” and has given up his life for the sake of his family. Slightly more tenuous but I suspect that the “phone don’t ring” because his former friends slipped away as his relationship grew (and he isolated himself away with his lover) but now that the relationship is dying they’re not coming back; the “sun refused to shine” because he is so depressed with the situation that he is stuck in. The “hurt gets worse” for him every day as things get worse and worse and his “heart grows harder” in order to deal with it. “The days slide by” without him really being happy but just hoping and waiting for an end…”should have done, should have done we all sigh” when the options were available. “Never thought I’d be so lonely after such a long, long time” refers to the growing distance between him and his wife and his inability to connect with anyone else whilst he is in this relationship. This is hard to imagine unless you have been there but being stuck in a relationship where you are distant with the other party but unable to connect with anyone else because of the relationship is an extremely lonely and desperate place to be. |
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