| Aldous Harding – Stop Your Tears Lyrics | 2 years ago |
|
To me this song speaks of grief and loss and of a reckoning with religion in the face of suffering. The melody's beauty is reminiscent of a lullaby, which fits the theme of a mother daughter relationship, while the lyrics paint a haunting picture of surrendering to woe and resignation. I imagine a woman who has lost her baby girl (Lord, show me my daughter Show me her before she burned). I imagine the protagonist to come from a world saturated with Christian imagery and belief, the allusion to her daughter burning suggesting that she died before her baptism, so the mother fears her soul in purgatory or hell. The lover of the protagonist and father of the child could be imagined as dead as well (I will never marry my love. I will die waiting for the bells). She will die herself ere she hears her own wedding bells in the church. Although the story would also work if he has disappeared or left in another way. Allusions to death are abundant everywhere, suggesting her own contemplation of suicide (Death, come pull me underwater - I have nothing left to fear from hell / I will arrive at death’s border / The blade is ready for the slaughter). I can also imagine past suicide attempts or at least plans (I keep the pills inside an urn). There is constant imagery of water, (Death, come pull me underwater / Someone has stolen all the water / I am at the river with baby - Her father enters with a leap - Hold her head above the water - She is pale against the stream). Water as a life giving, feminine element, yet at the same time as a threatening and possibly life taking force invoking a connection of death by drowning, possibly of her loved ones or possibly as a thought of her own plans of escaping this world. The last verse seems the most mysterious to me, invoking possibly a memory (did the girl drown? Did the lover die when he jumped in the river to save her?) Or possibly the scene is a vision of the future, a dream of them being united either in this or in the next world. (Is it the river Styx?) With all this hopelessness and grief of the song, the last two lines seem almost out of place in their implied strength and hope. The three of them united in a metaphor of support, unity and vitality. The father providing solid ground and sure footing for the mother, embodied as a mare galloping on his mighty mountain, carrying her child safely. Like an unexpected happy ending of a nightmare. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.