The Child Is Gone

This song gets me every time. This song is about the loss of innocence that comes with growing up. She's just become aware of the larger world around her, and all of a sudden feels panicked and doesn't know what to do with herself.

maybe i'm wrong but i think in a way it's about losing your virginity? "darling give me your absence tonight" she talks about white, which symbolizes chastity... "no kind of loving can make this alright" i dunno, i could be wrong. i'm sure it has many levels of meaning... just my take on in.

... and after it all becoming a better person because of it. Which is what i think the main point of the song is .. coming to terms with a tragedy and coming out of it a stronger being.

I never read anything extra into the song, I always looked at it from face value, as if she were talkin about a miscarriage, ya know, an actual child...but after reading what you guys had to say, I think maybe she is talking about something innocent within herself. It kind of reminds me of Sarah McLaughlans song I can't remember the title but its on her Fumbling Into Ecstacy

fiona apple was raped when she was really young. that's what i've always took this song to me.

I heard fiona say that this is not supposed to be a sad song, ''darkness turned into the dawn''. growing up is a mixed blessing, at the same time,she is talking about the loss of innocence, ''the child'' she's also saying that she can cope better on her own now, she is learning to deal with reality because as we grow up, there is nothing else that we can do but cope. ''no kind of loving can make this alright''. she's saying to her man, she doesn't need his love right now because it's a situation that can't be healed by that kind of attention, she needs to be left on her own, but she changes her tune in the bridge, explaining to him, that she's ''a mess''. ''honey, help me out''.

criminal...

since the very first time i heard this song, my interpretation has been a forced loss of innocence (ie rape) and/or of miscarriage. i went through both (one resulting from the other), and i was only seventeen at the time. while i wish that you were correct in assuming that it was impossible for her to have had a miscarriage so early in life, it isn't. rape is absolutely a taking of innocence, and it creates a "vacancy which does not belong..." however, let me tell you from experience that its effect is worsened ten times over when it results in pregnancy and then in miscarriage. i think that the song is about both, and i hope that you are never able to see the correlation for your own sake.

well, if you're a fan you know she was raped as a child. To me this sounds like the after math of her rape -right after. The first Verse just sounds like her wanting to be to left alone with her own thoughts - in the dark- and suddenly feeling empty and a loss of innocence and coming to the realization that you're no longer the same person - the child is gone. And clearly wanting help but knowing no matter what anyone does or says -will not help

I think this song is her coming of age. 17 when she wrote this, it's about the often dark & confusing bridge a girl walks into adulthood & womenhood. I always got that meaning from it. She's shedding her any past stress from childhood & teenhood and is becoming a full blown woman in society's eyes & this is scary for her.

First to MeganIsProLife, this is not a forum for your presumably religious views. Abortions is not killing a "baby". It takes place before what we would call a baby exists. Before a sentient being exists. Yes, the process has started, but there's no consciousness in there provided the process is terminated early enough. It's mostly just religious groups, that have decided (with no evidence of course) that the "soul" enters at conception, that can justify spewing hatred towards the poor women faced with such a decision. It's funny really when you consider that the Bible sanctions stoning children to death for swearing (Leviticus 20:9) etc.

Onto the song! I heard it many times and just presumed it was about loss of innocence, but one day it clicked that it was about a miscarriage (or possibly an abortion, but nothing about it sounds planned), then it all made more sense.

OK, she was only 17, but the song isn't necessarily autobiographical. Could even be about a friend. Who knows? Anyway, she'd been raped at some point hadn't she? Maybe she got pregnant then, whether or not it's common knowledge (of course, to Megan this would be a "blessing". Nice one God :-)).

Darling, give me your absence tonight

I always laugh at this line. It's said slow, so you think she's going to say something like "Darling, give me your loving tonight", but she turns it around.

So we start with a reference to the partner, presumably father of the child (although possibly not). In some of the song she asked for his help, but there's also a strong sense that no matter what he does she has to go through it alone, and his sympathy is more like a weight than a help.

Take the shade from the canvas and leave me the white

I always thought it was "leave me the wine"! Hmm, not quite sure about this one, but the blank canvas could be a reference to the empty womb.

Let me sink in the silence that echoes inside

No more baby, so silent inside.

And I ran my hand o'er a strange inversion

When the baby is inverted, ie upside down, it can lead to miscarriage. Don't know if this is what she's saying, but just a thought. Or maybe she just means that her tummy is less bulging and more inverted (by comparison at least).

A vacancy that just did not belong

Empty womb.

The child is gone

For a long time I just took this as metaphoric. It's such a catchphrase for loss of innocence. Funny how the metaphoric interpretation was the obvious one, and the literal interpretation the more obscure.

I'm trying to find a place I belong

Someone said this didn't fit the miscarriage idea. I think it can. She would have put a lot of thought into preparing herself as a mother. Seeing herself in that role, and planning the next ten years around it. That is where she saw herself, where she felt she belonged. Now where does she belong?

And I suddenly feel like a different person

Life has taken a different path.

From the roots of my soul come a gentle coercion

Not sure about this. At this point in the song it could be seen as a distant voice inside her trying to pull her back out of the depression, given the slight optimism below.

As the darkness turns into the dawn

The darkness turns into the dawn is maybe saying that the deepening depression is slowly turning around and life goes on.

The child is gone The child is gone

Bye bye.

Rob.