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Jennifer's Veil Lyrics
So you've come back for Jennifer
You know, she hides her face behind a veil
I'm warning you Frankie, leave on the next train
Your Jennifer she just isn't the same
Quit waving that thing about! Come back!
Come back and give me a chance to explain
Your baby will never cry again.
So don't try to reach out
And don't let the ship's flag down
Point the figure-head at the storm
And drive her hard upon
Don't stop and don't stop
And don't let the veil drop
(Another ship ready to sail--the rigging is tight
Tight like Jennifer's veil).
She drew the curtain on her face
Ever since they came and burnt the old place down
Why is she searching through the ashes?
Why, only Jennifer knows that now.
And the officer, without a word,
Left all his junk and just moved out.
So don't try to reach out
And don't let the ship's flag down
Point the figure-head at the glass
Smash! Smash! into shards
Don't stop and don't touch!
And don't let the veil drop...behind Jennifer's veil
Oh God! Frankie! Is that really you!
Get back! Don't reach out!
Get back, and get that lantern out of my room!
Don't try to reach out
And don't let the ship's flag down
Down, down over her, like a shroud
And let her sail on the sea like a stone.
Don't touch and don't touch
And don't let the veil drop
Another ship ready to dock...the rigging comes loose...
You know, she hides her face behind a veil
I'm warning you Frankie, leave on the next train
Your Jennifer she just isn't the same
Quit waving that thing about! Come back!
Come back and give me a chance to explain
Your baby will never cry again.
And don't let the ship's flag down
Point the figure-head at the storm
And drive her hard upon
Don't stop and don't stop
And don't let the veil drop
(Another ship ready to sail--the rigging is tight
Tight like Jennifer's veil).
Ever since they came and burnt the old place down
Why is she searching through the ashes?
Why, only Jennifer knows that now.
And the officer, without a word,
Left all his junk and just moved out.
And don't let the ship's flag down
Point the figure-head at the glass
Smash! Smash! into shards
Don't stop and don't touch!
And don't let the veil drop...behind Jennifer's veil
Get back! Don't reach out!
Get back, and get that lantern out of my room!
And don't let the ship's flag down
Down, down over her, like a shroud
Don't touch and don't touch
And don't let the veil drop
Another ship ready to dock...the rigging comes loose...
Song Info
Submitted by
girgo On May 11, 2004
More The Birthday Party
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For what it's worth, I think Jennifer was having an affair with the officer, and he's dead now, killed in the fire. She grieves for her true love, but can't show it...her betrothed doesn't understand, and the narrator, Cave, is trying to keep it that way. And "your baby" is Jennifer.
Amazing song from an amazing EP.
I believe it is about a man returning to his wife who has gone insane due to loss - thus, the veil. There is also a suggestion that her face has been disfigured by a fire in which her baby was killed: "Your baby will never cry again."
Just one opinion. Horrifying song regardless of the true meaning.
"Your Jennifer she just isn't the same Quit waving that thing about! Come back! Come back and give me a chance to explain Your baby will never cry again."
Oh, she's dead? She's mute? Paralyzed, I just don't know. Drowning, suicide, I can't tell...Ship song, the first?
This is one of those songs that seems to tell a story but actually leaves you in the dark. Very Gothic; the woman in her veil, probably disfigured, the old house burnt down, the lover returning with his cruel lantern to tear off the veil & see the face behind it... Powerful stuff. Even Nick Cave's falsetto works, bizarrely.
Pretty amazing song. I'm not sure, but the idea I get at the moment is that Jennifer died in some sense when "they burned the old place down." She's disfigured, and probably insane.
i got the impression this woman's baby was literally murdered and jennifer has gone insane
but i think the other ideas about disfigurement makes more sense
I think the ship is a metaphor for Jennifer and Frankie is her angry lover, who has some sort of control over her delicate mental health/sanity. I think Cave is actually Franky. He's telling this story as a metaphor for a tumultuous love.
All of the above, dead baby, crazy woman. The final clue is in the last verse - ‘get that lantern out of my room’. The realisation Frankie set the fire after he found out Jennifer was having an affair with the cop, subsequently killing a child that he thought might not have been his.