The Emperor's New Clothes

I think the song has more to do with an unintended pregnancy, and how they decided to go about what to do and what were the ramifications of that choice. '...years since you held the baby' apparently means she had the baby and raised it on her own without the father's help. 'If I treated you/Maybe I was/Maybe it sounds mean sounds like the discussions between them of what to do about it, i.e. abortion or having the baby.

'Everyone can see what's going on/They laugh cause they know they're untouchable not because what I said was wrong' I think is talking about their friends and who's side they're taking. Also, they talk/gossip about the issue while not having to deal with it themselves; it's all someone else's problem so they can laugh, point fingers, and pass rude and ridiculous comments about it amongst each other without fear because they are not the ones wrestling with the issue.

Additionally, I'm not sure if this was a real life experience of Sinead's, but if it was: O'Conner is obviously most likely an Irish name or from Irish culture, which is fairly devout Roman Catholic if I'm not mistaken, creating more significance to be placed on the abortion dilemma; and her being a young woman in the music industry ('How could I possibly know what I want when I was only 21') might hint at the baby's father being an older man -- and possibly even a father figure of sorts -- whom she trusted to guide her through these types of situations, which would increase the impact it would have on an assumed young, innocent girl/woman she probably was at this time. It was probably the first sort of life changing event she had encountered up until this time. And how would an adolescent aspiring singer songwriter deal with her first big issue? 'All I want to do is just sit here and write it all down and rest for a while.' Also, a 21-year old aspiring singer's social circle is probably going to be filled with a lot of other late teen/early twenties wannabees looking for ways to gain fame at the expense of their competition, infinitely increasing the evil, bitchy, and remorseless ways they would go after and talk about someone else's misfortunes.

The whole Emperor's New Clothes tie-in could just be to not believe everything you hear before making a judgment about something you may not know a lot about.

So that's my story, and I'm sticking with it. God Speed.

T.