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Girl's Song In Winter Lyrics
There was a man when I was young
He lived a year with me
But the year was up and that song was sung
And his wish was to be free
His wish was to be free.
I was in love when I was young
And I've never been free again
That's a promised fruit when you've first begun
That ripens into pain
I had a child when I was young
The last gift that man gave.
I wish that he could hold his son,
And the snow in the air lie on my grave
The snow lie on my grave.
He lived a year with me
But the year was up and that song was sung
And his wish was to be free
His wish was to be free.
And I've never been free again
That's a promised fruit when you've first begun
That ripens into pain
The last gift that man gave.
I wish that he could hold his son,
And the snow in the air lie on my grave
The snow lie on my grave.
Song Info
Submitted by
figureeight On May 13, 2008
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Such a beautiful and sad little song. More of a fragment. So very Vashti Bunyan. As far as I can know this is not autobiographical. Appears in her album "Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind – Singles and Demos 1964 to 1967" released in 2007.
The "promised fruit" could be the freedom that the woman gives and does not have herself but from the next stanza, telling the story of the birth, it could also be the birth of the child, the "fruit" of the womb, which would "ripen into pain".
"I wish that ... the snow in the air lie on my grave". Is such a touching, fascinating line. Expressing a depth of sadness in such a few little words. One can feel time becoming unfrozen, the snow that was seemingly suspended, frozen in the air, falls down. That movement of the snow from the air to the ground, to the grave, is almost instantaneous, and so inevitable. It is like she asks for nothing. She gave freedom. She raises a son alone. And she needs nothing but a quiet death in return. Maybe reminiscent of the poem Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep, "Do not stand at my grave and weep ... I am the softly falling snow".
Note also that true to gender stereotypes the freedom for the man is to leave the relationship and for the woman it was that young love with him. He is free now of her and she is alone not free.
Note also that true to gender stereotypes the freedom for the man is to leave the relationship and for the woman it was that young love with him. He is free now of her and she is alone not free.