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Christine Lyrics
As the sun descends too quickly
Behind the distant city
She will ride under the water
She will leave her son and daughter
Reduced to lying naked
To feed those she holds sacred
She is bare of clothes and beauty
On display in her nudity
If someone calls her name out
All she ever hears are cars
Through the window in the bathroom
Through the broken glass and bars
Seeking comfort in the wallet
Where she placed eighty dollars
When the last one has departed
She can slide into the darkness
And slowly down the river
The current pulls her under
And it bathes her in its splendour
Is unmoved by her surrender
And faint through the water
The lights like brittle stars
Someone called her name out
She no longer hears the cars
Christine...
This is my favorite song on the Liberator album. Overall I feel it's OMD's weakest album (an opinion which Andy McCluskey himself shares) but this song alone makes the album worth buying. The lyrics and music are beautifully atmospheric and dreamlike.
The song is about a woman who works as a stripper or prostitute because it's the only way she can support herself and feed her kids. The line "If someone calls her name out, all she ever hears are cars" I think indicates that there are people who want to help her, but she's oblivious to this, all she hears are cars, possibly those of punters pulling up outside the strip club/brothel.
Going by the final verses I think she chooses suicide as an escape by drowning herself in the river, leaving the money for her kids. The way the lyrics and music combine at the end convey a feeling of escape, a carefully planned suicide that gives her a sense of triumphance in escaping. The lyrics "And faint through the water, the lights like brittle stars" are beautiful imagery. In my opinion this is the one song on Liberator that proved 100% that OMD still had it.
I agree with the existing post, but it only fully came into focus when I read the lyrics.
The only line I don't get is in the beginning when he says, "She will ride under the water" like maybe she's doing something no one knows about? or something so sinister that it needs to exist underneath the place where she will choose to rest for the rest of her days?
It's a beautifully magical song. Sad, but with exuberance and splendor. I am ok with Liberator as an album although I do think the better tracks are rather dull lyrically (Dollar Girl, Heaven Is, etc.). Lyrically, this is the best song on the album. I wonder why he chose Christine as the title, unless this person actually existed.
@Pizaster I always read "She will ride under the water" as suicide by drowning. The next line is "She will leave her son and daughter", which indicates (to me) that her children will be left without a mother as a consequence of her drowning.
@Pizaster I always read "She will ride under the water" as suicide by drowning. The next line is "She will leave her son and daughter", which indicates (to me) that her children will be left without a mother as a consequence of her drowning.
"It bathes her in its splendour Is unmoved by her surrender"
Really speaks to the beauty and power of water. RIP Christine.