I've heard a lot of debate about the themes of abortion or lost children on the white chalk album, but actually i tend to think there is truth to it. Pj does an incredible job of cryptic lyric writing, which is why i adore her. You can also read into it in incredibly varying ways, so I realize this may just be my interpretation. My personal analysis would say that the "seed" is in fact the child that was not able to be born. You bury a seed of a person much like you bury a plant seed, under ground, so she buries the seed (the abortion or miscarriage). Since the child couldn't live she plants another "seed" (the actual rose) next to it and it represents the growth that would have been the child's. this flower or plant would be marked in time by it's growth just as her child would have. She can pass it later on and see it having bloomed into something beautiful, and almost see the child as the rose. the rose is then personafied as her daughter in
"Teach me mummy
How to grow
How to catch someone's fancy
Underneath the twisted oak grove."
The rose will "learn" to catch someone's eye the more it blooms and grows, much like her daughter would have. But it's a sad and beautiful truth that this is what has become of her.
I've heard a lot of debate about the themes of abortion or lost children on the white chalk album, but actually i tend to think there is truth to it. Pj does an incredible job of cryptic lyric writing, which is why i adore her. You can also read into it in incredibly varying ways, so I realize this may just be my interpretation. My personal analysis would say that the "seed" is in fact the child that was not able to be born. You bury a seed of a person much like you bury a plant seed, under ground, so she buries the seed (the abortion or miscarriage). Since the child couldn't live she plants another "seed" (the actual rose) next to it and it represents the growth that would have been the child's. this flower or plant would be marked in time by it's growth just as her child would have. She can pass it later on and see it having bloomed into something beautiful, and almost see the child as the rose. the rose is then personafied as her daughter in
"Teach me mummy How to grow How to catch someone's fancy Underneath the twisted oak grove."
The rose will "learn" to catch someone's eye the more it blooms and grows, much like her daughter would have. But it's a sad and beautiful truth that this is what has become of her.
Wow, that's a great way of looking at the song, you nailed it Janettamoon!
Wow, that's a great way of looking at the song, you nailed it Janettamoon!