It's about being a woman in a society that's tough for women. Happiness in society is only for the beautiful and the slim ("The road to enchantment was not mine to take
'Cause lower calf, upper arm should be half what they are") and those who aren't are cast aside. What's important is a woman staying young, being beautiful, having a man ("where's your husband?") and keeping her man by doing these things ("watch your back").
It's about two women - the one with the "collection of sticks" who tried to live by all the rules and was miserable trying to be something she was not, until finally one voice got through and she had a revelation that she could be herself and not play by the rules.
The other woman is the teenager who was so unhappy because of her weight/appearance, that she felt she didn't belong, and tried to commit suicide (the poisonous apple) but she met the "woman of voices" who taught her what she had learned, that she does, indeed, have value beyond her looks and what men think. And those lessons stayed with her throughout her life.
I think this is one of Dar's most beautiful songs.
It's about being a woman in a society that's tough for women. Happiness in society is only for the beautiful and the slim ("The road to enchantment was not mine to take 'Cause lower calf, upper arm should be half what they are") and those who aren't are cast aside. What's important is a woman staying young, being beautiful, having a man ("where's your husband?") and keeping her man by doing these things ("watch your back").
It's about two women - the one with the "collection of sticks" who tried to live by all the rules and was miserable trying to be something she was not, until finally one voice got through and she had a revelation that she could be herself and not play by the rules.
The other woman is the teenager who was so unhappy because of her weight/appearance, that she felt she didn't belong, and tried to commit suicide (the poisonous apple) but she met the "woman of voices" who taught her what she had learned, that she does, indeed, have value beyond her looks and what men think. And those lessons stayed with her throughout her life.
I think this is one of Dar's most beautiful songs.