This is a beautiful song but the poster who said it was about the love between Dodgson (Carrol) and Alice is spot on and shouldn't be ridiculed for it. It's really obvious in the play. I mean, as a song about forbidden love it is fantastic in its own right and it being about paedophilia doesn't diminish how good of a song it is.
Fish & Bird is sung by The White Knight as he rescues Alice, then Alice joins in in a duet. Alice sings the third verse ('Tell me that you will wait for me') to the White Knight first, then the White Knight sings the last verse to Alice. Also of note is that this takes place in a picture frame. Carrol regularly took photos of Alice and it's a recurring theme in the play and it expressly says in the playscript that Carrol's lens 'extends slowly and menacingly at her' which is a clear metaphor. The play mentions 'stopping time ' a lot, as in a photograph. I also thought it was tide at first but it is, in fact, time which is a theme that also crops up a lot in the play. Dodgson's desire for Alice and him fighting that desire is metaphotically shown when Alice discusses the photograph with the Cheshire Cat.
"That's wonderful, don't you think, Kitty? How close he wanted me, and how far away he kept me."
So, the White Knight IS Dodgson/Carroll. The White Knight also sings Poor Edward later which is about how torturous his love for Alice is.
The really obvious part is afterwards when Alice is being accused by the Black Queen, "Going off like that, with a man (The White Knight/Carroll) old enough to be your father!"
The evidence she presents are letters written by Dodgson/Caroll to Alice expressing his love. Then, The White Knight comes and says "The little girl is innocent. I am the guilty one here" and then "I am the White Knight. I wrote the letters." Since the White Knight is Caroll, this is Caroll admitting his guilt in loving Alice.
TL:DR version - saying it's about paedophilia isn't 'a ridiculous veil of "ooh, man fancies little girl"', it's the literal interpretation and meaning of the entire play and Waits wrote it expressly for that purpose. It's doubtful Carrol was a paedophile in real life but that doesn't matter in the context of the story told by the play.
This is a beautiful song but the poster who said it was about the love between Dodgson (Carrol) and Alice is spot on and shouldn't be ridiculed for it. It's really obvious in the play. I mean, as a song about forbidden love it is fantastic in its own right and it being about paedophilia doesn't diminish how good of a song it is.
Fish & Bird is sung by The White Knight as he rescues Alice, then Alice joins in in a duet. Alice sings the third verse ('Tell me that you will wait for me') to the White Knight first, then the White Knight sings the last verse to Alice. Also of note is that this takes place in a picture frame. Carrol regularly took photos of Alice and it's a recurring theme in the play and it expressly says in the playscript that Carrol's lens 'extends slowly and menacingly at her' which is a clear metaphor. The play mentions 'stopping time ' a lot, as in a photograph. I also thought it was tide at first but it is, in fact, time which is a theme that also crops up a lot in the play. Dodgson's desire for Alice and him fighting that desire is metaphotically shown when Alice discusses the photograph with the Cheshire Cat.
"That's wonderful, don't you think, Kitty? How close he wanted me, and how far away he kept me."
So, the White Knight IS Dodgson/Carroll. The White Knight also sings Poor Edward later which is about how torturous his love for Alice is.
The really obvious part is afterwards when Alice is being accused by the Black Queen, "Going off like that, with a man (The White Knight/Carroll) old enough to be your father!"
The evidence she presents are letters written by Dodgson/Caroll to Alice expressing his love. Then, The White Knight comes and says "The little girl is innocent. I am the guilty one here" and then "I am the White Knight. I wrote the letters." Since the White Knight is Caroll, this is Caroll admitting his guilt in loving Alice.
TL:DR version - saying it's about paedophilia isn't 'a ridiculous veil of "ooh, man fancies little girl"', it's the literal interpretation and meaning of the entire play and Waits wrote it expressly for that purpose. It's doubtful Carrol was a paedophile in real life but that doesn't matter in the context of the story told by the play.