I interpreted this song as to be about the power of sisterhood and how women need to stick up for each other; in this case, a girl is experiencing FGM (female genital mutilation), commonly just called female 'circumcision', which is illegal in the U.S. but not in African and Asian countries. The narrator 'hears' the girl's cries 'in the howling wind'. She barely hears it because the victims of FGM are rarely heard, as are female victims of other crimes, as everyone in the first world countries that could do something about wretched practices is too busy with their own life. The girl is in agony, is having nightmares, and is unsure of her future. Meanwhile her family celebrates it as a ritual, as if the mutilation was great. Cyndi says that when she was writing the song she was learning about a story of a girl who was about to be mutilated and her family was celebrating it, so that was her inspiration for much of the lyrics.
I interpreted this song as to be about the power of sisterhood and how women need to stick up for each other; in this case, a girl is experiencing FGM (female genital mutilation), commonly just called female 'circumcision', which is illegal in the U.S. but not in African and Asian countries. The narrator 'hears' the girl's cries 'in the howling wind'. She barely hears it because the victims of FGM are rarely heard, as are female victims of other crimes, as everyone in the first world countries that could do something about wretched practices is too busy with their own life. The girl is in agony, is having nightmares, and is unsure of her future. Meanwhile her family celebrates it as a ritual, as if the mutilation was great. Cyndi says that when she was writing the song she was learning about a story of a girl who was about to be mutilated and her family was celebrating it, so that was her inspiration for much of the lyrics.