Shades of Scarlett Conquering

This seems to be the portrait of a young woman who’s come out of a bad situation back home in the South to make it in Hollywood. We don’t learn the nature of what happened - it’s referred to only as ‘the fire’. Though as well as the pyres lit under Catholic martyrs, combining ‘the fire’ with the song title suggests the burning of Atlanta in Gone with the Wind. There’s perhaps also a hint that she’s overcome a state of ‘out of the frying pan into the fire’ by getting out of the fire as well - a narrow escape. But whatever happened back there, it’s left her damaged (‘still smouldering’, ‘her deep complaint’, ‘the dark things she feels’, ‘madness’). And while she’s certainly no saint, as the song makes clear, she has the ability to appear like one, at least temporarily (‘southern charm’, ‘impossibly gentle hands’, ‘mimicking tenderness’). Perhaps this is part of an acting talent she’s hoping to capitalise on in LA. And she’s certainly attractive (‘auburn hair’, ‘beauty’), which never hurts in the movie business. That she’s in LA to make it in Hollywood is indicated by various movie references (‘cinematic’, ‘celluloid’, ‘reels’, ‘Gable and Flynn’, ‘stand in boys’, ‘extra players’), though the first and second verses suggest that she’s got no further than being a bit player in Southern films.

Her delicate mental health is becoming increasingly problematic, though, as the damage from her past catches up with her. This echoes similar problems suffered by Vivien Leigh, the actress who played Scarlett O’Hara whose shades our protagonist manifests. Appropriately for someone who wants to act, she uses artifice to cover this up - mimicking tenderness, hiding her need and greed behind a brave face, working ‘harder and harder just to be nice’. But acting only gets you so far, and ‘she covers her eyes in the x-rated scenes’ - possibly violent scenes, more probably sexual ones - presumably because they rekindle memories of ‘the fire’ she fled from. That her problems are connected to sex is reinforced by her men’s accusations that she’s frigid (‘Block of Ice’) - her neighbours are being kept awake not by the throes of passion but by loud arguments. She brings men home yet can’t fulfil their (and presumably her own) expectations. And these men falling for her are taking an unknown risk (‘any man in the world holding out his arm/Would soon be made to pay’, ‘blood red fingernails’). Nevertheless, she continues to use her powers of attraction to work her way through handsome minor actors, and seems to have set her sights on finding a future movie star whose earnings will let her return to the South and live in luxury. But given her fragility and the fact that she’s already struggling (‘not easy to be brave’, ‘so much need’, ‘cast iron and frail’, ‘still smouldering’) you’ve got to think it’s unlikely she’ll succeed - even if she manages to sustain a relationship, would she be stable enough internally to enjoy the riches of such a lifestyle? Straight out of casting for something Southern Gothic, this particular Southern belle is proud and damaged and probably self-destructive. But you’ve got to feel sorry for her.

A beautiful song about the reality that may lie behind beauty. Lots of lovely imagery, alliteration and assonance, soft syllables and a melody that weaves a graceful path through lush, languid orchestration redolent of Southern nights and balls held in porticoed mansions.