I read this as an obsessive relationship. Perhaps even a murder ballad.
The line(s) that convince me this is an unhealthy relationship:
Nobody ever told you that it was the wrong way To trick a woman
Where there's no way out now
Put it in the safe and lock it
especially this line,
"But now you're scared
You think she's running away
You search in your hand for something
clever to say"
Why "hand" and not "head" or "heart" ? Because it is the gun in his hand that means "there's no way out now"
"...and you'll be there when she finds someone new
what to do
Well you know
You keep her
... Put it in the safe and lock it"
It is a pretty messed up idea to "lock up" a person (even metaphorically ) to keep them from leaving you.
Controlling behavior is a basic red flag for domestic violence.
This song reminds me of The Lights of LA County by Lyle Lovett
"When you're driving through the hours with an old friend at your side". When your "friend" is a "beauty of a coal black .45"
Jack White's search "in your hand for something clever to say" "don't go away" to me is haunting.
This is a beautiful, haunting, amazing song. I was completely mesmerized watching him perform it on Jimmy Fallon..
I read this as an obsessive relationship. Perhaps even a murder ballad. The line(s) that convince me this is an unhealthy relationship: Nobody ever told you that it was the wrong way To trick a woman Where there's no way out now Put it in the safe and lock it
especially this line, "But now you're scared You think she's running away You search in your hand for something clever to say"
Why "hand" and not "head" or "heart" ? Because it is the gun in his hand that means "there's no way out now"
"...and you'll be there when she finds someone new what to do Well you know You keep her ... Put it in the safe and lock it" It is a pretty messed up idea to "lock up" a person (even metaphorically ) to keep them from leaving you.
Controlling behavior is a basic red flag for domestic violence.
This song reminds me of The Lights of LA County by Lyle Lovett "When you're driving through the hours with an old friend at your side". When your "friend" is a "beauty of a coal black .45"
Jack White's search "in your hand for something clever to say" "don't go away" to me is haunting.
This is a beautiful, haunting, amazing song. I was completely mesmerized watching him perform it on Jimmy Fallon..