Taking Your Life in Your Hands Lyrics

Lyric discussion by foreverdrone 

Cover art for Taking Your Life in Your Hands lyrics by John Cale

In Cale's autobiography (What's Welsh for "Zen"), he said he hopes it's obvious enough: Mama is being taken to prison, because she killed several people.

But whether she killed her own children? He wanted to leave that ambiguous

He complained how hardly anyone ever bought Music for a New Society, the LP which leads off with this track. He said, "I didn't write it to make people jump out of windows," but it sounds as if he wrote it for people who are (at least) giving it serious thought.

This—and other songs on it—are memorable. But its lovely sheen is like thin ice; by comparison, White Light/White Heat sounds like a funfair. John has every reason to be proud, but did he imagine people would clamour to buy it?

My Interpretation