I believe this song is about toxic masculinity in general but I also tend to subscribe to the homosexuality angle specifically, and how gay children are treated in a toxic and suffocating upbringing, in this instance gay young boys.
The protagonist is raised by his brother after the death of their parents, and after awhile it becomes clear the younger sibling is "not right" - considering the anachronistic seemingly mid-19th century period this song seems set in, as well as the psychosexual feel of the song, it seems likely that the perceived "wrongness" from his older brother's perspective is homosexuality. The line about the experience in the elementary school might be exemplary to this; the brother engages in experimental activity with his peers, as many people do when they're coming of age. Obviously the environment he lives in is suffocating and unapproving, and his brother reinforces this by telling him he is wrong and defective - later on comparing his "wrongness" to the "wrongness" of the baby calf the brother owns.
As for the bull, which is integral to the song, there's some obvious phallic and disturbingly venereal imagery in this song. The reference to the brother's "brand new blade" is obviously phallic and I believe it probably refers to the penis as a symbol of masculinity and strength.
This is reflected in the central part of the song, where it seems as though the protagonist's brother forces the protagonist to watch his bull mate with their neighbor's cow, maybe multiple times (or even worse, forcing his brother to undergo heterosexual behavior with a woman and the animals are just a metaphor? Munly's lyrics are so oblique it's hard to really tell). In the end, too, it's something the younger brother is still continually shamed and ridiculed for, by comparing the behavior of the calf to the behavior of the protagonist in a negative and insulting light, as his parents and brother both did. He came into the world "backwards" by the standards of his family and the repressive society around him, and given how he was treated for his ultimately normal behavior, he ends up internalizing it and truly feeling as though his desires are defective. Such was the sad reality of many gay/LGBT teens, and still even continues in many conservative upbringings to this day.
I believe this song is about toxic masculinity in general but I also tend to subscribe to the homosexuality angle specifically, and how gay children are treated in a toxic and suffocating upbringing, in this instance gay young boys.
The protagonist is raised by his brother after the death of their parents, and after awhile it becomes clear the younger sibling is "not right" - considering the anachronistic seemingly mid-19th century period this song seems set in, as well as the psychosexual feel of the song, it seems likely that the perceived "wrongness" from his older brother's perspective is homosexuality. The line about the experience in the elementary school might be exemplary to this; the brother engages in experimental activity with his peers, as many people do when they're coming of age. Obviously the environment he lives in is suffocating and unapproving, and his brother reinforces this by telling him he is wrong and defective - later on comparing his "wrongness" to the "wrongness" of the baby calf the brother owns.
As for the bull, which is integral to the song, there's some obvious phallic and disturbingly venereal imagery in this song. The reference to the brother's "brand new blade" is obviously phallic and I believe it probably refers to the penis as a symbol of masculinity and strength.
This is reflected in the central part of the song, where it seems as though the protagonist's brother forces the protagonist to watch his bull mate with their neighbor's cow, maybe multiple times (or even worse, forcing his brother to undergo heterosexual behavior with a woman and the animals are just a metaphor? Munly's lyrics are so oblique it's hard to really tell). In the end, too, it's something the younger brother is still continually shamed and ridiculed for, by comparing the behavior of the calf to the behavior of the protagonist in a negative and insulting light, as his parents and brother both did. He came into the world "backwards" by the standards of his family and the repressive society around him, and given how he was treated for his ultimately normal behavior, he ends up internalizing it and truly feeling as though his desires are defective. Such was the sad reality of many gay/LGBT teens, and still even continues in many conservative upbringings to this day.