SONG OF DEVASTATION - NUMBER 28

Sonia from Wollongong sent this message, with a Song of Devastation recommendation. Sonia is right. This gorgeous song by Suzanne Vega is a lovely old-school ballad, and the words are beautifully, grippingly, gently devastating. “I've swallowed a secret burning thread/ It cuts me inside, and often I've bled” What a couplet! Thank you so much, Sonia. It means a great deal to me that people take the time to make suggestions for The Stuff Page. The whole exercise feels communal and cooperative. Many thanks! Love Susie x

Dear Nick (and Susie too)
I have a recommendation for a song of devastation for Stuff at The Vampire’s Wife. The song is called The Queen and the Soldier by Suzanne Vega. It’s a beautiful song and the lyrics are heart-breaking. Please take a moment to listen to it with Susie. It really is devastating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcFa9VZxkBc

 

The Queen and the Soldier

The soldier came knocking upon the Queen's door

He said, "I am not fighting for you anymore"

The Queen knew she'd seen his face someplace before

And slowly she let him inside

He said, "I've watched your palace up here on the hill

And I've wondered who's the woman for whom we all kill

But I am leaving tomorrow and you can do what you will

Only first I am asking you why"

Down in the long narrow hall he was led

Into her rooms with her tapestries red

And she never once took the crown from her head

She asked him there to sit down

He said, "I see you now, and you are so very young

But I've seen more battles lost than I have battles won

And I've got this intuition, says it's all for your fun

And now will you tell me why?"

The young queen, she fixed him with an arrogant eye

She said, "You won't understand, you may as well not try"

But her face was a child's, and he thought she would cry

But she closed herself up like a fan

And she said, "I've swallowed a secret burning thread

It cuts me inside, and often I've bled"

He laid his hand then on top of her head

And he bowed her down to the ground

"Tell me how hungry are you? How weak you must feel

As you are living here alone, and you are never revealed

But I won't march again on your battlefield"

And he took her to the window to see.

And the sun, it was gold, though the sky, it was grey

And she wanted more than she ever could say

But she knew how it frightened her, and she turned away

And would not look at his face again

And he said, "I want to live as an honest man

To get all I deserve and to give all I can

And to love a young woman who I don't understand

Your highness, your ways are very strange"

But the crown, it had fallen, she thought she would break

And she stood there, ashamed of the way her heart ached

She took him to the doorstep and she asked him to wait

She would only be a moment inside

Out in the distance her order was heard

And the soldier was killed, still waiting for her word

And while the Queen went on strangely in the solitude she preferred

The battle continued on

By Suzanne Vega