I've made this suggestion before without getting barred from any concerts, so I think you're safe, Paul.

Menstruation is one thing that sets the queen apart from the male advisers and generals around her, something that adds to her isolation. She also seems to know little about it (she may not have a mother who's alive or any other women who are close to her), hence her superstitious belief that it's caused by some mysterious thread she swallowed. And she may feel a lot of shame over it, hence its status as a "secret"; bleeding is often seen as a sign of injury, hence weakness, and the one thing this queen doesn't want anyone to know about is any sign she might be weak.

Her description of the burning thread is also the only thing she reveals about herself in her conversation with the soldier -- it's the only time she lets her guard down with him. And of course he can't be allowed to live after that.

Symbolically, the thread may refer to another "burning" she feels -- the desire awoken in her by the soldier, as you put it. But I don't think it's the first time she's felt this kind of desire; it's clearly something she's been suppressing for some time.

Suzanne has had a more prosaic explanation for this: she once owned a cat that literally bled internally after swallowing a thread. I'm not sure that entirely rules out the other interpretations, however.

I think we can also safely assume that the "Soldier" is, in reality, the personification of the penis -- which, as we've previously established, forms the basis for all of Suzanne's recorded work.

-- Dave H, preparing to write an extensively-researched book on Suzanne's lyrical obsession with the subject. (Watch for me on the talk show circuit.)

In 1980, in their album "Duke", Genesis sang some lines lost in a long instrumental piece, that go like this:

"You kill what you fear
And you fear what you don't understand"

Every time I listen to this, "The Queen And The Soldier" comes to my mind. Unintentionally I always imagine the soldier thinking, or even mumbling, these words to the lonely queen, while being taken to be killed.

And "killing" doesn't have to be taken literally, I guess. The killing of an emotion or a relationship, can be equally as definitive and tragic as a physical death.

That same Genesis album tells loosely the story of a music producer who gets tired of the music star he was helping, the moment the star becomes so big she allows herself to behave as a diva he starts to despise. Genesis called her "the duchess", I'll call her "the queen".

So we have a "The Queen and The Soldier" story, set in a music studio.

In my associative way of imagining stories, I immediately step out of the studio context to the relationship between that female star and her fans. Or one fan in particular to focus the storyline.

And so we have almost intuitively a dedicated fan that after some events unknown to us realizes the person behind the star he once reverenced as a queen, is someone whose frailties, can simultaneously be looked at with sympathy and fear. In a last attempt to call the diva to an earthly ground he commits the audacity of addressing her as if to an equal.

At first the queen cannot help feeling fascinated by the warmth of this contact that takes her by surprise. This is not how people usually talk to her. Typically there's adulation and respect, that no matter how sincere they may be, are comforting and pleasant. But they can also seem meaningless and void. This person brings heartfelt honesty, but also an irreverence almost touching disrespect, in his attempt to speak to the soul so carefully hidden behind the impressive public image.

But suddenly the demands of the public life speak louder than any romantic illusion about subversion of roles or unexpected twisting of the planned script.

Awaken from the initial shock, just when she seemed to be making sense of the surprising message this honest fan had to deliver, the queen calls the securities, who cast the fan away like a bag of garbage.

How dared he? Who did he think he was for trying to get so close, and to see so much more than what she was prepared to allow. With him her last traces of consciousness and kindness were eliminated. The show had to go on...

From song to song, I finish with a line from a Marillion music-business song. I like to think this was the fan's message:

"Don't you ever wonder if this will to win is a weakness?"


José Carlos

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http://www.vega.net
http://setlists.vega.net
http://rustedpipe.vega.net

Another way to look at this situation is to say that the hypothetical female star probably has a personal life, and people in it who know much more about her frailties than would a fan who only knows her through her public persona. And if the star (a hard-working single mom, perhaps) wishes to set some boundaries, the fan shouldn't take it too personally.

Bob,

Did you take my free association as if I were saying Suzanne is the Queen of my story????

Don't worry, that would be ridiculous. Suzanne is a very sweet and approachable person. Unlike the character of my story I don't think she has ego problems, or problems to relate with those who care for her.

I was inspired by two other songs, and played with an eventual paralelism with "The Queen And The Soldier", a song I like to come back to, each time with a new approach. Just that.

Also, when I have something to say to Suzanne I do it directly, as everybody knows. I have no need to play with double meanings.

What about you? I hope your post doesn't represent the idea you have of me

Your friend,
José Carlos
(tired of fighting things I cannot see)

---

http://www.vega.net
http://setlists.vega.net
http://rustedpipe.vega.net

Here's another video link from the documentary site- this one to Queen and the Soldier from Bourge, France, shot in 1993 by Suzanne's brother Timothy.

http://homepage.mac.com/mooncusser/Vega/iMovieThea ter133.html

Recently I wrote a translation in Italian of this lyric. It isn't a literal translation, I made my best effort to keep the original meaning, the tone and the rhythm but not the rhyme. Hope Italian fans enjoy it ;-)


Il soldato e la Regina
---------------------------------------
Il soldato ando' a bussare alla porta della Regina
e disse: <<Io non combattero' per te, mai piu'>>.
La regina ricordo' di aver gia' visto la sua faccia un tempo
e lentamente lo lascio' entrare.

Lui disse: <<Ho guardato il tuo palazzo quassu in collina,
e mi sono chiesto qual e' la donna per la quale noi tutti uccidiamo (l'amore) .
Ma io ora me ne sto andando per sempre, qualsiasi cosa tu faccia...
solo che prima ti chiedo 'perché?'>>

In un lungo e stretto corridoio fu condotto
nelle stanze di lei, decorate dei suoi arazzi rossi.
Non si tolse la corona dalla testa, nemmeno una volta,
e gli chiese di sedersi.

Lui disse: <<Ora ti vedo, e tu sei cosi' giovane
ma ho visto tante battaglie perdute, molte di piu' che vittorie.
E ho una intuizione, tutto questo e' solo per il tuo divertimento.
E ora vuoi dirmi perché?>>

La giovane Regina lo fisso' con uno sguardo arrogante
e disse: <<Non capiresti, non provarci nemmeno!>>
_Ma_la_sua_faccia_era_quella_di_una_bambina_, sembrava quasi piangesse
invece lei si richiuse in se stessa, come un ventaglio.

Lei disse: <<Nascondo un segreto tagliente come la corda di un violino
mi ferisce dentro, e spesso sanguino...>>
Lui pose la sua mano sul capo di lei
e insieme si stesero a terra.

<<Raccontami quanto ti senti affamata, quanto devi sentirti debole
vivendo qui da sola, senza mai rivelarti (=rivelare le tue emozioni) .
Ma non marcero' piu' sul tuo campo di battaglia.>>
E la porto' alla finestra a guardare.

_Ed_il_sole_era_di_fuoco,_ed_il_cielo_era_ghiaccio _
_e_lei_avrebbe_voluto..._piu'_di_quanto_avesse_mai _potuto_dire_.
Ma lei sapeva quanto cio' la spaventasse,
e si volto' per non guardare mai piu' la faccia di lui.

E lui disse: <<Desidero vivere da uomo onesto,
avere cio' che merito e dare tutto cio' che posso
ed _Amare_una_giovane_donna_che_non_riesco_a_capire_:
sua Altezza, i tuoi modi sono molto strani!>>

Ma la corona era ormai caduta e lei temeva si sarebbe rotta (come l'incantesimo che la bloccava)
e resto' immobile dalla vergogna per il modo in cui il suo cuore la fece trepidare.
Lei condusse il soldato all'uscio e chiese di aspettarla,
sarebbe rientrata solo per un momento.

In lontananza si udi' l'ordine di lei
e il soldato fu ucciso mentre aspettava di ascoltare la sua Regina.
E mentre la Regina tornava a tormentarsi nella solitudine che si era scelta...
la battaglia continuava.

Grazie! ho apprezzato molto la traduzione di questo bellismo brano!
ciao

God, I don't know a lick of Italian (though it is not so hard to figure out especially if you have taken a foreign Romance language before, like Spanish, and if you have a little backgroun in Latin, like me), but it just sounds so beautiful and passionate when you try to say it. You know, there is that "Great Acoustics" LP from like 1984 where she actually sang this in Italy and I am pretty sure that her title that she said at the beginning of the track was exactly the same as yours, (luKa), only with different word order. I believe she said that it was "La Regina E Il Soldato" (which does match, literally, the word order of "Queen" and THEN "Soldier".)

Otherwise, great work. I'll have to read it and imagine it being sung. I'm sure it would be GREAT, sung in Italian. I've tried reading the work that Christina Rossetti wrote in Italian (some verse) and even though I couldn't really get the meaning, I could really get the flow and beauty of it.

My idea is that the soldier is the aspect of self that the queen does not feel she can uphold because of her duties. When the soldier says "I am not fighting for you anymore" he is letting her know that it's time to decide which part of herself is more valuable. He is asking her to decide which aspect in herself is stronger and to follow that aspect.

She takes him into her room which is coloured red... the symbolic colour of war and death, hence too renewal and survival. The base chakra is red located in the physical area of our sexual impulse which also fuels our survival instinct.

The soldier self challenges the tyrannical queen with "why?". The queen knows that the soldier won't understand and so when challenged by her own emotions "she closed herself up like a fan" implying there is no room for compromise on this - her dominating feeling is to honour her queen aspect and duties at the cost of her compassion. In confronting herself in this manner the queen has shown herself to be an ordinary person with weakness "it cuts me inside, and often I’ve bled" - again here the theme of survival is strong. This secret burning thread is fascinating to all of us… the above discussion reflects this desire we all have. We are all a part of something much bigger and the longing to reconnect is strong in all of us.

Here too the soldier demonstrates to her the ability to bow to others and concede her role as a royal. Maybe this knowing is integral to the queen’s decision. She is after all the queen.

The roles of queen and soldier are far too opposing and confronting for a reasonable decision to be made. They lack the balance that maybe she is in need of at this time. Her choice is one OR the other... not both. She is the queen and so she needs to protect all aspects of self. This is her duty and her duty is also to her people. She is always aware of this. To maintain our own balance we must integrate and honour all aspects of self – not destroy the aspects we like while honouring only the parts we like. If we fail to honour our whole self we risk losing our relationships with people. The queen demonstrates this clearly.

Next the soldier mentions her yearnings and takes her to the window to view a golden sun that shines through grey skies... gold is seen by the occultists to be the symbolic colour of ascension for the soul and the sun signifies the male yang aspect. It is said that by recognising the (symbolic) gold in ourselves we are able to overcome our darker aspects and know ourselves better. The queen wants it but it frightens her as it does every one of us…. "she turned away"!!!!

….this is the saddest point in this song for me....

The soldier pleads with love - the greatest and only healing tool we have but the next part is really significant... her crown "it had fallen, and she thought she would break". Oh my sadness!!!

The crown chakra located at the top of the spine, the centre of the skull, connects our physical self with our higher self and the heavens above us - what Hindus refer to as the godself... her roots into her queen identity are strong at the expense of maintaining her emotional balance. As majestic as her physical role is - it lacks the balance which will bring her fulfilment and eternal happiness. So she continues "on strangling in the solitude she preferred".

This song is sad because the queen saw her own happiness and chose not to partake. She wasn’t yet able to integrate her two aspects of self that would provide her with the balance she seeks.

But even though she's killed the soldier - the battle continues!! So hope lives on for her yet. I know I’m still fighting for her... my beloved strong queen. Thank you again Suzanne for showing us all the very best in ourselves. xxx

For me, the queen is a very reserved person who has built a defensive wall around her to protect her from people getting close to her. The soldier is a special person who takes the trouble to try and break down the wall and find out what the real queen is like. She lets him into her 'room' and it seems as if maybe she is going to let him succeed to get through to her. But she can't quite do it, so she 'kills' him - effectively obliterates him from her life - and she is left alone 'strangling in the solitude she preffered'. Only of course, it is only a very small part of her that wants the protection from hurt that solitude can provide........ the sad thing is that what she really wants is to be out there right in the middle of the battlfield, right in the middle of life. But, she just can't do it........

isn't she already on her own battlefield? i think chris you're very right about her desire to be in the middle of life. she lacks her centre precisely because she is overidentifying with her personae - her public image has overtaken her emotional aspect and is even suppressing it effectively - "she closed herself up like a fan"...

thank you both, maryanne and chris, for your great posts. let me just add one thought. the "secret burning thread" is such a great image and metaphor, because, to me, it really holds within the queen's, and ours, essential struggle, the one between the public and the private. the "secret burning thread", to my eyes, is what ties these two together and makes them a whole. this "thread" is "secret" because it's up to each of us to find the right expression to this connection, and it is "burning" because it can hurt and heal at the same time.

i agree with you, maryanne: the queen is off center internally, because she can't, for the time being, give a full and truthful expression to her private world and therefore to all the parts of her self. but she has "swallowed a secret burning thread" so the possibility of connecting her public and private worlds is there, inside her. and so the battle goes on, in this case an inner battle, one we all share with her.

love,
fátima

For me "secret burning thread" is a metaphor of something what we have done, because we wanted ("I've swallowed it") and when it occurred not good for us it is burning and destroying us internally. I agree that whole metaphor has something with private and public. Many people can see that we are bleeding, but this is a secret thread, so it stays inside us. People can see results, but not the source which could be very painful and first of all is a secret. This has something with what is subjective and objective in this world. Bleeding could have cleaning effect, but it could cause death too. You can bleed, but thread stays inside with no way of getting out (I think so, because she often bled). Awareness of something what hurts and can't get out is the strongest impression of this metaphor for me.

be well

Anna Maria K.

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"like a shadow, I am and I am not"

I enjoy seeing such deep analysis! Everyone has such interesting ideas...thought I'd give it a go...

This type of decision,i.e. to destroy the soldier, comes, I believe, from the outgrowth of not sharing the "secret burning thread." This secret burns within because it was never shared, rather swallowed. That swallowing of secrets may seem a good idea at the time, because then we don't have to see it, deal with it. But if it's left too long, then it burns, it cuts, and it makes us bleed.

In alternative medicine, bleeding from the digestive system is an expression of repressed tears. It's the body saying, "You're not letting me cry, so I'll find another way to cry!"

Why the thread? Because the theme continues. The threads run through the mural of life, and if we refuse to follow the thread, then we'll keep on seeing it show up again and again.

I LOVE the idea of the soldier and queen being aspects of self! Maryanne, you wrote, "To maintain our own balance we must integrate and honour all aspects of self – not destroy the aspects we like while honouring only the parts we like. If we fail to honour our whole self we risk losing our relationships with people. The queen demonstrates this clearly."

The issue then becomes trust. This is the burning thread for the queen, to trust or not to trust. The thread swallowed was that trust was betrayed. So she decided that trust was weakness. But never trusting is blood-letting as well! SO the battle continues... There is some hope, but trusting humanity is indeed frought with limitations. That's when I believe we need to go to the "eighth chakra," of above and beyond, of past, present and future. That's where the secret can be discharged, the thread embraced and cherished, the bleeding and cutting stopped, and all aspects of self can be accepted and loved.

Enough for now,

Miriam K.