Hi,

Noone seems to talk about this great song (to the best of my knowlege) and I was wondering what all (or anyone) of you thought about it.

I deffinately thing it's about divorce, the lines - "Slip me loose of this wedding band" and "Heal this cut we call husband and wife" seem pretty obvious. I guess there is also some kind of a child point of view.
What do you think?

Ana,

To me the more intriguing lines are "Daddy's a dark riddle" and "Momma's a head full of bees."

Yes that is intriguing. I think it's from a child's point of view, as if she's saying that his/ her dad is a hard person to understand. But I don't know... What do you think "head full of bees" mean?

"What do you think "head full of bees" mean?"

Sadly, I think it means that momma's beset by a swarm of stinging thoughts. I suppose you could read it as "buzzng with confusion" but she's also a handful of thorns. She went for the rose, and got no further than the thorns. She went for the honey and got no further than the stingers.

I definitely think this is about divorce. She thought she'd live happily ever after, and now the house is filled with storms - arguments.

Suzanne wants out. She's still got that ring on her hand. They're not divorced yet, but it's coming. She wants out, and she probably feels guilty, sad, angry, and a thousand other painful emotions.

Daddy's a dark riddle. He's got a dark secret. I beleive in fact Mitchell was cheating on Suzanne. But what's interesting about this line is that if you take the song to be a generic song about any old divorce, "Daddy's a dark riddle" could mean that the biological daddy is not the daddy living at home.

Suzanne grew up not knowing her own biological father, so for her, daddy was indeed, a dark riddle.

Great interpretation! I had never thought of that. Thank you!

Ana, .

Thank you for your wise words on this song, both of you. I find the lines about the "little kite" so poignant. Tossed about and caught up so helplessly in the complicated relationship between her parents. I also love that the speaker in the song is aware of her daughter's predicament. It strikes me as such an honest way to deal with the child's difficult position in situations of separation and divorce.

You know, Stell...

When I was a kid, watching Sesame Street, there was this little cartoon short about the letter "K" and in it, a little kitten, who is lapping up spilt ketchup, gets caught in a kite string and floats out the window away into the sky. As a kid, that really freaked me out. I felt so bad for that poor little kitten.

When I hear the line in the song, "You are my little kite, carried away in the wayward breeze" it evolks the same worried, lost, helpless feelings.

But yes, I agree, those lines about Ruby are the most poinant in the whole song. All the mother can do is hold on to that string and reel her back in. All the daugter can do is hang on and be brave.

Stella,
Maybe there are exceptions, but I believe with divorce and seperation the only real pain is the pain parents feel for the children involved, and most of them are aware of the difficult situation, I really hope so!
But ofcourse it's good it's mentioned in the song, not that many song are about this subject. I suppose.
best regards,
Corina

---

mi lang fi di marvelous miracle a hurricane,
fi carry mi goh a meetin stream agen

Linton Kwesi Johnson

"When I hear the line in the song, "You are my little kite, carried away in the wayward breeze" it evolks the same worried, lost, helpless feelings."

Yes it does. I never liked kites because I would worry to much about them flying away, or getting caught on something.

Thank you so much for helping me interpretate this song.

"hang my heart on the line. Scour it down in a wind of sand. Bleach it clean to a vinegar shine."

That verse is... well, it's quite severe. What heart could survive a sand-blasting, a bleaching, and a polishing with vinegar? What heart would be so deeply infested and infected as to require such drastic measures to save it?

Interestingly, soapy water is one of the weapons used to exterminate killer bees and other unwanted swarms. I wonder if Suzanne knew that?