Here is Liz to take you away...
* * *
I fell in love with Coeur de Pirate when her first song "Comme des Enfants"became a YouTube sensation because one famous francophone journalist had used it as a soundtrack to his son playing with his toys (don't ask). As soon as I stepped foot in Quebec, I ran to buy her CD and listened to it the first time around without stopping until the end. I died a little. She is basically everything I could possible ask from an artist, wrapped up in a fantastic Quebecoise-French bow.
I picked the song "Corbeau" for three reasons. First, I obviously had to pick a French song to stand out a little! Second, I read an interview with Coeur de Pirate in which someone asks her the meaning of the song, or at least the title (which literally translates as "Raven"). Her answer was so vague and mysterious, it made me want to analyze more for myself. Finally, I picked it because it's a lesser known song from her first album, but I love it so much I just want everyone to know it!
Essentially, the song is about a couple at the end of their relationship. One of them has remained very free and unattached, which the other has really "become" the relationship, so to speak. The song takes the perspective of the second person, explaining how difficult it is to break free, to start over, to let go.
Wilted Soul
She sat on the edge of the bed, unsure whether to lie down or stand up. Next to her, he slept, unaware that she was awake. She looked at him and found herself thinking about the first time they'd met.
She was seduced from the moment he introduced himself. It wasn't love at first sight; that seemed like a silly concept in comparison to what she had felt. With him, she was home, she was reuniting with an old friend, she was curled up on a couch with her favourite blanket. That's the best way she could describe it with words. It had been one of those nights where, in retrospect, nothing grand really happened. But in the moment, it had been perfect. Two of her friends had been present too, but that was kind of a blur. It was all about him.
Four years. She was very fond of those four years. They had spent them apart, reunited, apart, reunited...but never really together. Yet they had grown closer. She had told him her dreams, her hopes, her fears. Her everything.
After four years, she had felt like it was meant to be. A modern fairytale. But it wasn't. It was her golden cage.
The truth is, she had placed her soul in his hands. It was no longer hers to control, to share. That would all have been more than okay with her, had she given her soul in return for his. At the time, she had been so focused on opening up and letting him in, she hadn't realized that he wasn't doing the same. He was free, because he was the only one who truly knew who he was.
So now there she was, unsure whether to leave or stay. Without him, she wasn't herself anymore. She was a paler, more toned down version. She didn't laugh as loudly, she didn't seem as bubbly, she didn't argue for what she believed in. Because she didn't really know what she believed in anymore.
No one would understand her like he did. No one would know how vibrant and bold she once had been. Her ambitions, once boundless and all-consuming, had been watered down to the simple will to get by. She had completely lost herself in him, and he had let her.
Slowly, she got up. She tiptoed out of the room. She opened the front door, stepped outside, and closed it quietly. Outside, the rain felt like ice against her skin. She was leaving what she knew, her comfort zone. But sometimes, it's the end and all that's left to do is make a dramatically quiet exit and start over. It kinda felt like one of those times.
She was seduced from the moment he introduced himself. It wasn't love at first sight; that seemed like a silly concept in comparison to what she had felt. With him, she was home, she was reuniting with an old friend, she was curled up on a couch with her favourite blanket. That's the best way she could describe it with words. It had been one of those nights where, in retrospect, nothing grand really happened. But in the moment, it had been perfect. Two of her friends had been present too, but that was kind of a blur. It was all about him.
Four years. She was very fond of those four years. They had spent them apart, reunited, apart, reunited...but never really together. Yet they had grown closer. She had told him her dreams, her hopes, her fears. Her everything.
After four years, she had felt like it was meant to be. A modern fairytale. But it wasn't. It was her golden cage.
The truth is, she had placed her soul in his hands. It was no longer hers to control, to share. That would all have been more than okay with her, had she given her soul in return for his. At the time, she had been so focused on opening up and letting him in, she hadn't realized that he wasn't doing the same. He was free, because he was the only one who truly knew who he was.
So now there she was, unsure whether to leave or stay. Without him, she wasn't herself anymore. She was a paler, more toned down version. She didn't laugh as loudly, she didn't seem as bubbly, she didn't argue for what she believed in. Because she didn't really know what she believed in anymore.
No one would understand her like he did. No one would know how vibrant and bold she once had been. Her ambitions, once boundless and all-consuming, had been watered down to the simple will to get by. She had completely lost herself in him, and he had let her.
Slowly, she got up. She tiptoed out of the room. She opened the front door, stepped outside, and closed it quietly. Outside, the rain felt like ice against her skin. She was leaving what she knew, her comfort zone. But sometimes, it's the end and all that's left to do is make a dramatically quiet exit and start over. It kinda felt like one of those times.
* * *
Elisabeth Perron is kinda close to graduating with a degree in chemical engineering, which she plans to never use again. She wears white socks unapologetically, is constantly getting dirty looks for laughing too loudly in quiet places, and always carries an umbrella just in case. You can check out her ditz (and occasional wit) over at Liz on Life.
See more of our contributors and other Art 4 Art projects on the contributors page.
Coeur de Pirate is a singer-songwriter from Quebec. More of her beautiful music can be found at her website, Coeur de Pirate. Check it out. You won't regret it.
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