The Queen and the Soldier
Get used to posts like these, guys. I like to share fascinating things!
I first discovered this song on a Final Fantasy VIII fanmix. I really, really love tragic ballads and poems, and even though this one grabbed hold of me from the opening, I truly didn’t know what to make of it at first.
I listened to it a couple more times after first playing it. I’ve listened to it countless times since then.
And you know what? I don’t think there is really any single way to decipher it.
The Queen and the Soldier by Suzanne Vega
(Lyrics are below, but it’s much more fun if you listen to the song unfold)
The first time I heard it, dozens of questions swarmed: What’s made the queen that way? Is the soldier much older than she is, or he just more war-weary? Did they once know each other more intimately? Wait… is he in love with her? Is she with him? Is she merely inexperienced or secretly calculating? Was her answer tragically cut short, or did she plan it that way all along?
Second listen: “Wait…was he fighting for her hand in marriage? Is that it? He’s a gladiator of sorts and she’s the judge? Harsh. ”
Third listen: “Is it even about a queen and a soldier? Is this an allegory for something?”
So…yeah:
The Queen and the Soldier
The soldier came knocking upon the queen's door
He said, "I am not fighting for you any more"
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, and 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 gray
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, and 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 strangling in the solitude she preferred
The battle continued on
*
I’ve since discovered that people have TONS of interpretations of this song. “It’s about fear of committment”; “It’s about the abuse of power”; “It’s symbolism for growing up”; “It’s got religious undertones,” and so on.
Even the singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega has said that she still hasn’t figured out what it’s about! I sort of love that it’s so open to interpretation :p I can listen to it one day and hear one thing; listen to it another day and hear another.
My interpretation right now? They were childhood friends who drifted apart due to class differences(‘The queen knew she’d seen his face someplace before’); the soldier has always been fascinated with her from a distance and sometimes wonders if they could’ve had a chance together(My support for this: ‘And to love a young woman who I don’t understand/Your Highness, your ways are very strange.’. Him saying that he’s wondered ‘who the woman’ is…it’s just him wondering what royalty has forced her to turn into :p ). Faced with and finally recognizing him, the queen is pained to remember the innocent life she had before duty called her to rule a kingdom and contend with wars(‘The crown it had fallen, she thought she would break’).
Annnd it all ends abruptly before she can give him any sort of answer. I am liking this because it ups the tragic ballad factor.
--Tomorrow I may think that they don’t know each other at all, and meeting someone with such a conscience jars the cold young woman so much, that she orders him murdered. M-hm.
There’s another version by Kate Rusby and Kathryn Rusch that, in the ending, repeats the first four lines. Sometimes I think it’s for dramatic impact, like the awesome, spooky repetition at the end of Alfred J. Noyes’ The Highwayman. Other times, I like to think it could mean that this isn’t the first soldier who’s visited the queen with such concerns, and he won’t be the last. Sad, really.
*
…And because some part of me always thinks in terms of fandoms, all these interpretations remind me of some ships I like:
1. Spike/Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)- Ahaha. I don’t even know, except, the queen makes me think of S6!Buffy. And there’s that emphasis on how young and pained she is that make me think of…Buffy’s character in general.
Plus the image of soldier!Spike amuses me. So there.d
2. Vincent/Lucrecia(Final Fantasy 7)- seriously, the whole song can be a metaphor for their relationship throughout the JENOVA project, and beyond
3. Essam/Edriss(from the Visser Chronicle in Animorphs)- Woo, KA Applegate’s epic bodysnatcher love story that thoroughly impressed those who were already fans of the original series. Goes with the times I prefer to see the queen as a dysfunctional mastermind, which Edriss so delightfully was. And Essam was so the earnest, idealistic soldier type.
*
(Last one, I swear)
I found Suzanne Vega’s commentary on this song. Whoa. I’d no idea how tricky the ballad-writing process must be. But of course. It’s story and song and poetry all at once.
I do so love what she said about it:
For two or three hours you're just held by this and you have to finish it. You can't just leave it. You're completely absorbed by this thing. And it seems to be taking place in front of you as though you're watching it. It's a very peculiar thing. And it's wonderful when you feel it. And later you look back and think, "How did I do that?" And it's almost as though you didn't do it. And it's very scary, because you're sure it's never going to happen again.
...It's nice to know that creative passion is creative passion, whatever medium it might be.
I first discovered this song on a Final Fantasy VIII fanmix. I really, really love tragic ballads and poems, and even though this one grabbed hold of me from the opening, I truly didn’t know what to make of it at first.
I listened to it a couple more times after first playing it. I’ve listened to it countless times since then.
And you know what? I don’t think there is really any single way to decipher it.
The Queen and the Soldier by Suzanne Vega
(Lyrics are below, but it’s much more fun if you listen to the song unfold)
The first time I heard it, dozens of questions swarmed: What’s made the queen that way? Is the soldier much older than she is, or he just more war-weary? Did they once know each other more intimately? Wait… is he in love with her? Is she with him? Is she merely inexperienced or secretly calculating? Was her answer tragically cut short, or did she plan it that way all along?
Second listen: “Wait…was he fighting for her hand in marriage? Is that it? He’s a gladiator of sorts and she’s the judge? Harsh. ”
Third listen: “Is it even about a queen and a soldier? Is this an allegory for something?”
So…yeah:
The Queen and the Soldier
The soldier came knocking upon the queen's door
He said, "I am not fighting for you any more"
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, and 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 gray
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, and 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 strangling in the solitude she preferred
The battle continued on
*
I’ve since discovered that people have TONS of interpretations of this song. “It’s about fear of committment”; “It’s about the abuse of power”; “It’s symbolism for growing up”; “It’s got religious undertones,” and so on.
Even the singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega has said that she still hasn’t figured out what it’s about! I sort of love that it’s so open to interpretation :p I can listen to it one day and hear one thing; listen to it another day and hear another.
My interpretation right now? They were childhood friends who drifted apart due to class differences(‘The queen knew she’d seen his face someplace before’); the soldier has always been fascinated with her from a distance and sometimes wonders if they could’ve had a chance together(My support for this: ‘And to love a young woman who I don’t understand/Your Highness, your ways are very strange.’. Him saying that he’s wondered ‘who the woman’ is…it’s just him wondering what royalty has forced her to turn into :p ). Faced with and finally recognizing him, the queen is pained to remember the innocent life she had before duty called her to rule a kingdom and contend with wars(‘The crown it had fallen, she thought she would break’).
Annnd it all ends abruptly before she can give him any sort of answer. I am liking this because it ups the tragic ballad factor.
--Tomorrow I may think that they don’t know each other at all, and meeting someone with such a conscience jars the cold young woman so much, that she orders him murdered. M-hm.
There’s another version by Kate Rusby and Kathryn Rusch that, in the ending, repeats the first four lines. Sometimes I think it’s for dramatic impact, like the awesome, spooky repetition at the end of Alfred J. Noyes’ The Highwayman. Other times, I like to think it could mean that this isn’t the first soldier who’s visited the queen with such concerns, and he won’t be the last. Sad, really.
*
…And because some part of me always thinks in terms of fandoms, all these interpretations remind me of some ships I like:
1. Spike/Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)- Ahaha. I don’t even know, except, the queen makes me think of S6!Buffy. And there’s that emphasis on how young and pained she is that make me think of…Buffy’s character in general.
Plus the image of soldier!Spike amuses me. So there.d
2. Vincent/Lucrecia(Final Fantasy 7)- seriously, the whole song can be a metaphor for their relationship throughout the JENOVA project, and beyond
3. Essam/Edriss(from the Visser Chronicle in Animorphs)- Woo, KA Applegate’s epic bodysnatcher love story that thoroughly impressed those who were already fans of the original series. Goes with the times I prefer to see the queen as a dysfunctional mastermind, which Edriss so delightfully was. And Essam was so the earnest, idealistic soldier type.
*
(Last one, I swear)
I found Suzanne Vega’s commentary on this song. Whoa. I’d no idea how tricky the ballad-writing process must be. But of course. It’s story and song and poetry all at once.
I do so love what she said about it:
For two or three hours you're just held by this and you have to finish it. You can't just leave it. You're completely absorbed by this thing. And it seems to be taking place in front of you as though you're watching it. It's a very peculiar thing. And it's wonderful when you feel it. And later you look back and think, "How did I do that?" And it's almost as though you didn't do it. And it's very scary, because you're sure it's never going to happen again.
...It's nice to know that creative passion is creative passion, whatever medium it might be.