If you haven’t heard the song, then here it is…

http://youtu.be/c0iEj7alzAI

Let’s examien the lyrics for a bit shall we?

If I die young, bury me in satin

Lay me down on a bed of roses

Ever wondered why why taking a woman’s virginity is refered to as “de-flowering”? Maybe you should take a look at some Georgia O’Keeffe paintings.

This is her art, get it now? Do you need it spelled out? Yes? Well fuck you then, you’re an idiot and you are making me write more than I should. So already two lines into the song and we are whistlin dixie about vaginas via the symbolism of flowers. Given this, and the title of this post you should know where this is going. Flowers = vaginas. She’s talking about roses in this song, roses are flowers. Moving on…

And I’ll be wearing white, when I come into your kingdom

I’m as green as the ring on my little cold finger,

I’ve never known the lovin’ of a man

This is pretty clearly spelled out in the song. She has never had sex. White is a common symbol of purity and virginity, and well, whe’s never known “the lovin’ of a man”. Its also common in patriarchal societies that sexual chasity is highly valued in women. In patriarchal society a women is either a virgin or whore, there is no inbetween. And attachted to each label is a verbal weapon used against women. If a man’s advances towards a woman are not successful he labels her an “ice queen” or “prude”, but if she does accept she is labeled as a “whore”. Woman in the patriarchal society is forced into two roles each with bad outcomes. The existential dillema is unresolvable.

So put on your best boys and I’ll wear my pearls

What I never did is done

And here is where it all comes out. You see, virginity is highly valued in patriarchal societies, and the women victimized by such society have been programed to want to be desirable towards men. At the same time woman are sexual creatures just like the rest of us, and must gratify themselves sexualy. How to solve the problem? Sodomy and other non-vaginal forms of intercourse, and in the two lines listed above is where we see that. The words “putting on pearls” could be seen as a refernce to bukkake, in which ejaculating sperm around a woman’s neck is refered to as “giving her a pearl necklace”. This interpretation is further supported by the fact that she says she will put them on after the boys “put on thier best”. Women in patriarchal society often must marry to gain access to financial resources. The boys “putting on thier best” is them trying to show that they can be a provider by having the outwards signs of affluence: nice clothes. Not only is this person in a patriarchal society but a capatilist one at that. Also the line “what I never did is done” can be read as a variation on the popular sentiment that its not really sex if the pussy aint penetrated. I had friends in highschool that didn’t consider oral sex to be sex, and I am certian you have also heard the dubiouse claim at one point in your life. Well here we see the individual in this song saying the same thing but at the exact same time, deep down inside, admitting that it really was sex, “what I never did is done”.

Its clear that woman in this song is dealing with the sexual repression neccesary to survive as a woman in a patriachal society, and its bubbling over the top.

Sidenotes

There are also a few lines in the song that talk about a knife. Knifes are phallic, and a common waepon used to coerce people during rape. I was gonna write a more detailed section about that part of the lyrics, but I got lazy. So here it is.