Young Writers Society

The phrasing of you never were the best reminds me of Ultraviolence Era Lana Del Rey.

“ It’s not my fault you were stupid.

It’s not my fault you were easily killed.”

I like that these lines give us an idea of what happened to Gabriel. He was stupid and easily killed. That can be a complex feeling to articulate, the anger at him for getting himself killed despite the obvious sorrow they’re trying not to feel. It’s easier to convince themself that they never lived him.

“You mean nothing to me.

You never did, dear Gabriel.”

I like the co treat of you mean nothing to me and “dear Gabriel”. The singer is trying very hard to cope with the complex feelings of intimacy that shouldn’t have been taken from her. There can be a part of her mind that knows it’s over and done and she shouldn’t have cared about him anyway but now there are all these feelings she’ll never get to resolve. So she’s stuck singing them.

I very much get the idea that she doesn’t realize what she’s saying isn’t mutually exclusive. You can have loved him and still think he got what was coming to him. And does she even believe that or is that just what’s she’s telling herself so it’s easier to move on?

Lovely piece. There are a lot of good elements here in such a short song.

This is beautiful even if I don’t know the story! The woman is in a state of confusion but in a state of realisation and guilt too, this short piece of carefully thought out text perfectly captures and summarises the emotions of what that character must be feeling. Why must she love someone who never treated her right? Why must she loved someone who was deserving of the fate he was given? She doesn’t need to, she isn’t indebted to him at all.

Very Elizabethan, fine choice.