See You In Black

[Nick English]

I don't know if this is totally irrelevant or old-hat by now, but I
recall there was a little mini-discussion not too long about the
SYIB lyrics.

Specifically, the part about "I saw the marks on your hands..."
Everyone was trying to figure out why there would be marks on her
hands. Well, just yesterday I popped HF into the player for the first
time in a month or two, and as I heard it, it just hit me (no pun
intended)...

This woman is obviously a victim of abuse and is trying to hide
it...they make that pretty clear. So she's gonna wear clothes that
cover her up pretty good, plus makeup on the face and all that stuff.
Probably the only thing that would be exposed is her hands. And of
course the blood on the coffee cup comes from a cut inside her
mouth...something else she wouldn't be able to conceal.

I thought that was kind of cool when I figured it out...it shows a
subtlety I hadn't given John Shirley any credit for up to that point.
Not that I think he's a great writer now or anything, but that WAS
pretty clever.

--  Nick