No Subject

for several different things: death, virginity, purity, innocence, and
friendship.  White roses are "friendship" roses.  They are also, I am
told, the only thornless roses.  They are also used at funerals a lot.

In some places, the color white, rather than black, is considered the
color of death.  Kate must be aware of this -- look how strongly the
color white plays in the Dutch video for the song "The Kick Inside".

It seems to me that in "Under the Ivy" the white rose is simultaneously
a symbol for death, innocence, and friendship.  It seems to me very
likely that the song is about the contemplation of suicide and the song
is addressed to Death, but it could also be that Kate is just sad about
a dear friend who is dead, whose grave is in her back yard, and she
wants understanding company.
	
	Everything I read dealt with the virgin while the red
	rose is the sign of *life* and the flow of menstrual blood.
	Walker also mentions The Rose, a traditional Mummers'
	dance/ritual that was performed to celebrate death and
	resurrection.  Could this be the party reference?

Actually, I think the party symbolizes life, or perhaps modern day life.
"Away from the party".  Away from the problems and triviality of modern
day life.

	Now if I'm correct, after Kate sings, "Go into the garden.  Go
	under the ivy.  Go under the leaves..." she sings, "Marie", one
	of the many variations on the name, Mary.

It sounds like "for me", not "Marie", to me.  In fact, the background
vocals also sound to me like "for me".  Anyone else have any other
opinions?

	This could be something of an invocation and another means of
	emphasizing the white rose symbolism.  Another interesting
	aspect of the song is the pun made with the white rose, also
	heard as white rows, or grave markers.

I doubt that "white rows" is intended.  The song is too intimate to
conjure up images of large graveyards.

	Note the following poem by William Blake:

		The Garden of Love

		I went to the Garden of Love,
		And saw what I had never seen:
		A Chapel was built in the midst,
		Where I used to play on the green.

		And the gates of this Chapel were shut,
		And 'Thou shalt not' writ over the door;
		So I turn'd to the Garden of Love
		That so many sweet flowers bore;

		And I saw it was filled with graves,
		And tomb-stones where flowers should be;
		And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds
		And binding with briars my joys & desires.

What a great poem!

	This is a characteristic poem on the sanctity of natural love
	and the cruelty of religious prohibitions.

	Is the "it" that Kate sings of in the song sexual union?

Why would you think that?  No, she's talking about her secret place
where she goes when she is sad, where the ivy and the leaves and the
grave and the white rose are.

She might also be talking about the answer to all problems -- death.

	I'm not going to venture forth with a definite answer as I've
	been wrong so many times before; however, there is a heavy dose
	of mythos in the song which is certainly the key to *something*.

	....

	"Women have been burnt as witches simply because they were
	beautiful." -- Simone De Beauvoir

	....

	In the "Suspended in Gaffa" video, did you ever notice -- well,
	I'mm sure you have -- the white butterfly?  A white butterfly is
	a symbol of the female soul as presided over by *Psyche*.  Also,
	wheels, such as the ones in the video, were used as torture
	devices long ago; *St. Catherine* was martyred "by the wheel".
	Now, St. Catherine's Wheel is recognized as symbolic of female
	sexuality.  I know the Gaffa controversy has been cleared up as
	meaning gaffer's tape, but I think Gaffa sounds like a baby
	word, a contraction of *God* the *Father*.

I dunno.  I can't see it as standing for "God the Father".  It doesn't
seem to make much sense like that.

	I don't think we'll ever know what that word *really* means.
	Kate is too much of an artist to divulge her secrets.

I agree.  There must be some reason "Gaffa" is capitalized.  Unless it
turns out "Gaffa" is a brand of gaffer's tape, there must be something
Kate is not telling us.

	Further, are we sure Kate is speaking to her Earthly mother or
	her spiritual mother, the Great Mother, when she asks, "Where
	are the angels?"

Well, her real mother appears in the video when she says that....
(Which is pretty obscure because how many people would know that that is
her mother?)

			"That cloud!
			 That cloud -- it looks like ivy!"

			 Doug