This Womans Work - interpretation !

["De Fish! of Waikato University, Hamilton, New Zealand" <DFONG@waikato.ac.nz>]

Path: waikato.ac.nz!dfong
From: dfong@waikato.ac.nz
Newsgroups: rec.music.gaffa
Subject: This Womans Work - interpretation !
Message-ID: <1992Aug7.225645.9949@waikato.ac.nz>
Date: 7 Aug 92 22:56:45 +1200
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
News-Moderator: Approval required for posting to rec.music.gaffa
Lines: 58


Hi.

I don't recall any discussion on this song, so here goes :

I would be pretty interested in anyone's interpretation of 'This Womans Work'.

It's one of my most favourite KaTe songs, the instrumentation, absolutely
lovely vocals...blah blah blah need I go on.

Anyway, recently I was discussing this song's meaning with someone.

When I originally heard the song the first few times, I took it as being
sung from a male perspective, ("I stand outside this womans work...").
A pretty simple assumption, eh ?
But later I saw it as a woman speaking on the verge of a new change in her
life, e.g. on the onset of having a baby,etc.
And how she's looking back on the things she didn't have and didn't do.


Below is someone else's (similar) interpretation on it, and below it
is my answer to that.

******************************************************

It can be taken from both gender views can't it ?
(it can...both can be trapped.  I read this book once about how men can
get trapped by being 'male', parts of it were quite sad.  But I think it
does apply more specifically to women.  It makes me think of women who
have a family and do everything for them and they just take it all for
granted, and she reaches middle age and suddenly finds she has no identity
or self esteem...and has lost all the things she had in her youth (especially
those things that made her attractive).  It really is very sad.  And its 
no ones fault - its just that she is a byproduct of society's cruel agenda)

******************************************************

-- I really like your idea.  I'll read the lyrics again, with that in mind.
Some men do get trapped by being 'male', this can be applied to women as
well.  Actually, it's just the common problem of wanting to do something but
not doing it, because it's not the norm.

******************************************************


As you can see, we talked about normal philosophical sexual stereotypical
stuff...

Anyway, if anyone has any official word on the song or would like to share
their own thoughts, please do so.

As a last note : wasn't it used in a movie ?
	I haven't seen the video clip for it; is there any indication of
the song's meaning in it ?

ta in advance everyone !

De Fish!