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 TITLE: The Ballad of the Wolf and the Scarecrow ARTIST: Carmen Grant WRITERS: Carmen Grant PRODUCER: Reza Vranitzky LENGTH: 3:46 GENRE: Alternative rock, indie rock, experimental rock LABEL: Permanent Reminder From the Album: Mercury (Released on January 9th, 2014)
"The Ballad of the Wolf and the Scarecrow" is another story-song from Carmen Grant, this time written about a specific relationship that she was in before. Keeping with the theme of the overall debut album, Carmen lets us in on another experience in her past, this time using the characters of the Wolf and the Scarecrow to represent her lover and herself. She describes her lover as "the lone wolf." From the very beginning, the listeners - and Carmen herself, years after the experience - can tell that the Wolf isn't a great guy. He's a lonely liar who never lets people get too close to him. But, of course, in young adulthood, men like that sometimes seem appealing, and the Scarecrow got sucked into his world. Carmen describes herself as the Scarecrow - a nervous, lost, sad woman. She sings the line, "All the hunters came and took her memories back," talking about all the men that she had been with before, and how all of them took something from her - more specifically her memories, or her time - and then leaving her again.
After the introduction of the "characters" of the song, she sings about how the Scarecrow and the Wolf met. "Once they met inside a dirty curtained room / And the rain fell down hard that day on the tin roof," she sings, the setting of the story seeming like a very poor, rundown place. Possibly a dive bar or a club. The Scarecrow recognizes the Wolf as a like-soul and immediately falls in love with him, but warns him that he should keep his heart close to his chest - like the Scarecrow hasn't - or the "hunters" will come and take memories from him as well. The Wolf responds that he's seen what will happen if he gives his heart up to people before, but he's always gotten away from them before they take anything. He refers to the Scarecrow as one of the hunters, and warns her that he'll never stay with her, therefore she will always been looking for him again.
That seems like the end of the story - two people who are probably meant for each other, but have been hurt far too many times to even try to make their relationship work - but in the next verse after the chorus, the story continues. Although the Wolf and the Scarecrow have both been hurt and have agreed to not give their heart up to anybody else, the Wolf charms his way into the Scarecrow's bed, making the Scarecrow think that the Wolf is in love with her. But that night, the memories all of all the heartbreak that the Scarecrow had endured returned to her. Instead of fully giving into the love that she could have shared with the Wolf, she sends him away, killing the idea of any relationship with him and all the lies that she had believed. The song ends on a sad note, leaving the Scarecrow back to looking for real love, and the Wolf unscathed, going on to lie and cheat again.
The song, although folksy in it's story-telling ways, is the most pop sounding song on the entire album. It's obvious that it was Carmen's experiment with other sounds besides her own normal, indie-folk sound, but while still using indie-folk type lyrics. It definitely still has an indie sound to it, but it's not the type of song that listeners would automatically recall was a Carmen Grant song, like Stop Looking and Not Going to Lie are.
He was the lone wolf, you could see it in his eyes
The way he held his heart, the way he held his lies
Sometimes he'd just show up outside on the porch
An hour at a time, like a lonely whore
She was a scarecrow, the way she always looked around
For something she once had and never could be found
Time was on her side, but she never kept track
All the hunters came and took her memories back
Once they met inside a dirty curtained room
And the rain fell down hard that day onto the tin roof
She said, "I've seen you before, I've been looking for you
Better keep your heart close, hunters are coming for you."
He said, "I've seen them before, and I always get away
Because you will never stop looking, and I will never stay."
He was the lone wolf, you could see it in his eyes
The way he held his heart, the way he held his lies
Sometimes he'd just show up outside on the porch
An hour at a time, like a lonely whore
She was a scarecrow, the way she always looked around
For something she once had and never could be found
Time was on her side, but she never kept track
All the hunters came and took her memories back
The lone wolf kissed her mouth, like so many before
Scarecrow closed her eyes and then she closed the door
And the rain fell down on the tin roof when the memories returned the night
Those stolen thoughts killed the wolf and all his lies
He was the lone wolf, you could see it in his eyes
The way he held his heart, the way he held his lies
Sometimes he'd just show up outside on the porch
An hour at a time, like a lonely whore
She was a scarecrow, the way she always looked around
For something she once had and never could be found
Time was on her side, but she never kept track
All the hunters came and took her memories backSOUNDS LIKE:
PJ Harvey - The Words That Maketh Murder
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