Possession

Posted on by keepsmealive Posted in posts by aaronTagged

Given the popularity of my post about Alanis Morissette’s song Thank U yesterday, I thought I’d see if i could push my luck and drop another post today!

Sarah McLachlan’s Possession is another song I hear all the time at work, and all the ladies sing along and think it’s a pretty song. One even said she thought it was a love song, about passion. Well it is, in a way, but…

Released in 1993, this song is about how McLachlan had some stalkers who sent her letters much to the effect of the lyrics of this song, and it was creepy as hell. Why would she write a song about something so frightening? She was taking the power back, baby. She was saying no, you can’t do this to me. And for that, no matter that I generally don’t listen to her music, I give her full goddamn points.

From Wiki: The song was inspired by McLachlan’s reaction to two deranged fans of hers, both of whom had concocted a fantasy in which they were already in a relationship with McLachlan. Of the two, the more famous is Uwe Vandrei, an Ottawa, Ontario native who sued McLachlan in 1994, alleging that his love letters to her had been the basis of “Possession”. Vandrei had written and sent McLachlan love poems, although there is no direct connection between those poems and the lyrics of “Possession”. Vandrei’s lawsuit never came to trial as he committed suicide in autumn 1994.

In an interview with Rolling Stone three years later, McLachlan said, “And this one person wasn’t the only guy … there were a lot of letters from other people saying the same kind of thing … Writing the song ‘Possession’ was very therapeutic.” She also stated that, since the release of “Possession”, she had stopped getting stalker-type fan letters, for which she was grateful.

When I told the ladies at work to actually listen and understand, they stopped singing along. No shit.

The chorus is particularly troubling when taken in the stalker context: “And I would be the one to hold you down / Kiss you so hard, I’ll take your breath away / And after I’d wipe away the tears / Just close your eyes, dear.”

Yikes!

Check it out:

Listen as the wind blows from across the great divide
Voices trapped in yearning, memories trapped in time
The night is my companion and solitude my guide
Would I spend forever here and not be satisfied?

And I would be the one to hold you down
Kiss you so hard, I’ll take your breath away
And after I’d wipe away the tears
Just close your eyes, dear

Through this world I’ve stumbled so many times betrayed
Trying to find an honest word, to find the truth enslaved
Oh, you speak to me in riddles and you speak to me in rhymes
My body aches to breathe your breath, your words keep me alive

And I would be the one to hold you down
Kiss you so hard, I’ll take your breath away
And after I’d wipe away the tears
Just close your eyes, dear

Into this night I wander, it’s morning that I dread
Another day of knowing of the path I fear to tread
Oh, into the sea of waking dreams, I follow without pride
‘Cause nothing stands between us here and I won’t be denied

And I would be the one to hold you down
Kiss you so hard, I’ll take your breath away
And after I’d wipe away the tears
Just close your eyes, dear

I’ll hold you down
Kiss you so hard, I’ll take your breath away
And after I’d wipe away the tears
Just close your eyes

42 thoughts on “Possession”

    2. Reply
      keepsmealive says:

      Oh for sure, and fair play. I think I just got into a particularly nasty nest of “Sarah” fans that time. I’m sure many of them are normal people who like good music and don’t need to make a THING out of it. 🙂

      Like

        1. Reply
          keepsmealive says:

          Attaboy! And yup, we’re all set to celebrate Queen Victoria. Can’t make huge plans, though, as the kids have swimming lessons Saturday, and my daughter plays soccer on the Monday night. Ah well. Enjoy your long weekend!

          Liked by 1 person

    1. Reply
      keepsmealive says:

      Thanks! Yeah I’m not much of a fan either. I believe I’ve ranted before about her fans and how they turned me right off listening to her for a long time. The music wasnt in my wheelhouse anyway so it wasn’t difficult.

      Liked by 1 person

        1. Reply
          keepsmealive says:

          Oh man, that’s minor. Some of them took her stuff SO seriously, one walked around referring to her just by first name as if she knew her. Cult-like. Explains a lot about the stalkers, actually…

          Like

        2. Reply
          Sarca says:

          My Waah was when they remixed Vox and then wound up playing THAT version on the radio instead of the orig. Seriously, it did NOT need more synth and backing vocals. Wahh!

          Like

          1. Reply
            mikeladano says:

            Here here! I still hear remixed Kiss and Triumph songs on the radio. I always let them know, “Hey this is a remix. Do you have the original?”. Usually they do but sometimes the remixes become the main versions in their libraries.

            Liked by 1 person

      1. Reply
        keepsmealive says:

        Actually, I don’t think it phased them too much. Another song (Billy Joel’s Piano Man) had already come on, you see, and they were already singing along to that even though they didn’t know the words of the verses. Wanna know another special type of hell? Sit through THAT damn long song listening to those women not knowing the words just the melody…

        Liked by 1 person

                1. Reply
                  boppinsblog says:

                  Yeah. being forced to go into a stuffy, old building wearing stupid dress pants, and ugly ass sweater, freezing in winter, and sweaty and gross in summer. Eating a piece of bread, doing the sign of the cross, standing up and kneeling 10 million times, having to hold in farts, chanting the same tired lines week after week, and being surrounded by old people that smelled like moth balls. And yes, my mother glared at me too. As soon as I was old enough I put an end to that, and I don’t subject my daughter to it. Different times. My mom says hardly any young people go to church. Hmm. I wonder why.
                  Good times indeed.

                  Liked by 1 person

                  1. Reply
                    Sarca says:

                    My mom surrounded herself with old people when she wasn’t old…and insisted we do the same. She still is that way in her 70s, and now our church has been deemed defunct and she searches for a new congregation. You know where the young people are? In an airy theatre with a ton of light, a full-on rock band and refashioned hymns. She complains it’s too contemporary. I am thinking, in this situation, change is really good. (my wedding was the last time I went to church).

                    Liked by 1 person

                    1. boppinsblog says:

                      My wife worked with a lady whose husband was a preacher. He teaches guitar and other instruments to the kids and they perform during the service. I would assume it’s not as much fire and brimstones and more about the music. I wish I had that option growing up.

                      Liked by 1 person

                    2. keepsmealive says:

                      My sister married the minister at our church. Didn’t change much for any of us, except she lived in the manse. But it was such a small town, everyone knew everybody anyway. I left the church around 14, but I’d gone to Sunday School all those years as a kid. I don’t even think my folks were that religious, they just wanted to give us the option, you know? It was about as benign as possible anyway, smalltown church has its old lady battles and long-standing grudge garbage, but I never got involved in any of it. It was just where we went Sunday morning until it became something I didn’t do anymore. I haven’t been in a church in years.

                      Liked by 1 person

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