A Look Into "Dear Wormwood"
NOTE: this was made for a recorded video, not written
Intro: (5-15+ seconds)
(fade w/ last on thru dark deep valley “Valley (Reprise))
The Oh Hellos’ 2015 album, Dear Wormwood, explores an abusive relationship through letters written by the protagonist to the antagonist. Through 13 songs, we hear their story.
Open w/ a small part of “Prelude (Dear Wormwood)”
That music you heard is from “Prelude (Dear Wormwood)”, the opening track to the album. This album acts as a second volume and echoes their previous album, Through the Dark and Deep Valley. The previous album is about the protagonist’s past and Dear Wormood is about the future. We, as the listener, are seeing their relationship begin to deteriorate and reach the end.
-In the second track, “Bitter Water”, a song about reflection upon the relationship and why it was bad. This song goes through the fact that it hurt both parties, but specifically made the author regret their decision to stay in it.
-The first chorus goes as; “I still taste you on my lips/ Lovely bitter water/ The terrible fire of old regret is honey on my tongue/ And I know I shouldn't love you/ I know I shouldn't love you but I do“
-The biblical meaning of bitter water is that it was used to see a wife had committed adultery. So, the reflection upon betrayal and abuse faced.
-I’m not going to go through all 13 tracks, but I will address 3 characters that show up consistently. The author, the recipient, and the King. There’s some more, like Death, God, and a horse.
-We are introduced to the coming of the king in the couplet of “Exeunt” and “Caesar” and Death in the pair of “Pale White Horse” and “Where is your Rider?”.
-The latter couple carry out more religious themes through the album. That makes sense, due to the nature of the material it's based on and inspired by, but we’ll come back to that Idea.
-The next song, “Soldier, Poet, King'' is *very* religious. It's about the second coming of Christ and people’s reactions to it. Again, we have a reference to the character, the King. Side note, it got popular from both animatics on YouTube and also faced a resurgence from TikTok.
-The next song is the climax. The titular song, “Dear Wormwood” swells with acknowledgement and recognition. The author is finally seeing that they need to get out. They see the terrible things that the antagonist has done. We hear the author begin to recognize that “No, you do not make me. I see how terrible you were for me. I am who I am. I Don’t need you.” and I think that’s incredible.
-With the next song, “Danse Macabre” (donce muhcob), we hear about the character of Death again, which is what the song is about. It is straight instrumental and yet the meaning is connected to the triumph of the previous track.
-And track number 13, “Thus Always to Tyrants” or “Sic Semper Tyrannis”, which is what Brutus (allegedly) said after killing Julius Caesar. Now, for the previous songs, I’ve been going off what the duo has said and what the Genius site annotations have been. I’ve adjusted them to my actual views, some are wildly different to what’s written, but they are along the same lines. This part is all original thought, not even a glance at the websites except for lyrics.
-“Thus Always to Tyrants” is about the cycle of abuse and breaking the cycle. It's a song about winning and freedom. This song is not one about grief and loss, it's about the fact that they have done it. Their abuser is gone and now they can come alive again.
-The coda to this song is “Where I go, will you still follow?/ Will you leave your shaded hollow?/ Will you greet the daylight looming/ Learn to love without consuming?” and it addresses the fears of the antagonist still being out there, even if the protagonist knows they’re safe. The cycle of abuse is something that struggles to release and here it is apparent. They’ve learned to love without needing to take over, so can you.
Closing: (20-30+ seconds)
(have ending of “Thus Always to Tyrants”)
Though “Dear Wormwood” is not my favorite Oh Hellos album, it is by far the most powerful one. It is an album that means the world to me and I would encourage everyone and anyone to listen to their entire discography. They’re music is beautiful and tells stories that make you consider life. Love should not be painful, friends. Love is something to cherish. Let them show you that.
(close with lyrics mentioned)
areudirty
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