The way she shows me I’m hers and she is mine/
Open hand or closed fist would be fine.
Hozier’s “Cherry Wine” is about an intimate topic that doesn’t get discussed often–a woman physically abusing her male partner. The thoughts and lessons are universal enough to just say that the song is about physical abuse. The stripped down mood is appropriate and we feel almost uncomfortable with the vulnerable and intimate story.
HozierTheir relationship is sometimes like a normal one, and that makes him look forward to those times even more. However, the rest of the time he walks on eggshells because he is afraid he will catch her eye when she is in a bad mood. This will often lead to him receiving a beating that leads to blood being spilled. It hurts but he wants it.
He (and she) justify this because she does it because she loves him. So, he “wants” more beatings because he wants more of her love. If that weren’t enough, the girlfriend is also cheating on him and is very suspicious of his actions…which leads to more beatings.
“Cherry Wine” does not wrap up tidily; he is still justifying her beatings because her love is divine and that is how she shows it. Her love is like cherry wine- both good and bad for him. But mostly bad. And of course, Cherry Wine is the color of the blood that spills during their arguments.
Cherry Wine Lyrics
Her eyes and words are so icy
Oh but she burns
Like rum on the fire
Hot and fast and angry as she can be
I walk my days on a wire.
It looks ugly, but it’s clean,
Oh momma, don’t fuss over me.
The way she tells me I’m hers and she is mine
Open hand or closed fist would be fine
The blood is rare and sweet as cherry wine.
Calls of guilty thrown at me
All while she stains
The sheets of some other
Thrown at me so powerfully
Just like she throws with the arm of her brother.
But I want it
It’s a crime
That she’s not around most of the time.
The way she shows me I’m hers and she is mine
Open hand or closed fist would be fine
Blood is rare and sweet as cherry wine.
Her fight and fury is fiery
Oh but she loves
Like sleep to the freezing
Sweet and right and merciful
I’m all but washed
In the tide of her breathing.
And it’s worth it, it’s divine
I have this some of the time.
The way she shows me I’m hers and she is mine
Open hand or closed fist would be fine
The blood is rare and sweet as cherry wine.
Songwriters: Andrew Hozier Byrne