Black Metal Valentine
Califone Lyrics

The lyrics to Califone's song "Black Metal Valentine" are abstract and difficult to interpret with any sort of concrete meaning. They read more like a list of images and phrases that evoke a mood rather than a story or narrative. The repeated mentions of "mudslide daughter", "sons and mothers", and "mask and bed" add to this impression of the lyrics as a collection of fragmented and surreal images.

One interpretation of "Black Metal Valentine" is that it is a meditation on the destructive forces that can come between people who should be close to each other, particularly between mothers and sons. The red hand rising could be a symbol of violence or anger, and the broken feet and spit and shine suggest some sort of brutal physicality. The mention of black metal, a particularly aggressive subgenre of heavy metal music, adds to this sense of aggression and intensity.

Another way to approach these lyrics is as an exercise in free association or stream-of-consciousness writing. The repeated use of certain phrases and images creates a sense of coherence even as the meaning is continuously shifting and elusive. The imagery of the glasswork heart, yolk and scotch, and tiny wrens taking dinner from teeth are particularly evocative, but what exactly they signify is up for debate.