White's haunted blues quickly found a home on Oakland's Double Negative Records with them only hearing her four-track demo. Fooling around with music since pre-school, White started on piano around the same time she learned to read, eventually picking up the guitar during her college days.
After graduation White moved to Bordeaux, France, where she performed with a bevy of independent French artists further honing her songwriting skills. Upon returning stateside, she moved to SF and began recording four-track demos formulating the songs that would ultimately become her debut album, Dark Undercoat.
Her second album entitled Victorian America was released in 2009 in France (and in 2010 in the U.S.). it was written largely in San Francisco and Oakland.
Her third album entitled Ode to Sentience was released in 2011.
www.emilyjanewhite.com
The Ravens
Emily Jane White Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A sunken skull imprint
Of out bodies on the bed
A plaster mold it seems
Delicate, enshrined
A masterpiece
Left to die
Here we go again
A splitting of the wood
Carved and thinned
Until there's nothing left
But some shavings and
An album that you left
Behind
Oh my broken bones
Crippled and thrown
To the wayside
But we weren't in it to win
Our love it grew and died, begin again
And a violent wind
Ripped the wave from the shore
And I know that you caved in
And surrendered to your cold and brutal nature
And so I walk the line
To the beating of this never ending lie
The ravens they fly low
Death a ubiquitous member
And knock forever more
Or just break down the door
To this labyrinth of your twisted heart
But I am just like you
Selfish and abused
There is a shadow
That stalks my hide
But what do you do with this skin
A home in which you live
It's insufficient
But we weren't in it to win
Our love it grew and died, begin again
And a violent wind
Ripped the wave from the shore
And I know that you caved in
And surrendered to your cold and brutal nature
But you know I understand
So I’ll drop the ball from up on high
And watch it descend
Growing ever further from my eye
And so I walk the line
To the beating of this never ending lie
The Ravens by Emily Jane White is a hauntingly beautiful song that can be interpreted in a variety of ways. One interpretation could be that it’s about the experience of a relationship that has died or is in the process of dying. The bats dropping at night could signify the end of something, the death of a relationship perhaps, and the sunken skull imprint of the bodies on the bed conveys the heaviness, the weight of the past. The delicate plaster mold that was left behind is a metaphor for the relationship that was once beautiful but has now been left to die. The idea of carving and thinning until there’s nothing left symbolizes the slow and painful process of the relationship’s decline.
The violent wind that ripped the wave from the shore may represent the force that tore the couple apart. They weren’t in it to win, just to experience love and grow from it. But it ultimately ended in surrender to a cold and brutal nature. The ravens that fly low and knock forever more or break down the door to the labyrinth of the twisted heart may be a representation of death, or maybe the pain of the relationship itself. Yet, even with all the pain and suffering, the singer admits to being just like her lover, selfish and abused. The song ends on a melancholic note, walking the line to the never-ending lie of a love that has gone cold.
Line by Line Meaning
The bats dropped night in
The darkness of the night fell upon us like bats descending from the sky.
A sunken skull imprint
Our bodies left a mark on the bed like a skull sunken into the ground.
Of out bodies on the bed
Our physical forms imprinted upon the bedspread.
A plaster mold it seems
The impression of our bodies was captured like a plaster mold.
Delicate, enshrined
The mold was delicate and seemed like it had been preserved or enshrined.
A masterpiece
The mold was a work of art, capturing the beauty of our bodies.
Left to die
Despite its beauty, the mold was left to decay and perish.
Here we go again
We are once again repeating the same patterns and mistakes.
A splitting of the wood
A breaking apart of something solid like wood.
Carved and thinned
Through force and precision, we have been shaped and reduced.
Until there's nothing left
We have been whittled down until we are practically nonexistent.
But some shavings and
All that remains are the scraps and remnants of what we used to be.
An album that you left
The only trace of our existence is an album that you abandoned.
Oh my broken bones
My bones have been shattered and broken.
Crippled and thrown
I have been disabled and thrown away.
To the wayside
I have been left by the side of the road like trash.
But we weren't in it to win
We did not enter this situation with the goal of coming out victorious.
Our love it grew and died, begin again
Our love was born, blossomed, and then perished, leading us to start anew.
And a violent wind
A forceful and destructive wind.
Ripped the wave from the shore
The wind pulled the waves away from the shore, disrupting the natural order.
And I know that you caved in
I am aware that you gave up and gave in.
And surrendered to your cold and brutal nature
You gave into your harsh and unfeeling ways.
And so I walk the line
I must tread a careful path.
To the beating of this never ending lie
I must follow the rhythm of the perpetual falsehood.
The ravens they fly low
The birds of death fly close to the ground.
Death a ubiquitous member
Death is an omnipresent and constant figure.
And knock forever more
Death knocks at the door relentlessly.
Or just break down the door
Or it breaks down the door without warning.
To this labyrinth of your twisted heart
Death comes to navigate the winding and dark corridors of your corrupted heart.
But I am just like you
I resemble and am similar to you.
Selfish and abused
I have been both self-centered and wronged.
There is a shadow
There is a looming darkness.
That stalks my hide
That closely trails and haunts me.
But what do you do with this skin
What does one do with their physical envelope?
A home in which you live
The skin is the place where one resides.
It's insufficient
However, it is not enough.
But we weren't in it to win
Once again, we did not set out to be victorious.
Our love it grew and died, begin again
Our love bloomed and died, as we now begin again.
And a violent wind
Once more, a violent wind.
Ripped the wave from the shore
Again, the waves were taken from the shore.
And I know that you caved in
Once more, I am aware that you gave in.
And surrendered to your cold and brutal nature
Once again, you succumbed to your harsh and unfeeling ways.
But you know I understand
However, you should know that I can empathize.
So I’ll drop the ball from up on high
I will release control from my grasp.
And watch it descend
And observe it as it falls.
Growing ever further from my eye
As it grows more distant and remote.
And so I walk the line
And as a result, I must maintain a careful balance.
To the beating of this never ending lie
To the rhythm of this perpetual falsehood.
Contributed by Tristan W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Elizabeth Bradshaw
So beautiful
Michael Sutter
It's magical