Lessons

by Michael Channing

my mother told me that i should keep still
when i'm sitting with my guests
when i'm sitting with my guests

i should always bring them the very best wine
when i'm sitting with my guests
when i'm sitting with my guests

and your husband will always provide
you'll never go without
you'll never go without

and my father told me i shouldn't say a word
when he'd leave my room at night
when he'd leave my room at night

my mother told me that i should keep still
when i'm sitting with my guests
when i'm sitting with my guests

Liner Notes

I've always imagined this song as spare. Some undulating keyboard and/or bass sounds with vocals right on the edge of coming unhinged.

The story of a molesting father and willfully blind mother may be a narrative cliché, but it happens all the time. Sometimes the mother is complicit in the abuse, selling or trading her child to the abuser or even taking part herself. My songs are dark, but I got nothing on reality.

Victims can become abusers, though that doesn't always happen. The more likely outcome is the child learns that he or she is not worthy of love, that pain and suffering are the norm, and they don't deserve love. The destruction of innocence is the most evil of crimes.