‘Babooshka’ is a song of love and hate. Her husband has, one suspects, lovingly stood by her for years, weathering her moodswing tears and frigid temperament (her neurotic depression?). If ‘Babooshka’ calmed down, she would know this! She knows him exactly! Just like she knows exactly the type of woman he would fall for (someone just like herself all those years ago!) Yes, if only she calmed down! … But she is self-destructing on jealous delusions, mid-life boredom, idle fantasy, etc. etc… She can’t be nice with him. Instead, she recklessly uses her ‘insight’ to test his fidelity, scheming the perfect trap! … “Exactly! A pseudonym to fool him!” … She wants him to fail the test. Why? I doubt she could answer that. Maybe she just ‘wants out’… But she is too reckless to consider impact… She wants drama… She couldn't have made a worse move…
The husband is excited by the scented letters. But they only arouse in him feelings and longings for his wife all those years ago! He is bewitched by her charm all over!
The wife is similarly seduced and aroused by ‘Babooshka’… So she wants to take her own trap further… The alter ego works on them both like a Circean drug… Indeed, the wife both is and is not ‘Babooshka’… So is the husband ever tempted to commit an infidelity? …
The denouement? … He is left with confused longing for what she is not and only too aware of what she has become… And the hard-won lesson fills her with a shattering fury…
The song reminds me of the myth of Jason and Medea … that is, before he went off with Creon's daughter! :o)
It is a tragic reflection on the breakdown of communication and the foolish consequences of a distorted sense of reality.
This is exactly the interpretation I had from the first time I heard it. I don't think it's too hard to figure out.
This is exactly the interpretation I had from the first time I heard it. I don't think it's too hard to figure out.
Since the song ends with him telling Babooshka he's all hers, you don't get to hear what came after when he finds out it's really his wife. But I like to think that such an encounter has a positive ending, along the lines of, "Hey, it's actually you all along! What happened to our live together? Why can't you be this way as yourself?"
Since the song ends with him telling Babooshka he's all hers, you don't get to hear what came after when he finds out it's really his wife. But I like to think that such an encounter has a positive ending, along the lines of, "Hey, it's actually you all along! What happened to our live together? Why can't you be this way as yourself?"
If she couldn't, then the relationship is over. If she can, well, it opens up a new chapter in their lives.
‘Babooshka’ is a song of love and hate. Her husband has, one suspects, lovingly stood by her for years, weathering her moodswing tears and frigid temperament (her neurotic depression?). If ‘Babooshka’ calmed down, she would know this! She knows him exactly! Just like she knows exactly the type of woman he would fall for (someone just like herself all those years ago!) Yes, if only she calmed down! … But she is self-destructing on jealous delusions, mid-life boredom, idle fantasy, etc. etc… She can’t be nice with him. Instead, she recklessly uses her ‘insight’ to test his fidelity, scheming the perfect trap! … “Exactly! A pseudonym to fool him!” … She wants him to fail the test. Why? I doubt she could answer that. Maybe she just ‘wants out’… But she is too reckless to consider impact… She wants drama… She couldn't have made a worse move…
The husband is excited by the scented letters. But they only arouse in him feelings and longings for his wife all those years ago! He is bewitched by her charm all over!
The wife is similarly seduced and aroused by ‘Babooshka’… So she wants to take her own trap further… The alter ego works on them both like a Circean drug… Indeed, the wife both is and is not ‘Babooshka’… So is the husband ever tempted to commit an infidelity? …
The denouement? … He is left with confused longing for what she is not and only too aware of what she has become… And the hard-won lesson fills her with a shattering fury…
The song reminds me of the myth of Jason and Medea … that is, before he went off with Creon's daughter! :o)
It is a tragic reflection on the breakdown of communication and the foolish consequences of a distorted sense of reality.
This is exactly the interpretation I had from the first time I heard it. I don't think it's too hard to figure out.
This is exactly the interpretation I had from the first time I heard it. I don't think it's too hard to figure out.
Since the song ends with him telling Babooshka he's all hers, you don't get to hear what came after when he finds out it's really his wife. But I like to think that such an encounter has a positive ending, along the lines of, "Hey, it's actually you all along! What happened to our live together? Why can't you be this way as yourself?"
Since the song ends with him telling Babooshka he's all hers, you don't get to hear what came after when he finds out it's really his wife. But I like to think that such an encounter has a positive ending, along the lines of, "Hey, it's actually you all along! What happened to our live together? Why can't you be this way as yourself?"
If she couldn't, then the relationship is over. If she can, well, it opens up a new chapter in their lives.