“Teardrop” – Massive Attack
(Words/music: Robert “3D” del Naja/Elizabeth Fraser/Grantley Marshall/Mushroom, available on Mezzanine, Virgin 1998)
“Teardrop” isn’t written as a series of haikus, but it feels like it could. With the exception of a few lines at the beginning and the repeated line at the end, every line of lyrics contains five syllables (students of literature – if you know what a poem like this would be called, let me know). Even without the structure, “Teardrop” shares the meditative quality of a haiku. Even on paper, the words read like a simple poem, with the meaning coming out in the repetition. Elizabeth Fraser from the Cocteau Twins repeats entire lines (“teardrop on the fire” and “fearless on my breath” specifically), but it’s the ideas that bind together her words – acts of nature (“night,” “fire,” “water,”), states of mind (“love,” “fearless(ness),” “impulsion), and physical reactions (tears, breathing, stumbling). Even though she declares that love is a “doing word,” most of the action feels internal, comparing her state of mind to the elements around her. Rather than feeling paralyzed by love, Fraser’s narrator finds strength reflected in nature, giving her the taste of fearlessness even while the rest of her being tries to catch up.
Musically, Massive Attack provides the meditative background for the protagonist’s search for solace. When repurposed as the opening music to the medical drama House, “Teardrop” feels eerie and haunting. When paired with Frazer’s poetry, it makes me think of the kind of things that haunt a person – in the narrator’s case, it might be uncertainty and hesitation. If this type of reflection might be called “confronting one’s demons,” perhaps “ghosts” – the memories of past events and actions – might be more appropriate. Regardless, it’s beautifully haunting, as the darkness gives way to the revelation achieved by meditating on an evaporating teardrop.
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