What does The Queen and the Soldier mean?

Suzanne Vega: The Queen and the Soldier Meaning

Album cover for The Queen and the Soldier album cover

The Queen and the Soldier Lyrics

The soldier came knocking upon the queen's door
He said, "I am not fighting for you anymore"
And the queen knew she'd seen his face someplace before
And slowly she let him inside

He said, "I've watched your palace up here on the hill
And...

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  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    Anifares
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     Oct 9th 2011 !⃝

    I think it´s about a female who guards her heart closely after being hurt. She uses men, maybe for pleasure, but leaves them and breaks their hearts before they can break hers. This one guy comes really close and oversees the situation. He tells her he sees her how she is but still loves her and wants to be with her. She really really wants to be with him, but she doesn´t dare for fear of having her heart broken or for fear of depending on another human being and not standing on her own two,lonely,feet. She does not actually kill him, but kills the possibility of a relationship by locking him out and not speaking to him again.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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     Mar 12th 2013 !⃝

    This clearly is a song about a young ,repressed virgin queen who expresses her internal battle with her own desires through needless battles by her solders. She allows the solder to come in to her room " but never once took the crown from her head."- she both allows him to approach intimacy, but keeps the barrier of her her power, her crown, between. She is very young and doesn't understand her own sexuality. Even menstruation perplexes her. "it cuts me inside and often I've bled." It's she and not the solder who doesn't understand "and may as well not try." all she knows is that she "wanted more than she ever could say," she doesn't understand her desires.
    Obviously confused, she momentarily let's the solder overpower her -"he bowed her down to the ground." The falling of. the crown brings her back to reality and the need to control her desires. So she "closed herself up like a fan."
    Scared by the momentary loss of control, she flees the room and chooses to have the soldier killed rather than confront the feelings he brings out in her. And so " the (internal) battle continued on.

  3. Zimrid
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     Oct 30th 2013 !⃝

    I think this song could work as a tribute to any girl who uses men to play power and control games or to any man who has the character to confront them.

    Any girl who knows she's in a high position can "wage war," on people who are helpless and this goes on everywhere throughout society.

  4. anonymous
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     Oct 8th 2013 !⃝

    The soldier is heroic but disillusioned and believes his queen's wars are pointless. He tells her so, forcefully. She hints that the wars hurt her terribly,but may not be pointless,and for political reasons she cannot tell her soldiers what is behind them.The reason for the soldier's death is ambiguous, but may be because warfare has penetrated the realm as far as the castle gates.

  5. anonymous
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     Dec 2nd 2012 !⃝

    I have always believed that this is not the first man who has promised the Queen love--it has happenned before, and each time her heart has been broken, and hardened. This is the "secret burning thread" which cuts here inside. The "soldier" is arrogant in believing that she will change for him--arrogant enough to force her to bow down to him. This is why she does not follow, and orders him killed. Her heart has been broken before, and she will not let it happen again.

  6. Yuval Mishory
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     Jan 24th 2011 !⃝

    More information about the song (and many other of Suzanne Vega's) can be found here: http://rustedpipe.vega.net/the_queen_and_the_soldier.htm

  7. anonymous
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     Jan 24th 2011 !⃝

    He has exposed her to herself, causing her the pain she retreats from. She can't allow him to live because he has touched her vulnerabilities and bowed her to the floor. Even her crown is off balance. Her childishness may be case for useless war, her decisions made on impulse or hurts she has experienced.

  8. moonbunny529
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     Jan 23rd 2008 !⃝

    This song paints a story that is both beautiful and strange. It's about this queen who doesn't want to show she's weak, but one day this soldier comes to tell her he doesn't want to fight a pointless war. She decides to tell him her secret, but cannot risk him telling other people or letting the other soldiers see she is letting him get away with defiance. She needs to keep her up the troop morale. So, even though she may love him, she has to kill him so as not to appear weak and I think she feels a lot of anguish and regret. It shows that a lot of times we do things we don't want to do or shouldn't because it will save us from looking weak.


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