It's not who you love
but whether you can
Hi all,
Thank you for joining me for today’s song, “Matthew”, by Janis Ian. If you’d like to hear the song before you read about it, I’ve included a YouTube video below the article.
Below, you’ll find my interpretation of the lyrics which are written in italics. Comments and questions are welcome. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below. TOEFL (PBT) 450+, Eiken 2, CEFR B1.
A song for Matthew Shepard
(630 words)
The song, Matthew, by Janis Ian, is about a young man named Matthew Shepard. Matthew was a student at the University of Wyoming. He was a kind and thoughtful young man. He happened to be gay.
One night in 1998, Matthew went out to a bar, walking into the bar over the small stones (gravel) of the parking lot.
Footsteps on gravel at the neighborhood bar
Inside the bar, he met some two men he thought were friendly. They offered Matthew a ride back to his home. He agreed, and they all got into a car.
Things start to unravel, then they go too far
The sound of pain written on the wind
Fades to grey and then goes dim
The men stopped the car out on a rural road. They took Matthew out of the car, and they beat and tortured him. They tied him to a fence (which was made of wood, not barbed wire as in the song).
A boy is tied to a barbed wire fence
For the crows to ride, for the claws to clench
The men left Matthew on the fence, bleeding and freezing. The smell of Matthew’s blood mixed with the smell of his cologne.
For the sweet bouquet of blood and bone
To undermine the scent of collegiate cologne
Janis Ian asks the question, “How do we decide if someone is a man?” Is it the clothes he wears? If he has a slight suntan, do we believe the stereotype and assume he is gay?
What makes a man a man?
The cut of a coat, the hint of a tan?
She says it doesn’t matter who you love. The most important thing is that you CAN love another human being.
It's not who you love, but whether you can
What makes a man a man?
.
So who did he harm, what was the crime?
What was it that Matthew did to deserve this horrible treatment? Was it the way he walked or his shy personality?
Did he walk too lightly, did he seem too shy?
Or, did the fact that he was gay make the two men wonder about themselves?
There is a term, homophobia, which, according to the American Psychological Association, means:
n. dread or fear of LGBTQ+ people, often associated with prejudice and bias toward them, that leads to discrimination in such areas as employment, housing, and legal rights. Extreme homophobia may lead to physical violence.
For people who have this fear, they may act out in a violent way. Perhaps it makes them feel they are better than the victim.
Did he make them wonder deep inside?
Did they feel like real men when he died?
Janis Ian imagines that scene late at night on a lonely road in the middle of fields:
Did the waning moon look down from on high?
Did the twinkling stars try to catch his eye?
Did the wind caress his flesh and bone?
Did they leave him there to die alone?
She then tells us how this event changed her. Notice how she uses the words “nailed” and “pinned”:
Now the stars are nailed to an empty sky
And the moon is pinned like a big butterfly
She fears that the same thing could happen to her or someone she loves.
And I'm afraid to shine too bright
Since the day they took his life
She advises mothers to warn their children to hide their personalities because being a kind and thoughtful person will not save you from this kind of violence.
So mothers, teach your children this
Don't overreach, don't run the risk
Hide in the shadows, don't expect
Your good heart to save your neck
Matthew Shepard’s killers were arrested and sentenced to life in prison.
His death led to the Hate Crimes Prevention Act signed into law in October 2009.
Question
What event changed your life in an important way?
Vocabulary
gravel 砂利
unravel 解く
dim 薄暗い
barbed wire 有刺鉄線
claw 爪
clench 食いしばる
bouquet 香り
undermine 弱体化させる
cologne オーデコロン
homophobia 同性愛嫌悪
waning 衰退する
caress 愛撫
flesh 肉
overreach 行き過ぎた
run the risk リスクを冒す
Other songs about Matthew Shepard:
The Fence - Peter Katz (lyrics video)
Matthew Shepard by Mark Tulk
Sources
American Psychological Association. APA Dictionary of Psychology. American Psychological Association. https://dictionary.apa.org/homophobia?amp=1 Accessed 19 May 2024.
Our story. Matthew Shepard Foundation. (2023, May 24). https://www.matthewshepard.org/about-us/our-story/ . Accessed 19 May 2024.
Note that there have been other possible reasons for the violence. One source says it could have been a drug-related crime. See https://abcnews.go.com/US/matthew-shepard-legacy-gay-college-student-20-years/story?id=277685 . Accessed 19 May 2024.
Learn more about Janis Ian at her website:
Nature vs. nurture. I agree that some people could be born with a predisposition toward violence, but I think the social environment (a family’s values, religious teachings, community pressure, addiction, one’s self-esteem, gov’t urging of violence, etc.) contributes more toward taking violent action.
Louise this is terribly sad and certainly not an isolated incident - I will never understand homophobia, segregation, racism… neither will I understand those narrow minded enough to practice it… 💔