THE BEAST

Laura Marling

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In an interview (no longer online, but quoted in part by SongFacts.com) with Mark Butler of FMV Magazine, Marling said: "It's the one I still can’t believe I wrote. It's quite unsettling; it was quite unsettling to record, and quite unsettling to play to people, and it's quite unsettling to listen to, I think. Sound-wise it's just a punch in the face, and the imagery is way darker than I intended it to be...But to me, my beast is just giving in to all kinds of horribleness, that feeling of insanity or loss of control, of thinking 'Is this it - have I finally lost my mind?' And there's nothing anybody can do about it."

There was once a website for this song, but it is no more. Lynn Roberts of For Folks Sake, quotes Marling as saying that inspiration for the poem comes from a quote from Thomas Jefferson about the abolition of slavery: "We have the wolf by the ears and we can neither hold him nor safely let him go."

Late in the lyric we find: "I give you the best / the best that I can". 'Best' is one letter short of 'beast'.

LYRICS

Where did our love go?
You will never know
How did you get home?
You will never know
Did you catch yourself in the mirror?
It's a sight I understand
You consider it all for a second
And put it down to sleight of hand
You know I've been running 'round for hours
Calling my 'Gyptian blood to bear me flowers
Calling Sophia, goddess of power

Instead i got the beast
And tonight he lies with me
Tonight he lies with me
Tonight he lies with me
And here come the beast

You're OK now?
"I suppose"
You're not pulled by the rope?
I'm pulled by the pull on my throat
I'm pulled by the rope
I swing from the trees into the slope
Hold my head high just by the tip of my toes
And he lies, he lies, so sweet that I choke

Tonight I choose the beast
Tonight he lies with me
Tonight he lies with me
Tonight he lies with me
And here come the beast

Put your eyes away
If you can't bear to see
Your old lady lay
Down next to the beast
Tonight, he lies with me
Tonight, he lies with me
And here come the beast

If you catch yourself in the mirror
It's a sight I understand
You consider it all for a second
And put it down to sleight of hand
I give you the best advice that I can
What I suggest is you be grateful there's no blood on my hands
And assume yourself weaker to the fall of man

And look out for the beast
'Cause tonight, he lies with me
Tonight, he lies with me
And here come the beast

Put your eyes away if you can't bear to see
Your old lady lay
Down next to the beast
Tonight, he lies with me
Tonight, he lies with me
Here come the beast