Case has said that this song was inspired by reading Adrienne Mayor’s 2014 book The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World. Case decries the “invisibility” of strong women throughout history, saying “Women have been discredited and erased and buried, but the graves are...
One, two, three, four
I'm here to tell you a story
I'm here to tell you a lie
My poetry's weak and I know it
I was drop-dead sad and crazy sometimes
So I fucked off, wayward cannon to the sea
On land I was just an appetite
All that started as a joke now ruled me
Sick on chronic mathematics
I just wanted to feel music
Her fever delivered me from the flu
The night hag's hands spread lovingly
Pulling the cape from the sunrise
And revealing a bank of warships called "shes"
Less warlike then reckless, I realized
No weapons were drawn that I could see
Save the blazing stare of their captain
Who held lightning captive firm in her teeth
So I looked off the edge of the world
I saw the girl who changed everything
That's when I met Winnie
I wanted to be her sailor's tattoo
She sang me a song that was too sad for some
Struck up the band and filled up her lungs
Her mouth was sharp as the rib of a star
She told no tame truths that would break our own hearts
We were warriors
We clothed ourselves in the guts of our enemies
Who'd no respect for the wild
Warriors
Long before hotwire safari park husbandry
And the joy ran through us like the welder's flux
We just wanted to be music
The joy ran through us like the welder's flux
We just wanted to be music
Her gravity pulled up my sad remains
Into the curve of her cunning bow
I've loved you so long, Winnie
I want to be your sailor's tattoo
I've loved you so long, Winnie
Blurring softly into you
Winnie was written by Paul Rigby & Neko Case.
Winnie was produced by Björn Yttling & Neko Case.
Winnie is “about my love for women in the world,” Ms. Case said. “I love them so much that it’s crippling at times.”
- NYT