Basically What The Song Is Actually About But Very Pretty Wording - Tumblr Posts
The song ‘Never love an anchor’ by the crane wives is (in my opinion) a song about a mother that has voluntarily given her child up for adoption, this idea is driven from the quote “On some level I think I always understood, that these hands of mine are clumsy not clever.” mothers are often quoted to have clever hands but her referencing her own as clumsy I believe is a reference to her belief that she couldn’t possibly have been a good mother to this child.
As the song continues she describes her own feelings as it’s stated “It's a secret I keep tucked inside my chest With this heart of mine that's guilty, not remorseful” . It’s clear from this segment that though the mother is guilty for having given up the child but feels no remorse for it, it could reference her knowledge that this child may have a better life than they could ever have with her. She references that “There is love that doesn't have a place to rest, But it would have buried you if it had settled on your shoulders” as though her love would have burdened this child and “buried them” which may in a way represent her love being a foil to the infants childhood if it is to be believe that they wouldn’t have been raised in a good environment.
Mid way through the song the mother quotes “on some level I think I always understood, that a ship could never really love an anchor” referring to herself as the anchor and her baby as the ship, as she lated states “So I did the only thing that I could and severed the rope that set you sailing from my harbor”. The idea of the mother being the ‘anchor’ I think is a reference to a situation where she just seems to be sinking, nothing is going up and the only thing that is above this ocean that she seems to be drowning in is her child, which she describes as letting them “sail from her harbor” another reference to giving up her baby to another family to give them the opportunity to not drown with her.
Near the end of the song, it's stated “You are someone I have loved but never known.” Most mothers whilst their children are in the womb build such unfathomable amounts of love and care for their child despite not actually knowing them. “And you’ll never see the reasons I had, For keeping my claws away when they were close enough to hurt you” depending on what happens when they grow up and what kind of family they are raised with this kid may never actually know who their biological mother is and what the reasons were for her having given them up. She also references her ‘Claws’ which could possibly be referencing herself as the problem implying that she may have caused harm the child if she was to have raised it or it could just be the overwhelming amount guilt she feels for having given her child up kicking in and making her believe that what she has done is for the best.
Alright I’m doing this entire paragraph because it’s my favorite segment of the song. “I am selfish, I am broken, I am cruel,I am all the things they might have said to you.” points to the mothers views of herself, a selfish, broken and cruel woman and assumes others would think the same of her (specifically the families raising her child possibly). The very final part of the song really drives home the fact she is going to be missing the part of being a mother to her child. “Do you ever think of me and my two hands? And wonder why they never soothed your fevers? And wonder why they never tied your shoes? And wonder why they never held you gently?
And wonder why they never had the chance to lose you?” All of these are some kind of reference to what mothers do for their children soothing fevers, tying shoes, and gently holding them. Even the mention of getting ‘the chance to lose you’ can be brought back to the fact that the mother will never have the chance to ever lose her baby as she has already given them up.