The Ballad of a Heartless Womanizer

To understand "The Rake's Song" by the Decemberists, like most art, context is required. This song is part of their rock opera called The Hazards of Love. This song is features one of the villains in the tale, the Rake. This term refers to the kind of man one only wishes to hear of and never to meet. He is a heartless womanizer, a true fiend. The song is not intended to glorify this man's actions nor to show him sympathy. The listener is meant to feel revulsion after hearing his story.

A man marries a woman after living a wild life of womanizing. He realizes as she starts "spilling out babies" that he has been cursed (Meloy). He considers his children a curse and a burden, and after his wife dies giving birth, he sets out to kill all three of them. He succeeds and goes on to have an "easy and free" life, without having any remorse.

The horrific violence in the song demands a cause, which can be identified in the children themselves. The Rake kills the children because they were a burden, however, stating that the cause of the murders are the victims is ridiculous. One has to identify the broader cultural pressures that would cause a man like the Rake to enter marriage. The only reason hinted at in the song is seen in the line "I was wedded and it whetted my thirst" (Meloy). This implies that the Rake married this woman because, apparently, that made him desire her more. Perhaps she had money or prestige, that the marriage was one to benefit him socially. Another thing noticeable in the song is a lack of meso-influences. The community is not mentioned, and he got away with his crime. This perversely comments on the "cultural legitimation of male violence" (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 266). The Rake's society, although it probably does not condone the murder of children, still believed in the "male control of women's behavior and of the family."

The Rake himself represents a cultural idea of masculinity. He does what he wants, regardless of others, and he sees children as fetters on his freedom. He is a caricature and parody of what is socially acceptable to be a man. He is the old way, contrasted by the groundbreaking work of Men Acting for Change, as reported by John Stoltenberg. The Rake is the ultimate misogynist, hating and destroying what women can do that he cannot--birth children.

"The Rake's Song" acts as an introduction to one of the villians in the Decemberists's The Hazards of Love, but through that introduction, Colin Meloy amplifies the cultural tropes of masculinity, taking them to an illogical extremes that forces the listener to analyze the cultural pressures that can result in the murder of three children.

Works Cited

Colin, Meloy. Lyrics. "The Rake's Song." The Hazards of Love. CD. Capitol Records

2009. www.lyrics-celebrities.anekatips.com. Web. 15 March 2010

Kirk, Gwyn and Okazawa-Rey, Margo. "Violence Against Women." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 257-271.

Stoltenberg, John. "I Am Not a Rapist!" Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th Ed.New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 285-290.