Your Love Is Killing Me – Sharon Van Etten

I’m obsessed. Absolutely.

This is the second song of Van Etten’s that I’ve put on repeat – the first being Give Out.

Your Love is Killing Me has an exceptional story.

I think it’s about an over-bearing partner, and being too numb and too blinded to take notice.

Break my legs so I won’t walk to you
Cut my tongue so I can’t talk to you
Burn my skin so I can’t feel you
Stab my eyes so I can’t see
You like it when I let you walk over me…

If you marry that up with this beautiful music video, it supports this idea so well.

A woman is drinking her last beer and smoking her last cigarette before leaving a bar. She starts walking, only to end up in a cafe where her boyfriend is waiting for her (I presume).

She holds up her arms, which are drenched in red before falling to the floor. He rushes over and pulls back her sleeves to find there’s not a mark on her. The woman looks up at him with a look of relief, smiles at him and walks out.

When I showed it to my dad, I don’t think he could tell the difference between this video and the one-shot intro to Shaun of the Dead. Where Simon Pegg’s character walks from his house, to the shop and back.

But it’s so much deeper than that!

Your Love is Killing me = it’s a physicalisation of the idea up until the point where the woman lets him go… And walks out. Like a boss.

The Swiss actress who plays the part is phenomenal. Just… Just watch her subtle expressions. So powerful! Especially as the music picks up in intensity.

…You tell me that you like it
Your love is killing me
Try to tell you this when I’m sober, how I feel about loving you.

Holy crap. I’m just watching and listening to this on REPEAT.

Watch it! Watch it! And listen!

How weird – just noticed the video was published one year ago almost to the day.

Jodie