An out-of-our-broom-closets-and-onto-our-brooms folk rock anthem for real Witches!
soprano
melodies
magic
witch
queen
voice
haunting
pagan
goddess
wiccan
lady
isadora
priestess
Story behind the song
I wrote the following about this song in my album liner notes:
“Witch! The very word resonates deep in the mind with power, passion, magic, mystery-- and controversy. It is one of the most profoundly evocative words in the English language. I speak it aloud as I write, and can feel in a twinkling the soft May grass beneath my feet as I dance, flower-crowned, in a green gown at Beltane, or the exhilarating chill of the smoky night air at Samhain as I stand all robed in black for the Crone, my tall pointed Witch’s hat a perfect cone of power in a magic circle about my head. At such times, flinging my arms wide open to the sky, long hair streaming in the wind that often seems to arise out of nowhere as if in meaningful emphasis, I feel almost as if I could take flight, as if anything magical might be made to happen at any moment. Such power is not of “the devil”; it is the heady awareness that in our veins and through our spirits flows the creative life-force of the Universe Itself, and that with it we can heal wounds, right wrongs, and make dreams come true.”
(Copyright 1990, 2005 by Lady Isadora, reproduced with permission)
“Witch” isn't only about my own experiences, but stands for all Witches, everywhere. The song simply wrote itself, as songs will happily sometimes do. As I recall, the melody and guitar riff came to me first, fully formed out of the blue; then the defiant out-of-our-broom-closets-and-onto-our-brooms lyrics, which I will allow to speak for themselves, magically appeared soon after. "Witch" was originally going to be all acoustic, but a rock guitarist friend thought it had just the right rhythm for rocking out a bit, so away we jammed and everything clicked right off, coming up with the recorded result fairly quickly.
Lyrics
Why do you call yourself a Witch?
Why do you dress yourself in black?
Why don’t you use some other word
And get the devil off your back?”
I call myself a Witch because
A Witch is what I am
And like a Jew in Nazi Germany
I don’t define my name
To suit the Master Plan
The Propaganda Man
Never again! Never again!
“Why do you call yourself a Witch?
You know we just don’t understand
People will think you’re sinister
You know they’ll say your soul is damned!”
I call myself a Witch because
I don’t believe the lie
That the Creator is a macho man
Who wants to tell me what to do
Until I die
For pie in the sky
That’s such a lie! That’s such a lie!
I don’t believe in Satan
He’s a poor excuse for Pan
I’m a child of Holy Mother Earth
And I’m gonna stand up to
The Propaganda Man
In every way I can
“Why do you call yourself a Witch?
Such a pretentious fantasy!
Magic is just a childhood dream
Come on and face reality!”
I call myself a Witch because
I’m not afraid to tell
That the magic is in Life itself
Not just in some ancient book
Or secret spell
And I know damn well
That there’s no Hell
Except the Goddess of that name
No, the devil doesn’t turn me on,
He’s too much of a chauvinist pig
No self-respecting feminist
Would be caught dead around
A masculine ego that big
“Why do you call yourself a Witch
And talk of Witchcraft openly?
Wicca’s a nice disguise to use*
When you’re in mixed company”
I call myself a Witch because
There’s power in the word
There’s power in the truth about
What we really feel
And who we really are
Live by the Star
And you’ll go far
Yes, you’ll go far
“Why do you call yourself a Witch?”
Because a Witch is what I am!
“Why do you call yourself a Witch?”
Because a Witch is what I am!
*As any good dictionary of Old English
(Anglo-Saxon) will show, the original
word wasn’t “Wicca” (male Witch) ,
but “Wiccecraeft.”