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The Hand That Rocks the Cradle

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The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Is The Hand That Rules The World is a poem by William Ross Wallace, that praised motherhood as the preeminent force for change in the world.

Blessings on the hand of women!
Fathers, sons, and daughters cry,
And the sacred song is mingled
With the worship in the sky--
Mingles where no tempest darkens,
Rainbows evermore are hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.

The title itself is an oft-quoted passage, which has over time been reinterpreted in various ways, particularly in recent times, as a kind of perennial example of a social norm gone awry.

External link

http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/wallace1.html
The song The Hand that Rocks the Cradle by the English band, The Smiths borrowed only the title from the oft-quoted poem, after each increasingly perverted verse, the chorus echoes the demand "As long as the hand that rocks the cradle is mine."

For you are all that matters
And I'll love you to till the day I die
There never need be longing in your eyes
As long as the hand that rocks the cradle is mine...

The song was particularly controversial leading some music journalists to speculate upon the Morrissey's (the singer's) pedophilia-- a charge flatly denied. In fact, (considering the original quote in whole: "..is the hand that rules the world.") the song is less about child abuse as it is a clever merging of anti-child abuse and anti-imperialist themes, by disguising the song in outrageously provokative lyrics. (Climb up on my knee, sonny boy/although you're only three, sonny boy) The normally distant themes are conjoined in the song to express a simple point: The rape of societies by imperial conquest and pedophilia amount to being the same thing: Both require a callous disregard for the victim, they are the sole, exclusive, culprits for child abuse, and each of them is a strange and sad disease--an addiction "as old as glyphs, which fit me like a glove."

I once had a child, and it saved my life
And I never even asked his name
I just looked into his wondrous eyes
And said : "never never never again"
And all too soon I did return
Just like a moth to a flame...

The version on The Smiths first album was toned down from its original raucous and liltingly upbeat paradox to a more somber, poetic one--one which somewhat cushions the intended meaning of the song.

External link

The Hand that Rocks the Cradle (1992) was also a film starring Rebecca DeMornay about a psychotic, babysitter.