casting shadows
You don’t hear this term much today, but in 1977 we heard it a lot. She was part of the lyrics to the Billy Joel hit song, “Ella She Ella’s Always a Woman to Me”. Search the web for that song to see all the lyrics. It’s still a great song today. The lyrics tell me about behaviors that I have found in women that have touched my life. What do you suppose Billy is telling us when he says of the woman he sings about, “The most he’ll ever do is cast shadows on you?”
I have read some treatises on meaning. One of them is that she is in the spotlight or sees herself as a rock star. She doesn’t see her man. She only gets the shadow of it. My analysis: That doesn’t work for me. Another is that she is a shadow person, that she casts her shadow on her man’s, to bring him down. My analysis: I don’t like that either. A third is that she wants to hit her man sometimes, she throws air punches or shadow punches at him, with the intention of hurting her pride, self-esteem or her ego, but not to maim him. My analysis: No. I don’t think so.
She gives no value or substance. Maybe. I can see that in her mind, she always falls short of what he expects her to be or what he thinks she could be. She is a shadow of perfection to him. Does she turn her back on him sometimes? Perhaps, but not in her hour of need. She may be a survivor, someone who has been hurt by men before, so now she can’t or won’t commit to a man: her man only gets the shadow of her. Worse yet, she doesn’t know who she is. A shadow is the best she can do. My analysis: She’s not perfect, she’s moody, sometimes stubborn, she doesn’t like to be controlled, she’ll control her man, but she’s her woman and she knows it.
So, I’ve decided that this song is about a woman who knows who she is, knows what she wants, but updates her wish list from time to time and expects her man to automatically update his ability to provide. In that, he disappoints her, but she doesn’t want him to ever see that she’s disappointed or hurt. She will not reveal a vulnerability. Thus, she casts shadows, or confusion when she feels cornered. He does not understand this behavior. But, that’s the effect she wants. She runs away from the corner, while he is confused, and continues to live her life as if nothing had happened.