Song Details
- Album Release Date: 2012
- Genre: jazz
Song Meaning of “How to Kill a Rose” by Matt Elliott
‘How to Kill a Rose’ by Matt Elliott gives us a deep and vivid picture of a deliberate act of destruction. It speaks to the heartbreaking experience of someone watching love and beauty slowly start to wilt away.
The song opens with a solemn warning from the narrator, “There is no easy way/ how to kill a rose”. Here, the narrator is stressing the madness and finality of ending something as precious and beautiful as a rose. The lyrics then describe the horrific details of what must be done to kill a rose: trim its leaves, clip its petals, squeeze its stem, and finally watch it die. This serves as a metaphor for the destruction of love, suggesting that all its beauty must be stripped away until it is reduced to nothing.
The chorus focuses more on the despair of the narrator, lamenting how it’s foolish to think anyone can go through life without experiencing pain. He realizes that life is filled with heartaches and sadness, and that he can’t pretend he can forever protect his beloved from it.
The song speaks to the power of emotion; it conveys the heaviness of a broken heart, as well as the courage it takes to make the difficult choice of letting the beloved one go. Even though it is a painful decision, the narrator is also able to accept the reality and make peace with it. The song ends with a powerful, if slightly bitter, reminder of how losing something doesn’t have to mean it was never loved.