Novo Amor’s single “Callow” moves like a tidal wave, pushing and pulling its listeners through the weight of a deeply emotional relationship. With its combination of hopeful and hopeless language, Amor conveys the heartbreak of loving someone who is giving up.
Amor first focuses on the weight of visible decay:
Hold your tongue, we never swayed
Pour the faults all away
Cold in lungs and in face
A golden heart, of what became?
Through the usage of body-related diction, one can see the distancing not only between the two people in the relationship but also between the woman and her own body. Both externally, through her face, and internally, in her lungs, Amor’s lover is drifting into a lifeless being. She no longer has “a golden heart” and its associated warmth/glow, but instead seems lost, almost dead inside. The juxtaposing diction of "hold" versus "pour", also adds to the tidal-like rhythm of the song, in which repeated moments of tension and release replicate the relationship’s emotional intensity.
Amor then focuses on the weight of his age, as it heightens his sense of helplessness towards repairing his relationship’s damages:
And I can taste the wait and watch you waste away
But I can't face the days, you were born astray
It was an awful lot for our young days
Through the words “taste” and “watch”, we understand that Amor not only sees but also whole-heartedly feels that there will be an inevitable end to his relationship. His young age prevents him from effectively confronting the situation, for he watches, but is unable to verbally/emotionally face its harsh reality. The last line of this stanza is repeated throughout the song, which represents the build-up of Amor’s regrets.
In each of its lines, it is clear that the song “Callow” is a poem that deepens our understanding of relationships and their impending emotional toll. This song is truly beautiful, and I encourage you all to listen to it...possibly with a box of tissues nearby.
What a devastating song, Dina. A fascinating explanation of the meaning of these lyrics. I think the title itself conveys the emotion of the piece. Callow is such a textured and malleable term. I will definitely give it a listen.
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