.⋆༺♱ Ethel Cain shrine ♱༻⋆.

Hayden Anhedönia aka Ethel Cain might truly and honestly be one of the greatest artists of our time.

My favorite lyrics

Good men die too so I'd rather be with you

...

I owe you a black eye and two kisses

Tell me when you wanna come and get 'em

I only want him if he says it first to me

...

There's just something about you, baby

Maybe I'll just be crazy

And piss him off 'til he hates me

Yeah right, he fucking loves me

- Crush ♡

(the entirety of crush could be here tbh)


"To love me is to suffer me"

...

That picture on the wall you're scared of looks just like you

I wanna bleed, I wanna hurt the way that boys do

Maybe you're right and we should stop watchin' the news

'Cause, baby, I've never seen brown eyes look so blue

- Nettles


Pretty boy

Natural blood-stained blond

With the holes in his sneakers

And his eyes all over me

...

I knew it was love

When I rode home crying

Thinking of you fucking other girls

But when you

Said that you're in love

I never wondered if you're sure

- Dust Bowl


I tried to be good

Am I no good?

Am I no good?

Am I no good?

With my memory restricted to a Polaroid in evidence

I just wanted to be yours

Can I be yours?

Can I be yours?

Just tell me I'm yours

If I'm turning in your stomach and I'm making you feel sick

Am I making you feel sick?

- Strangers


We all know how it goes

The more it hurts, the less it shows

But I still feel like they all know

...

If it's meant to be then it'll be

I forgive it all as it comes back to me

- Sun Bleached Flies


Sunday morning

Hands over my knees in a room full of faces

I'm sorry if I seemed off, but I was probably wasted

And didn't feel so good

A life full of whiskey but I always deliver

Jesus, if you're listening let me handle my liquor

And Jesus, if You're there

Why do I feel alone in this room with You?

- American Teenager


I think I wanted you dead

Fell as an angel just to please

No matter where you want it

Fighting my way up to your tongue

So I can die up on it

And show you what it really

Means to need somebody beyond their body

...

Would you judge me for my prayers

If I said them on my knees?

But I am flesh and blood

And this flesh has needs

- Tongue


Older brother made a name for himself with the cops

Scumbag fuck, but I swear that he's not

He's so good to me and to nobody else

So you should watch yourself

...

If he wakes up, he'll show you what I'm talking about

- Inbred


I’d reach into your body and fix you if I could

Will I feel like this forever?

Forever?

Are you angry? Do you hate me?

And darling, time may forgive me

But I won't

...

To be known the way you should is to put yourself through hell

Still, I waited and tried, 'til it killed me

'Cause you're right

I can wait if I want

But it'll never be good enough like I want to believe it is

- Waco, Texas


If you love me keep it to yourself

- Vacillator


Says I'm his favorite, yeah, I fucking better be

- Unpunishable

My favorite songs

Crush ︱ Strangers ︱ Dust Bowl ︱ Lilies ︱ Tongue ︱ Punish ︱ Inbred ︱ Ptolemaea ︱ Family Tree ︱ Two‑Headed Mother ︱ Nettles

Some thoughts/interpretations

And if I say half her songs remind me of my boy what then!! He doesn't even know that I owe him a black eye and two kisses...

(No but for real never in my life have I so consistently associated songs/lyrics with a person (even if it may seem like a bad thing lmao considering Ethel often sings about not great relationships but I feel like I 1. interpret the lyrics in my own way or 2. exaggerate my experiences... cuz like the guy I'm with is a sweetie and he most definitely doesn't work with his hands). Will I regret writing all this if we happen to break up in the future? Absolutely but I will not be putting that negative energy out into the world. In my mind he can only get rid of me if he kills me and even then I'd haunt him.)

    "Good men die too so I'd rather be with you" - not to say he's a bad person but he's definitely not an upstanding citizen. He's pretty wild and sort of care-free and I like that about him. He always says that I subconsciously want someone who's chaotic and does the bullshit he does. And unfortunately he's right.

    "Yeah right, he fucking loves me" "His eyes all over me" - reminds me of when we first got together and we couldn't keep our hands off eachother.

    "I knew it was love, when I rode home crying, thinking of you fucking other girls" - this lyric makes me genuinely lose my mind I don't even wanna talk about it lmao.

Outside of that here are some thoughts about non-boy-related bits:

    "That picture on the wall you're scared of looks just like you" - always makes me think of resembling a family member who you either have a complicated relationship with or who has some sort of issues. I was always told I resemble my grandmother who lost her son, husband, had a drinking problem and dementia before dying. So yeah, that picture does scare me.

    "I wanna bleed, I wanna hurt the way that boys do" - in short, gender issues. Being a boy seems appealing in so many ways and being able to express anger, fight and hurt is a part of it.

    "The more it hurts, the less it shows, but I still feel like they all know" - I often feel like my struggles are too visible, that people view me as weak or broken, that there's something wrong with me. Also connected to that is "I tried to be good, am I no good?" constantly trying but feeling like you're failing no matter what.