LyriSis #5 - Black Horse, KT Tunstall

A deep dive into the poetry of pop

LyriSis is a bonus for my paid community. Think of it as a summer concert series, but with fewer stage dives. Each week, I take a song—pop, rock, indie, guilty pleasure, whatever—and treat it like it just turned in a midterm. Line by line, image by image, we channel our Walkman-wearing, lyric sheet holding selves to get into the overt and hidden meaning behind the lyrics… and just have some fun. A Spotify playlist will be dropped at the end.

Black Horse and the Cherry Tree

KT Tunstall (2005)
Written by KT Tunstall

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At first listen, this song sounds like an lighthearted, upbeat folk-pop tune. But this is not whimsy. This is about a woman standing alone, staring down her past and a metaphorical horse that wants her to ride off into someone else’s story.

Black Horse and the Cherry Tree isn’t about heartbreak.
It’s about self-rescue.

She didn’t choose the easy thing. She didn’t say yes to the tall, dark, and handsome shadow of a safe life. She walked away with her heart in shreds and her spine intact. Now let’s dive in!