Voices Carry By Til Tuesday: Poem Analysis

The song “Voices Carry” by Til Tuesday, released in 1985, targets the issue of emotional abuse and how scared the victim has become. The man constantly tells the singer to not talk to loud or people will hear her, that word gets around. She cannot speak up for fear that he will get mad, she cannot cry because he tells her they are bad and a fearful thing. The man she is with only wants her for certain times and only if he can keep her quiet.
The story shows her being more of a mistress to the man she has fallen for, being emotionally attacked by this married man. He will not let her talk in fear of his wife figuring out that he is having an affair, so he keeps her quiet by making her fearful of him and of speaking out about his emotionally abusive actions.
In the article “He didn’t hit me. It was still abuse.” by Leigh Stein, the story brings the issue of emotional abuse to attention. How not all abuse is physical, one does not have to show marks in order for it to be …show more content…
She finally came to the conclusion after a fight where he left with another woman that she was strong enough to leave him, four years after it had all started. Jason died in a motorcycle accident soon after she left him and she truly understood what the relationship had been. Emotional abuse is serious as seen in this personal article, and it seems impossible to escape.
Voices Carry shows how emotional abuse is an issue by showing her fear of him, and how rude and mean he is to her for wanting to be vocal. He continues to tell her the same thing over again, “And I try so hard to keep it inside, so no one can hear. Hush, hush, keep it down now, voices carry. Hush, hush, keep it down voices carry”. He tells her to not talk, to not say anything. Word gets around, people will find out, and nobody can find out that they are together, especially not his