"Treat Me Well" by Heart; Composer: Nancy Wilson.

From Little Queen, 1977.

The Shelter

The Domestic Violence Hotline shrieks

EMERGENCY

As I time young Katie's labor pains;

Two black eyes streak fist-scraped cheeks.

I listen as the caller sobs her tale;

In the background, hear children wail.

I ask the caller where she hurts;

To help, we must admit her first.

Katie clutches her belly and screams;

I summon the ambulance; it's time it seems.

Crashes and shouts from the front door drift-

Jenny's husband found our location!

Met by Biff, the night guard hulking,

One look at that billy club, he curses, leaves skulking.

We will transfer Jenny tomorrow;

I prepare her papers, get her ready to go.

I volunteer here from four to midnight;

The paid staff leaves at five.

A woman helping other women,

I'm proud to see them thrive.

Biff watches my back as off I drive,

Reflect that Katie will give birth alone,

Jenny will flee via hidden door at dawn,

Our new arrival with kids now safely bedded down.

And the angst of my bitter divorce eases

As I realize it is they who shelter me.-Lisa Cole-Allen.

The soulful ballad, "Treat Me Well," written by Nancy Wilson,

is a deep track within the multi-platinum album, Little Queen,

by Heart.  Nancy's acoustic guitar, the imploring croon of her

voice and the wailing sounds of the band's instruments compel

the listener to hear the depth of the meanings in the simple poetry

of her lyrics.  When we analyze Wilson's words line by line, we hear

the plea of a woman in love to the lover who mistreats her.

Well I have lost some time

But I have won

And if you make it through

You know you've just begun

The winter cold is coming and

The fire will soon be burning

So will you treat me well

Oh, will you treat me well?

And I am asking will you save a place for me

To rest beside your heart and feel I'm free

For what good does feeling strong do when

When I am here without you, without you?

So will you treat me well

Oh, will you treat me well?

So will you treat me well

Oh well, will you treat me well?

In the first two lines, the speaker admits that she has "lost

some time," invested time in this relationship. "But I have

won" implies that she has succeeded in breaking away from

it.  Speaking to her lover, she tells him, "and if you make it

through," if she decides to go back to him, "you know you've

just begun." Giving him another chance is only the beginning

of his making amends to her.

The next lines, "The winter cold is coming/and the fire will still

be burning" are metaphorical: she senses or fears that he will

mistreat her again, though she continues to have feelings for him.

"So will you treat me well/ Oh well, will you treat me well?"

She challenges him; she wants him to reassure her that if they

get back together, he will treat her well.

"And I am asking will you save a place for me/ To rest beside

your heart and feel I'm free" tells us that the narrator feels he has

been controlling her.  She asks if they can be in a relationship of

equality.  She laments that if she resolutely maintains her inde-

pendence, she may lose him: "for what good does being strong

do when/ when I am here without you, without you?" The song

ends with the speaker asking her lover over and over again if he

will treat her well, begging for reassurance that this time their

relationship will be different.

The tone of both the words and music of "Treat Me Well" is

mournful, uncertain and questioning. It is an accurate profile

of a woman in an abusive relationship; she is unhappy, but

unwilling to stop trying to make it work, her self-esteem and

confidence broken.  Each woman must decide for herself that

she deserves better treatment than she is receiving. Some may

need to escape to save their lives.