Neneh Cherry Songs - Spit Three Times Lyrics

Neneh Cherry - Spit Three Times

Neneh Cherry - Spit Three Times Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Blank Project
Released: 2014

Spit Three Times Lyrics

Spit Three Times

The death of Cherry's mother in 2009 was a devastating event for the singer. This song represents Cherry's lingering depression in the aftermath of her grief. "I was thinking about that duvet-diving syndrome you get into, where your depression – even though it's this hard, black thing that takes you under – becomes something you must find comfort in," she explained to NME. "I started to recognize an aspect to that darkness that was slightly addictive."

Spittle has been valued as a charm against all evil since ancient times. The Roman writer Pliny said it averted witchcraft and helped in giving an enemy a shrewder blow. The custom has continued to the present day and there are several examples in different countries of spitting thrice over the left shoulder being a way of protecting oneself from something bad. Cherry sings here of using the superstition to deal with the addictiveness of her depression. "I try not to be superstitious, but, you know, we never put any shoes on the table," she told The Observer. "That's totally against the law in our house. And I always salute when I see one magpie. People in Sweden – where they don't do that – they think I'm nuts."