“Jezebel” by The Rasmus
The term Jezebel dates back to a scandalous female figure found in the Old Testament. In modern times her name has come to be associated with, most simply, whoredom. In other words, labeling a woman a “Jezebel” is basically the same as calling her a pro-titute. And such is in fact, as implied, the nature of the lady who serves as the subject of this song, whom the vocalist also refers to as Jezebel, which we will presume is not actually her name.
And yes, at certain lyrics junctures, such as during the second verse, the vocalist speaks solely to her characteristics, such as Jezebel’s tendency to sleep all day, and shall we say prowl at night. But more to the point is the notion of the narrator being smitten by her.
Or as he puts it, he has some type of strong, undeniable attachment to her. This is despite the fact that Lauri doesn’t seem to particularly agree with her lifestyle and that when dealing with him, Jezebel is actually a sadomasochistic lover.
At the end of the day, yes, this song does in fact serve as an ode to “Jezebel”. Perhaps it can be deemed, to some extent, that The Rasmus are biggin’ up – for lack of a better term – working girls in general. But again, the lyrics get a bit specific concerning the titular figure’s personality and even her appearance. And it is really seems to be this particular “Jezebel” alone whom the singer fancies.
The Rasmus
The Rasmus is a rock band, with a discography dating back to 1996, from the Finnish capital of Helsinki. They can be considered A listers in their particular part of Europe, and a couple of the group’s projects have also appeared on the UK Albums Chart. With that in mind, their all around most-successful outing thus far has been 2003’s Dead Letters. This album broke the top 10 of the said listing.
Currently, the members of The Rasmus consists of the following:
- lead vocalist Lauri Ylönen
- drummer Aki Hakala
- bassist Eero Heinonen
- guitarist Emilia Suhonen
All of the aforementioned band members, with the exception of Suhonen who just joined this year, have been down since the band since the 1990s, with Ylönen and Heinonen being co-founders.
“Jezebel”
This song is derived from a project entitled UMK – Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2022. UMK is an annual competition held in Finland to select who will represent the country at the all-important Eurovision Song Contest. So “Jezebel”, which was released on 17 January 2022, is The Rasmus’s UMK entry for this year (2022).
Lauri Ylönen co-wrote this song with Desmond Child. And Child, an American musician, also produced Jezebel.
