The Matador

Album: Hello Cruel World (2012)
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Songfacts®:

  • This haunting song is one of Nashville singer-songwriter Gretchen Peters' favorite tracks on her Hello Cruel World album. She explained to Billboard magazine: "I've written a few songs over the past twenty years that are in some general sense about art. That song falls under that category, but for me, it has to do with loving an artist, and making those sacrifices. The woman in that song is coming to grips with loving someone with such a creative force, and what kind of sacrifices she has to make. In a sense, the male and the female in that song are prototypes - male and female archetypes. It was based on relationships that I've seen. I've known my share of difficult men. I have an ongoing fascination with Hemingway and Picasso, who were those sorts of artists."

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