He Hit Me (and it felt like a kiss)

A lot has been going on, my dears. I shan't tell you everything now, but to start making up for my long absence, here is a song for you to download and listen to:

The Crystals - He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)

The Wikipedia entry suggests that this song is a journalistic, open-eyed look at domestic violence. The second verse (He couldn't stand to hear me say / That I'd been with someone new, / And when I told him I had been untrue) certainly hints that the violence in the song is that of a jealous, out-of-control husband.

But songs don't have to have only one interpretation. And that of domestic discipline applies just as well. Not a cuckolded husband, but a fair and exacting disciplinarian, giving out the agreed punishment for breaking the rules.

The later verses certainly hint at a more consensual reading. He hit me / And I knew I loved him. / And then he took me in his arms / With all the tenderness there is, / And when he kissed me, He made me his. Even if domestic discipline was not in the minds of the songwriters, these lyrics powerfully relate to those of us who understand that sort of lifestyle. But would a caring dominant ever mete out punishment in anger, as implied by the lines If he didn't care for me / I could have never made him mad?

I know I'm always going to hear D/s in these lyrics. Even if that's not what the song was written about, it's a very pretty description of the power and tenderness of consensual discipline.

Spousal violence, or safe sane and consensual? You decide :)