Cher has several songs that could befit Halloween, but there is one in particular that sends a chill down the listener’s spine: “Dark Lady.” This mid-tempo track is shrouded in mystery. This tale of woe sees Cher’s titular character fall into a fortune teller’s trap. Her escape plan involves heartache and murder–the key ingredients to every good mystery. Uncover the meaning behind this Halloween classic, below.
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Behind the Meaning of Cher’s Halloween Classic “Dark Lady”
The fortune queen of New Orleans
Was brushing her cat in her black limousine
On the backseat were scratches from
The marks of men, her fortune she had won
“Dark Lady” follows a narrative, in which Cher takes on the lead role. Her character sees an affluent fortune teller out on the smoky streets of New Orleans. She beckons her in with the promise of revealing her future. Cher falls into her trap and heads for her darkened room.
Dark lady laughed and danced and lit the candles one by one
Danced to her gypsy music ’til her brew was done
Dark lady played black magic ’til the clock struck on the 12
She told me more about me than I knew myself
The chorus is as mystifying and haunting as we’d imagine a fortune session would be. Cher describes the fortune teller dancing to music, lighting candles, and messing with black magic. It has all the conventions of a great Halloween scene.
The fortune teller dishes out a prophecy. The man you love is secretly true / To someone else who is very close to you, she tells her. It’s enough to send Cher reeling.
So, I ran home and crawled in my bed
I couldn’t sleep because of all the things she said
Then I remembered her strange perfume
And how I smelled, it was in my own room
The twist in this story comes during the bridge. As Cher’s character returns home, she finds something out of place: a faint sniff of perfume that doesn’t belong to her. Who it does belong to is not a mystery. It’s reminiscent of the fortune teller she just left. All of the sudden, the prophecy she received becomes clear.
And so, I sneaked back and caught her with my man
Laughing and kissing ’til they saw the gun in my hand
The next thing I knew they were dead on the floor
Dark lady would never turn a card up anymore
Cher deals with this issue in the darkest way possible. The next thing I knew they were dead on the floor / Dark lady would never turn a card up anymore, she sings. It’s a shiver-inducing tale from start to finish. If you haven’t added this one to your Halloween playlist, we suggest you do so sooner rather than later.
(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
More Behind The Song
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Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images