This song directly references the tale of Blue Beard, a folkloric story about a wealthy man who marries a beautiful young woman, lavishing her with jewels and gold while warning her, repeatedly, never to open one of the doors in his large castle. Inevitably, the young bride is overcome with curiosity and opens the door to find a large room filled with the corpses of other women. Blue Beard catches his wife and tells her that these are the bodies of his past brides and that she is now to join them in their fate. She pleads with him to allow her to at least prepare herself for her death and say her last prayers. Blue Beard allows her this, and she instead runs to the top tower of the castle to cry for help. She returns to Blue Beard and just as he is about to kill her, knights who heard her cry burst into the castle and save her.

In the book Women Who Run With the Wolves, Jungian psychologist Clarissa Pinkola Estes writes about this story as an archetype that symbolizes the moment when women caught in abusive relationships become aware that they are in grave danger, finally find their will to live, and find the courage to get out of the relationship. However, she says, the moment when the woman is no longer ignorant of her situation is also the moment when she is in most danger. Blue Beard’s message is, “For Consciousness—you die” (Estes, 61).

It is clear that in this song the singer’s lover takes on the role predatory of Blue Beard, exerting his power and taking advantage of the singer’s perceived naivet. She, however, is just starting to get wise to her situation.