Lioness's Lyrical Uses
I wanted a Mufasa tattoo for…. years
I grew up on one trope and one trope only: lions that are Jesus.
I’ve shed some of the more problematic aspects of the Jesus Lion, but the affection remains. I’ll always like lions a little more than other animals. And for some reason, I love the word “lioness.”
Lioness. It rolls off the tongue so beautifully. They’re also just better than male lions in most ways. They are the primary hunters/providers in the pride. They are typically 30% faster than male lions. A bunch of male lions die from fighting each other; lionesses seldom give their lives for such stupid reasons.
“Lioness” conjures up that rare joy of a word with a beautiful sound and an equally beautiful meaning. When Jo March finally reads her writing out loud to a publisher in the Little Women musical, she triumphantly sings:
What a great line!
But there’s one song line about lionesses that I love slightly more. It’s the fifth line in the song Real Peach, by Henry Jamison. I’ll drop the song below, and the lyrics to the first verse below that.
“Well, nighttime passes
But the dark remains
And I was feelin’ like a little child
But I am loathe to place blame
On that lioness-esque woman
Who will go here unnamed
She was looking in me for a lion
When she found it so tame”
Now, listen: as with many songs I really love, I have no idea what this song is about other than “a woman.” But the phrase “lioness-esque woman” paints a picture I can see clearly. She’s powerful but sleek, a hunter in a way that the narrator isn’t. And I imagine that she has amazing, huge, sandy bronde1 hair like Linda Hamilton in the first Terminator.
What else is special about this phrase? Well, I love the internal semi-rhyme (a term I looked up so I could use it here) of “lioness-esque.”2 I love the rest of the song, which is full of other beautiful word combinations. And I love the idea of a man loving a woman for her power. The phrase “that lioness-esque woman” is today’s One Perfect Thing.
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Despite being an English major, I never once had a grammar lesson in my life. So, y’know, there’s some holes.