-
- ross_boss (
ross_boss) の書き込み:
blog 17: it started with a mix
To me, this song is about moving forward and standing tall, even if the goodness that we feel within ourselves isn’t universally recognized or socially valued. The opening line has a more romantic tint: "I'm the only one/searching for you/And if I get caught/then the search is through." The obvious analysis would be that everyone has a special someone that they are meant to be with, but I think it would be incredibly pompous and narrow-minded to think that there is really only one person for each of us--pompous to think that, in a world with 6 billion people, you would ever go to the city, let alone the country, in which your one true love resides (let alone meet them). Far more romantic and thematically appropriate to the song, I think this line speaks to the idea that I may see the wonder of someone more than anyone else. We all appreciate different things, and perhaps Girl A might find other guys that love her besides me, but they won't be able to appreciate her unique greatness as well as I can. The line "I hear the natives fussin' at the data chart/Be quiet the weather's on the night news" reminds me of how people tend to obsess over trying to understand things, but all too often they are obsessing over the wrong things. The weather is one of those experiences that we all share in common, so it can be seen as a universal metaphor. Some of us are interested in predictions of the weather, while others of us are not (metaphorically, as well as literally). The classic chorus line, "I've got styles/Miles and miles/So much style that it's wasted" is how I self-indulgently view myself on a good day. I think that style is undervalued in our society for the sake of things like fashion on one extreme and specialization (how people have become savants in one narrow category and veritably retarded in all others) on the other. This also connects to the overall theme of the song and the conundrum of what I personally value versus what society values as important, whether it be personality traits or global affairs. "This pattern's torn and we're weavin'" is standing up to all the crap that life piles on, making claims that perhaps the torn pattern (of life) getting torn isn’t even the worst thing to have happen, and if we care, we can still fix it. "Stolen rims were they alloy or chrome" is just too cool of a line for me to even speak to. Use your imagination.
Weezer, My Name is Jonas (Weezer--The Blue Album)
I love the beautiful opening acoustic guitar of this song. I love how the song picks up momentum until it is rockin' out and I find myself screaming along. I love how underneath it all, it is still the same beautiful song that the intro suggests, the whole way through. The opening lines, "My name is Jonas/I'm carrying the wheel/Thanks for all you've shown us/But this is how we feel" well encapsulates the tone of the overall song. Carrying the wheel seems to be a responsibility to carry, as though a burden--perhaps the wheel symbolizes society since it is one of our greatest inventions. Or maybe it is a commentary on the lack of real progress we make in contrast to all the arbitrary, needless, breakthroughs we spend so much time and money on. Regardless, it is certainly ironic to carry a wheel when one could roll it--if the wheel is such a burden to carry. The line is also an allusion to the book The Giver, where one kid--named Jonas--has the responsibility of holding onto the whole world's bad memories so that the peaceful Utopian, communistic society (one predicated upon "sameness") in which he lives is not burdened by these negative thoughts. His holding onto the memories is his job so as to ensure that his society will not be doomed to repeat these errors. My favorite line is "My name is Weepel/I got a box full of your toys/They're fresh out of batteries/But they're still making noise." I just love the idea of having a box full of your toys. To me, it means that I've got your number. I know you, what you like, what you want, and what makes you happy. Still making noise is like how I like to think of myself--you can try to unplug me or wait me out, but I am fairly hardheaded when I think I am right, and don’t mind fighting for/persevering for what I believe in. "The workers are going home" reminds me that the people I see on a daily basis, the randoms and strangers, doing jobs that I barely even think about, have lives of their own that they get to go home to. They might have a job that they hate, or a job that I hate, or a job that doesn’t get much appreciation, but they are human beings who have depths of thoughts that I could never possibly understand. Atticus always tells us to put ourselves in their shoes/skin, and it is an important idea that would make the world a much better place if ever universally endorsed, but I always marvel at how I could never really know what it's like to be another person, what they are thinking, or how they feel. It is kind of humbling in a way.
Silver Jews, Wild Kindness (American Water)
"Some power that hardly looked like power/I'm only perfect in an empty room" reminds me that I am really only in competition with myself, which is one of the easiest things on Earth to forget. I also think that power is such a relative thing: power over a country, power over another person, power over yourself. It is a reminder that the superficial definitions and views of what power looks like are not always true. If you connect the 2 lines, it also reminds me that the only thing that I truly have any power over is myself and what I do. "It is autumn and my camouflage is dying" is one of my favorite song lyrics of all time. I see myself on this tree branch and the tree is full of growth. As the seasons change, symbolic for the passing of time, the foliage all dies off, shed like clothes, and what is left is me, exposed and naked for the world to see. It is hard to stand there, exposed, but it is an important challenge to take on. It comes with the confidence that I am living my life in a way that I am proud of and believe in. It connects very well with one of the lines that precedes it: "...spurn the sin of giving in." This is a "hang tough" reminder that we will all go through hard times in our lives. It is the way of things. What's important is to learn from these challenges, to face them and grow from them, not succumb to them.
PS All of this is of course ignoring one of my bestest theme songs of them all, the song that is probably the most embarrassing song on my Ipod--the song that is played when Danielson is charging through the all-valley karate tournament in The Karate Kid. The song that I hear in my head and sometimes indulge myself in a little sing-a-long (yeah, I basically just said that I sing-a-long out loud with my inner voice) after I am victorious at any form of competition--whether it's basketball, board games, an argument, etc..."You're the best, around/No one's ever gonna put you down" and I have no idea who sings that incredibly cheesy-but-likeable song.
- コメントを送信する
- 0 件のコメント
- コメントを送信する
- 0 件のコメント
-
-