She's Gone

Here is an essay I wrote about She's gone my first year of college. Thought I might as well share it with you guys. (The numbers in parentheses are line numbers) Sorry it's so long... -Grayson S.

17DEC03

Regardless of the genre of music, there is always a statement to be made, or story to be told, by every artist in their songs. Music has been society’s way of entertaining and passing on traditions since before written history, and will continue to do so in the years to come. Like an artist’s painting that entertains the senses, music makes you think, putting you in the place of the musician and enticing your mood with the lyrics. Arguably, some songs have a deeper meaning than others, and some songs are written purely for fun or to express emotion. On the other hand, some songs tell us about ourselves, as humans. She’s gone is a song that not only tells a tale about a little girl and her mother, but entices moods and emotions in the listener (at least one with an ear for “punk” music). It paints a picture too vivid for any easel, tells a story too powerful for pages, and leaves you wondering how it’s possible for people to do the horrible things that they do to each other. “A blackened wick is what remains” is the introductory line to the song. Right here the listener knows that this is foreshadowing of what is to come later in the story (1). The next line, “the flame was blown out just recently”, gives the listener the feeling that a drastic change has occurred (2). In my interpretation of the song, these first two lines tell about Carol Anne, the “narrator”, in a sense, of the story. She is a little girl who has just lost the “joy of being a child” because of her mother’s neglect. The introduction continues by telling that Carol is not completely void of all love, just in a solemn state of emptiness. The lines “It won’t be lit again, the day won’t be so bright” have a dual meaning, but at this point in the song they just emphasize that she won’t ever get to relive the days of childhood (3-4). Then the story switches to the viewpoint of the mother. In line 5 the story tells that no one could know what both the mother’s and the child’s lives would have been like had she (the mother) made different decisions about how to live her life. “All we know is what she left behind” states again that there is no way to tell how their lives would have ended up, but that the mother “left behind” something important (caring for her daughter) (6-8). In the ninth line the song changes again, this time to a more present tense. The lyrics “In the bedroom there’s sheets on the window” gives the image of a dark and lonely room, cluttered and messy (9). These lines are also a subtle hint that the room is closed up for a reason, possibly to keep the outside world and reality out of her life. Another way I interpreted this line is that there windows were closed up to keep the light out, because the mother is using drugs. Users of heroin and crystal methamphetamine usually cover the windows to their house because the light hurts their eyes while on these drugs. This second theory would probably be more accurate given the lines that follow.
The tenth and 13th lines have very sexual overtones, and set the mood and define the character more intensely. Here the mother is portrayed as being extremely promiscuous, tying in with the characterization of a drug addict. Also hinted at is the assumption that the mother is relatively young and naive (13). When coupled with the images of the tattered house and Carol’s sadness, a picture of what is happening in the characters lives starts to vividly appear in the mind. By this time in the song the listener can begin to feel what the setting is like, and maybe even relate it to real life events he or she might have faced. Because this song is written by a “Punk Rock” band, in that style, many of the targeted audience can empathize or even sympathize with the story. Line 15 and 16 say “As the door would close, her face began to shine. This was her finest hour, this was her finest time.” These two lines together make up the pinnacle of both intensity and characterization in the song. In the first sentence it gives the image of a “door” closing. This could mean any number of things, but I think the physical meaning best fits in the story. When she closes the door to her bedroom with her “friends” and other people who are there using drugs, she feels like she is the center of attention, possibly even “loved” by them. All this time, while the mother is doing drugs and having sex, her little girl is out of the picture (20). Enter Carol Anne. Line 21 brings the little girl back into the picture, standing in a playground after school waiting for her mother to pick her up. The feelings of emptiness in Carol are expressed in the lines “all the other children have gone” (22). This gives a physical picture of the emotion being portrayed, a little girl standing in a deserted playground by herself , crying for her mom who, unbeknownst to her, is at home not thinking anything about her. The conclusion of the song could be interpreted several ways. The way I best found to finish the story is that one night Carol was sleeping while her mom was partying. Around the time she goes to sleep, her mother apparently dies of an overdose. The lines “In the darkness she sees definition, in the silence she hears someone calling” give the impression that she saw her mothers ghost and heard her call for her in a dream (25). When she awakes from this dream, crying, she finds herself all alone in the house. “There’s no one now, she’s gone. (29-30)” Many people consider music, not deemed by the general public and the critics to have “artistic value”, rubbish. As I hope I have exemplified, this could not be farther from the truth. Although musicians’ credibility has decreased over the years as the new “pop” sound rears it’s ugly head, the soul of music still lives on in the hearts of many. There will always be stories to tell, and music will always be a worldly and timeless medium in which artists can convey these stories and live forever through their words.