Strange Days

The song has a definite sense of irony to it. The narrator (the voice who Jim Morrison is portraying) seems to be ignorant. When he says, "We shall go on playing Or find a new town Yeah!", you can really see the childlike mentality. The narrator is also contradictory, and they realize this. You can see this when he says, "Hear me talk of sin". You get the feeling of a person who moves around alot, someone of unstable emotions. Also, the narrator recognizes the evil in his enviroment, but he's aware that he is apart of it too. The hostess seems to have a sexual nature about her. You can see this when he says "The hostess is grinning Her guests sleep from sinning". Perhaps they have had sex that wasn't based on love and more a selfish act of abuse towards each other. When you look at hostess you connect her with someone whom is a caretaker, a helpful figure. There again we see this irony, she is more of a devil in disguise. He makes it seem like she manipulates these people and basks in their destruction. Essentially, the despair in this story centers around her. In the last verse of the song, we see the narrator talk of emotional destruction and a sense of being lost. The characters live their life running from the past, running from their true self, and ultimatly turning into stone (or in other words lifeless creatures). So the work of the hostess wasn't physical,but more emotional. Whom you consider the hostess can be varied, perhaps it was a mother figure to Morrison, a symbol for government or nation (a place which we call "motherland"), media, matrialistic views (often associated with women). However, the identity of the hostess may have been left open so the listener could connect with the song on a more personal level. It also has a very apocalyptic feel to it. Words such as; destroy, stone, confused, misused, sin, grinning, alone. The song has alot of layers that are unclear, and most likely Morrison was experiencing some personal feeling that the song relates too.