| Belle & Sebastian – The Model Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I love how the sixth line of each verse is sung by a second voice. I read the second voice as being the unspoken confession that the first voice really wants to say, but doesn't, or can't: A: The picture was a masterpiece of comic timing You wouldn't laugh at all B: And I wondered what the boy was thinking A: The picture was an old collage of something classical The model with a tragic air Because without a doubt he'd given up the fight The ghost of somebody at his side ---Here the analysis is interrupted by his true thought: I wondered what the boy was thinking? B: And if you think you see with just your eyes you're mad ---Again, an unspoken thought--perhaps too cliched to risk voicing. A: But I was so embarressed that I missed your party It was me that paid for it eventually Because you know how much I wanted B: To meet your friend the star of stage and local press ---The second voice reveals the real reason he wanted to go to the party. A: Frankly, I let my heavy eyelids flutter B: Because I have been sleeping badly lately ---Again, the first voice doesn't want to admit a weakness. In the end, the person being addressed isn't impressed by the narrator--maybe because he won't reveal his true self? The lines after hint at the presence of the second voice: "A whisper in a choir stall The man was talking about you simultaneously" |
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| Belle & Sebastian – If You're Feeling Sinister Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I realized only today that the second verse can be read as the last one chronologically. Formally, it echoes the first verse. But Hilary walks to her death after she goes to the Catholic Church (where she gains her interest in Bible studies, which she's unable to reconcile with her interest in S&M). She leaves the Church confused about her spirituality. The man at Rediffusion does nothing to help. She then, like Anthony, walks to her death. Or, you can read her walking to her death as metaphor for her going to the Catholic Church in the first place. Though it seems to me that she'd be interested in Bible studies after the priest confirmed her. |
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