| They Might Be Giants – Don't Let's Start Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I'm surprised no one has interpreted the song from a socio-political angle. The nihilism angle is a good start, but it begs us to ask why nihilism and a love relationship are juxtaposed? Here's what I think. I see it as a song sung to the country as an entity (a woman we'll call "America"), and the love relationship is a metaphor. "Precious little girl" == girl rhymes with world, carries the metaphor, and countries are considered female (just like all our social ideals - Liberty, Justice, etc). Imagine him singing to "America" and it suddenly makes a lot more sense. He is in despair because he doesn't want to live without her, but he is getting sick of living with her as well. He cannot handle how she "gets around". All the stuff about nihilism is still true, but it takes a sharper edge because "his precious little girl" actually *could* destroy the entire world. |
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