| Sonic Youth – Washing Machine Lyrics | 16 years ago |
|
I think the song is about love and sexuality. The first part, driving, aggressive, anxious ("heart's spinning round like a washing machine"). A lot of stylized indifference (the way she says "yeah" in "yeah, I take my baby down to the corner") masking her anxiety. The guy says "honey you look so fine," and she gives the various "okay, alright, okay, alright" which symbolize her attempts to come to emotional terms with being viewed as sexually attractive. (Her vocals are brilliantly expressive and varied as she pronounces those four words). The chiming guitars come in representing emotional warmth, openness, the opposite of the earlier closed-off aggression, and the beginning of the consciousness of something like real love. She has a supernatural experience with a woman in the sky. The woman represents her mom, or the women of the past, or feminism, or just her own "conscience," a voice inside of her which sees reality for what it is. The woman throws her a "quarter" and tells her to put it in a washing machine. I interpret this to mean that the maternal figure is telling her to acknowledge and own her sexuality, to face it rather than running away. Then there's a bunch of cool feedback. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.