| Barenaked Ladies – I'll Be That Girl Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I love these lyrics. As with most great songs, it can be freely interpreted by the listener based on his or her own experience. I also like the dark/happy contrast, kind of like Synchronicity by The Police. Here's my take: It's about a guy with extremely low self-esteem and some obsession issues with a girl. He fantasizes about being her for a few reasons: a) Because as her, he would be willing to do just about anything to pander to his (now third-person) narcissistic fragility. b) Because as her, he could finally embody the object of his worship and... c) ...willingly enslave that object to his every whim; this would shield him from his self-loathing. There are also some S&M, suicidal, and violent references that are in line with that type of personality. They contrast very well with the cheery, upbeat mood of the song. In the bridge, I think the narrator is attempting to quit fantasizing and embrace his real-life situation for what it is (embrace the sadness, the madness). As for the chorus, it's somewhat mysterious. The field/clover thing is in line with the verses (acting as his object of affection, anything would be offered to satisfy his first persona). "If I were the sun, you would be in shadow" is unclear and could go either way, maybe it's about the idolization of the girl and thus the first subject (the guy) would be the opposite of that; it's almost like a narcissist / inverted narcissist. The gun reference seems to be about suicide, but maybe also homicide or both. I hope I didn't just recap what was already said! |
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