| Born Ruffians – Kurt Vonnegut Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I think this song is about a guy who shies away from relationships because he's scared of the pain (+some existential stuff about love and relationships and the meaning of life, of course). The first verse is the start of a relationship where he wants to fall hopelessly, heartbreakingly in love, backed up by the final three lines which I think refer to having to get out of bed in the daytime but being able to be together in the evening. The second verse he realises that he can't really handle that pain and so starts to push his lover away, but he keeps on in the relationship as shown by the lines "Just keep dancing, keep smiling/Even if it feels wrong". The chorus reinforces this again: It's not the place, nor the time To know that I can't keep you mine -> it seems like they're at a dance or something, and this is not a good situation to come to this realisation or let anyone know about it Your smile, my smile -> the separation of their smiles may indicate that one is real but the other is forced Our faces mash a while -> this unromantic phrasing may show the revulsion he feels at having to carry on despite his change of feelings The line "Got to fly" shows he wants to escape/get away. As for the connection with Vonnegut, I think there's some pretty deep existential stuff there about the meaningfulness of relationships. There's a line in Cat's Cradle that sums up the tension at the core of the book/Bokonism: “The heartbreaking necessity of lying about reality and the heartbreaking impossibility of lying about it” and this could also be true for this relationship - he has to keep lying in order to not break anyone's heart (either his own or his partner's, because clearly he feels that the pain of a broken heart is pretty unbearable) but it's impossible for him to keep up the façade as shown by the phrase "Got to fly". With regards to the ending of the song, I think he may be asking to leave all the philosophy and self-analysis (eg. internal thoughts as opposed to "outside") behind and just accept what he feels. But whether this is him "tell[ing] himself he understand" or an actual change (but I wonder if one truly believes what one tells oneself, what is the difference?) is not clear. |
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