| Marina and the Diamonds – Girls Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I find it hard to feel that this song is feminist or even mocking. I personally feel that it just demonstrates how Marina feels towards the majority of her female counterparts. To call it a feminist anthem is a bit strange and to say that it's from a male's point of view is just absurd. I find it hard to interpret this song because it just seems so obvious to me. Females conform but they don't conform if you catch my drift. If not, girls conform to the norms and values within a society but not the type of norms and values that society expects them to. That's just my sociological mind, sorry if it confuses you. | |
| Marina and the Diamonds – Seventeen Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
The comments and interpretations on here are interesting but I'd also like to interest people myself; besides, I am feeling a little bored and run down. I don't want to put any words into Marina's mouth so I'll just refer to the narrative as "an individual". The repetition of "Seventeen" and "the rise of the king and the fall of the queen" suggests how when an individual reached that age, one parent had more control over at the last stage of her upbringing than the other, perhaps to ensure that they didn't go off the rails. Something that hasn't been mentioned here is how the song starts off with a minor scale and works it way up to a major scale, which is then followed by the line, "Used to be a major scale but the melody went stale." The lines to follow are "Musical cacophony let, insy winsy spider free." In summary, it could be suggested that an individual used melancholic music as a way of expressing their emotions; the significance of the word "cacophony" highlights this idea and furthermore suggests that the music was dark and intense to help reflect the emotions that were being felt at the time; "[...] let insy Winsy Spider free" implies that this person felt "small" and oppressed and that they were liberated by the music that they produced i.e. it was therapeutic for them because it was the only way that they could express themselves. With this in mind, it could be implied that the person eventually ceased to gain any emotional relief after writing a significant amount of music; hence the line(s) "USED TO BE a major scale but the melody went stale" (i.e. it stopped having any kind of effect). The verse after the chorus is where the whole "family" theme really kicks in. The very first verse after the chorus reminds me of families where the teenager is made to feel inferior and the parents are seen as superior - even when the families teachings are oppressive and maybe even corrupted. This verse reminds me of a strong-minded teenager who wants to speak their mind and be heard but the parent just shuts them up and makes them feel that what they [the parent] have to say is right and is also what the teenager should say and think themselves. However, this teenager is not that way, she has addressed that she is her own entity and this intimidates her parent as they feel as if they cannot control her; this is in reference to the line, "Bet you wish I couldn't speak, 'cause when I do, you know, I tell you why you appear weak." The next verse speaks of an "upper-class wife" who has the personality of a "lemon" that's been "truly sucked dry." Perhaps this "wife" listens to the teenager's father because she's been completely drained of her own morals and beliefs, and simply accepts what he says and does without hesitation, which will in turn give him a "hassle free life" as she is not being argumentative. The line(s) "I felt you question the way [that] I was brought up as a baby" come across as conversational to me, it feels like this individual is talking to someone else who finds the way that they where raised quite strange. She's aware that the person almost finds it hard to believe. The next line, "Well, you don't fuck about my family" is the individual clarifying that they have no idea on what she was taught to believe when she was being raised, and the way that it is said infers that the teachings were overly strict and conservative. The very last part of the song suggests that the individual eventually just learned to put up with not being able to express their own opinion or have any independence. She simply was the obedient "princess" that her parent wanted her to be, even though she despised being that way, hence the line(s) "I used to kill myself in this dress, that it was just how things were meant to be". However, "I USED TO kill myself in this dress" ensures that she is no longer that way i.e. she stopped convincing herself that it was the way that things "were meant to be" because in the end, if it had to be any way, it had to be her way, and that would be her way of staying true to herself and the way that she feels. This whole revelation may not have happened until music stopped having the escapism effect. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.