| They Might Be Giants – Whistling In The Dark Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Its funny, but I think this song means the exact opposite of what I used to think it meant. That's because I only really listened to the chorus. It sounds like the narrator is saying, "Be you, be what you're like, be like yourself" but he's not saying that. The words are actually being said by the woman in the first verse who wants to poison his mind with wrong ideas that appeal to him. She wants to comfort him but the narrator does not want to be comforted. In his mind at the beginning of the song, poison is a synonym for comfort. What she actually says verbatim is not known, the author is only telling us what was faintly written across her forehead... meaning that he could tell the underlying meaning of her words by her tone and expression. He then tried to call for help because he could see that he was about to get some awful advice that would ensnare and poison his mind. But before he can get away, she has hypnotized him with the message in the chorus. She only knows how to do one thing well and you should do what you know how to do well. She's preaching self acceptance, but self acceptance can be a dangerous thing. She's resigned herself to thinking that she can only do what she is good at although we never get good at anything without first being bad at it. The only thing she knows how to be well is "be you, be what you're like, be like yourself". There's an important subtlty to her message. She didn't say, "Be yourself", she said, "Be like yourself". Don't change, be like you are right now. But "be yourself" is different because it offers the freedom to still be you but also to be a different and better you. The next part of the chorus, "And I'm having a wonderful time but I'd rather be whistling on the dark" implies that whatever she happens to be doing right at that second is enjoyable but it is also difficult, frightening, and challenging... three things that she doesn't like. Instead of challenging, she'd rather be living in an unchallenged narrow universe. Whistling in the dark, in this instance, is just accepting willful ignorance while shutting out all new ideas. In the second verse, the narrators mind has been poisoned and the man wants to change his mind by hitting him with a rock. Obviously, this is a metaphor for being challenged. The rock is a new concept or idea that could be shocking or unsettling, even though it is truthful. It is a hard reality and difficult to accept. He has already been poisoned by the woman in the first verse so he laughs off the suggestion by the man as a joke and walks away because he no longer wants to be challenged. As he walks away he hits on the wall of the jail. The expression, "Hitting your head against the wall" means doing the same thing over and over again without any change. The wall he's hitting his head against is in a jail in which he's locked himself because, like the woman in the first verse, he's imprisoned by ignorance. Now when the chorus is sung, it is the narrators voice. He has fully swallowed what the woman said and has no hope of escape or personal growth. So, while initially, this song sounds like it's comforting, it is actually a challenge to expand our minds and be open to new experiences before it's too late and we imprison ourselves in ignorance. |
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