submissions
| Sheryl Crow – If It Makes You Happy Lyrics
| 11 years ago
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I wonder whether this song might be a response to Curt Cobain's suicide. The sound of the piece reminds me of Nirvana's sound, and the line "I put on a poncho and played for mosquitoes" echoes the rhyme scheme (and even a word) from the refrain of "Smells Like Teen Spirit": "Here we are now, entertain us/ A mulatto/ An albino/ A mosquito/ My libido." Most importantly, the song feels like a question or challenge that Crow is putting to Cobain after his demise: If you were so passionate about the music ("If it makes you happy"), then why did you let being a "rock star" get you so depressed that you felt you had to kill yourself? ("Then why the hell are you so sad?). |
submissions
| Natalie Merchant – Carnival Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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Many of the previous comments are somewhat perceptive, but the song isn't really about the music industry or about Hollywood or about people's individual sorrows. Yes, the lyrics refer to "carnival", "stage", "actors", but these are only metaphors for our society as a whole. Please stop ignoring some of the key lyrics, most especially "a spectacle of wealth and poverty/ in the diamond markets". For any of us who live in North America-- even if we live relatively privileged and comfortable lives-- if we're honest and look more deeply at the society around us then we can't help but be struck by the gaping chasm between the world of wealth and the world of poverty. This system of wealth for the few actually depends on systematic oppression and immiseration of the many. Once we see that, we can either resolve to help do something about it, or we can choose "to shut my eyes and play along", as the lyrics put it: i.e., pretend to be blind to the reality, and simply accept the shabby façade of social glee (as at a street carnival). |
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