| Belle & Sebastian – Lazy Line Painter Jane Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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This is one of the best songs ever written. I first it live at a church hall in London. It blew me away. I want to add a few things about UK life to help out demystify the song for some of the previous commentators here. In someways, the song seems to describe glimpses into the life of a rebellious schoolgirl. As with all good poems, the lyrics can have double meanings. It seems almost to be a sequel or companion piece to 'Stars of Track and Field'. Let's see your kit for games All the girls look the same You are challenging style for running miles You're running miles in some boy's jumper The line about 'see your kit' is a reference to the sportswear expected of pupils at school to participate in games ie mandatory (and usually highly unpopular) sports classes. This is why all the girls look the same in the sporting uniform - except Jane, Who, by accident or design, has brought an incomplete kit to class and (as is typical of most schools in the UK) the phys-ed teacher will make the pupil with incomplete kit wear some spare clothes from the locker room - hence, her challenging styles for miles on the cross-country run (the least popular of all sporting activities at a UK secondary school) in 'some boys jumper' - simply one she's being forced to wear and borrow for the duration of the class. Jane probably had no real intention of turning up to class with the proper kit. All her rebellions - large and small - are a cry for attention and, ultimately, help of some sort. Perhaps Jane sees the better life bestowed upon the Stars of Track of Field and has no part in their victories or allowed access to their social realms. Denied this, Jane is opting out and all her rebellions are signals to let everyone know it. Jane hopes they - her teachers, friends, rivals and tormentors alike - will see every single one of her trangressions. Sadly, Jane is her own worst enemy. She's dreaming of a better life - one far away from the small town she's stuck in. Yet something keeps her back. Jane can't, or won't, even stay on the buses leaving town. Contemplating her predicament at the bus stops she loiters at. Poor Jane is trapped in every possible way. |
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