| Sheryl Crow – Strong Enough Lyrics | 4 years ago |
| "I've got a lot of baggage; can you handle it?" is a question everyone can relate to. The song would be just a poignant and relevant if you flipped the genders. That's the genius of Sheryl Crow; she often sings in universal truths. A lot of recording artists like to use metaphor and imagery to express themselves, and Crow does, as well, but she also has the rare ability of evoke using straightforward language. "When I'm throwing punches in the air" is clear and obvious, but no less impactful for that. There is greatness in her turn of phrase. | |
| Sheryl Crow – Members Only Lyrics | 4 years ago |
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This is a song about things not being right in the world, while (almost) everyone continues to act like it is, to the point of self-destruction. Uncle Larry is in his own little world (the 80s), where he has no further responsibilities than to get high and "turn on all the ladies." The white folks and rich kids continue to live like there is an endless supply of tomorrows, all filled with absurdities to amuse them, the rise and fall of Mary Ellen's hairdo, as she studies the Kabbalah in her J. Crew. They shake their asses out of rhythm ("looking for the two and four") with a world that isn't doing very well, and the politicians are shaking their asses (moving quickly) for the back door, slipping out of the room where they should be living up to their responsibility to govern. Not that it matters anymore; the eastern seaboard has been blown away - the end has already begun, and we're fiddling as Rome burns. Meanwhile the "I" in the song (possibly Sheryl, possibly a character she's describing in the first person) drinks away her angst at watching people pretend things are okay. Her friend Gregg says, "It's all good," but it's not. So she hangs out with the lasses, weary of a world out of step, and seeking comfort in friends and alcohol. And, of course, the boys still have almost all of the political power, the ability to prevent or mitigate the impending disaster, a sort of men = the world metaphor, and they're failing at their job. "You had one job," the song tells them, before the protagonist decides to join the lasses who don't like the boys no more, and drink old fashioneds and martinis as the world burns. There's a sort of learned powerlessness throughout the song, both in the protagonist and the people she sees. The white folks, rich kids, and politicians are too busy shaking their asses to make use of their power, and the protagonist seems to feel no responsibility to change what she finds so distressing. What can she do? She's just one of the lasses, drinking toasts to the end of the world, powerless to stop it. But nobody is really powerless, and while she doesn't wield the power of wealth, political office, male privilege, etc, sitting back and letting it all burn is in effect joining those who dance while the world ends. |
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