| George Michael – To Be Forgiven Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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At the beginning of the biography 'George Michael: A Life', we are told that George as a child had some very mean things said to him by his father, and he stated that he never got over it. The implication is that it affected him his entire life, and I think this song is about that. He sings 'I hear the sound of the memory', possibly recalling the words used. 'Save me from myself' again in the biography it states that George and his manager had at one point been overheard arguing about George's lifestyle, and George called out, 'Stop trying to save me from myself'. It is like he knew he had the potential to be his own worst enemy, and he drifted between wanting to be saved from himself, and not. 'Suddenly my life is like a river. Taking me places I don't want to go' I think this refers to the bad experiences he had as a young adult, Anselmo's illness and subsequent death, then his mother's death. Both affected him extremely deeply. 'But like all good men who swim too well, It takes all that I have just to cry for help, Then that voice in my head tells me no'. He seems to be saying he is good at putting a face on things, hiding how he is feeling, and stopping himself from asking for help. 'Let me live my life beside the river', his beloved home Mill Cottage. I feel the healing nature of his river home is implied here. 'Take me to places where a child can grow, And then maybe the boy inside will forsake me, Maybe the child in me will just let me go' I think this refers to the child he was when these mean comments were made to him. He feels the child he was at that point, never moved on emotionally. He is stuck there. He feels if he can grow beyond that point and the closeness to the river may help with that, the boy he is inside will leave him and let him go, and he will no longer be tortured by the comments made to him. Mill Cottage is central to the hoped growth and recovery I feel, as he was so happy there. 'And I would beg to be forgiven, If I knew my sin' this is interesting, because George was very spiritual I believe. He says something very similar in 'You Have Been Loved' about Anselmo's mum: 'But she just sits and counts the hours, searching for her crime.' He seems to play with the idea that maybe suffering in life occurs because of some previous misdemeanor that the person is unaware of. |
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