| Pulp – Dishes Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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This is a very personal song for me. I'm not sure if my interpretation of the song is accurate, but this is what it means to me. It's about a man who has always wanted to do something amazing. Not just wanting to be famous, but wanting to make a major contribution to the world (like Jesus... even though I'm an atheist). But he ends up just being like any other man, with nothing special about him. And he's kind of processing that and trying to be at peace with that. To me, washing the dishes refers several things. One, it represents the responsibilities he's had in his life that prevented him from doing that amazing thing he had always dreamed of doing. It also refers to him continuing to commit himself to those responsibilities after his dream had died. And it also provides the imagery of a man who maybe has given up and has resolved to being just a man who washes the dishes. Since he feels like he was never able to make that great contribution to the world. He does what he can to contribute to the people in his life. Offering to read a story to someone he loves or providing them some light with something as little as a match (because that's the best he can do) are the little things he does. He realizes he can't make that great contribution to the world, but he knows he can do these little things. And that's why he does them. The lines in the song that really touch me are the ones about not touching the stars. He wants to be able to touch the stars. But he doesn't see himself as someone who can or maybe even deserves to. And he's accepted he's just like everyone else on this Earth. And the line about "being happy just to be alive" refers to trying to appreciate what we have. Just having the opportunity to exist is an amazing thing. And realizing that being alive is a blessing has allowed him to appreciate what he's got and make the best of it ("anything's possible"). If he dwells on what he wasn't able to achieve, and doesn't appreciate the blessing of life and the opportunity it brings, he won't be able to see some of the great things he can still do. And he doesn't have to settle for being an ordinary man that just stays home to wash the dishes. Like I said, this song is very personal to me. It makes me think about how I've felt as a person who has dreamed about making a major contribution to the world since I was a young boy. I'm sure I'm projecting a lot of my own life experiences into how I see this song. But my interpretation of the song and how I relate to it is why this song is so special to me. |
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