| Paul Weller – Wild Wood Lyrics | 11 months ago |
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For my part I see the disappointment and disillusion induced by the capitalistic society, the American dream, and the model we all are led to believe in and trust our lives to : work hard, and you’ll be rich and happy. Beginning of the song : Mr or Mrs Everybody lives a standard working life like everyone, coping with the traffic jams at rush hour, just focused on their goal: going from home to work, or vice versa ; not much time for anything else. And everybody does that : "High tide - mid afternoon / People fly by in the traffics boom / Knowing - just where you're blowing / Getting to where you should be going." Our protagonist does all this because that's how things are professed to work : one works hard and riches will trickle down to us and grant us all the comfort and possessions one deserves as a reward: "Golden rain bring you riches /All the good things - you deserve now.", no matter what some people (friends ? Family?) may say to make you slow down a bit, and suggest you to maybe enjoy life a little more instead of only living for work? "Don't let them get you down / Making you feel guilty about" But Mx Everybody is caught in the infernal race of work, always on the hunt for the next promotion, it’s a real jungle in there (a wild wood) and everyone wants to get out by the top : « Climbing forever trying / Find your way out - of the wild wild wood » , it’s a selfish and greedy world where everybody is in competition with everybody : « Now theres no justice / There's only yourself - that you can trust in ». and so the infernal cycle repeats itself, on and on « And I said - high tide mid afternoon / People fly by in the traffics boom / Knowing - just where you're blowing / Getting to where you should be going. » [musical pause illustrates the passing of time] But after a time (years), the illusion starts to show. Hard though Mx Everybody may be working and playing the game, they’re still waiting for the promised result : if you work hard enough, you’re supposed to become rich and ultimately be happy. But it’s not coming : « Day by day your world fades away / Waiting to feel - all the dreams that say / Golden rain will bring you riches / All the good things - you deserve now ». The ending can be understood two ways : - either it has the exact same meaning as the first time, and so illustrates the tragic cycle Mx Everybody is trapped in, unable to get out, condemned to weaken like the dreams they used to have - or it can have a different meaning than the first time : Mx Everybody became aware just how vain all this is and and now wants to break the cycle, get out of the jungle, of the pit of competition and careerism, in a nutshell : find a way out, escape. |
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