Something Corporate is considered an emo-punk band. Normally, a band in this genre doesn't really explore issues such as women in suburbia. They generally focus on the trials and tribulations of being a teenager in the suburbs; I realized this (and it's consequential effect on me) during class. Something Corporate and, more specifically, their singer/pianist/songwriter Andrew McMahon can be very symbolic lyrically. Another SoCo song, "Straw Dog," related a Norse tradition of idolizing a dog made straw and then subsequently throwing it into the street to the high expectations (idolization) and low regard (disposal) America has of its youth. SoCo's perceptiveness of the youth culture, feelings, and concerns are its selling point. As a band that is very popular with West Coast suburban, tweens and teens the song "Me and the Moon" hits dead-on with its target audience: future mothers, fathers, husbands, and wives of America's suburbs. The song's cautionary lyrics deliver a mournful cry and a powerful message about the imperative of the American culture to become aware of the terminal desolation women are susceptible to in the suburbs.
The first line states, "It's a good year for a murder." In the context of the entire song, this line describes the suicide as a murder. This is integral to the understanding of the rest of the song. The murder itself, then, is her life; the bullet that entered her is just the culmination of something that had been building up for a long time. The first verse continues by acknowledging that her husband's presence upsets her ("There's no tears, cause he's not here"); she's a compulsive, chore-driven housewife and her thoughts of her duties continue even after she has killed herself ("She washes her hands, and she fixed the dinner"). The first verse ends with, "No one's so sure if her crime had a reason." This can be easily interpreted as the misunderstanding of the community: wondering why anyone would have problems or want to escape from suburbia's perfect shelter. The dull repetitiveness of her life and her emotional distance from her husband is not excuse enough for society.
The pre-chorus acts as the woman's response to the verse. It begins: "Reasons like seasons/they constantly change/and the seasons of last year/like reasons/have floated away." These lines correlate the blurring of reasons to the passage of time. The problems with the suburbs aren't obvious because suburbia itself is tailor-made to be the perfect place to live. As time passes it becomes apparent that there's something wrong and by the time realization occurs it's too late to escape without causing a scene and/or being socially ostracized. The next lines detail metaphorical chores using common idioms: she pushes aside what can never be regained ("Away with this spilt milk") and what can never be made clean (innocent) again ("Away with this dirty dish water"). The final line of the pre-chorus ("Seventeen years, and all that he gave was a daughter") brilliantly details the emotional detachment between herself and her husband that led to her decision. The only gift he provided in all that time was a daughter, another women that can be victimized by his insensitivity. This line alone adds to the argument that the socially sanctioned norm of masculine indifference in the suburbs was detrimental to the family structure. The pre-chorus successfully establishes the woman's reasons even when she doesn't have anything specifically to point to: it's the zenith of years of misunderstandings and emotional neglect.
"'It's me and the moon,' she says," starts the chorus. The moon is universally considered a symbol of femininity ("Moon" np). What the lyric seems to express is that—finally, in death—she is free from the male constructed suburbs. The suburbs were a space designed to suit men and isolate women. The second symbol in the chorus is the Butterfly ("I am a butterfly, you wouldn't let me die"). The butterfly can be described as a metaphor for the "triumph of the spirit and soul over the physical prison" of the "material world" ("Butterfly" np). The implications this symbol has on this song are obvious and strong. The Woman triumphed over the "physical prison" of suburbia, which is steeped in the materialist world, for the benefit of her "spirit and soul." Thus, the chorus encapsulates the problem and the reason very concisely within four lines.
The second verse's beginning ("And it's over, but just started") is an appropriate and effective segue from the chorus. Butterflies have extraordinarily short lives in comparison to humans. Since the Woman curtailed her life when she was relatively young—she was probably in her late 30s if the reader safely assumes she had a child in her early 20s—the symbol of the Butterfly is strengthened and solidified. The next line ("The blood stained the carpet") reiterates the Housewife's obsessive concern over perceptions. She couldn't escape the suburbs or her marriage through conventional means without being socially ostracized, but she could if she went to extremes. It also notes that—even in death—what is of particular import along with the next line ("Her heart like a crystal") is the condition of the carpet. It's a scathing juxtaposition. By comparing her heart to crystal it is given the qualities of the material: fragile, transparent, and fine. It establishes the fact that this Woman wasn't emotionless. She was as sensitive, receptive, and nice as the next person. Something had hardened a shell around her and all of the people that should be her emotional counterparts that prevented them from expressing themselves. The next contradiction is embedded in the next line ("She's lucid and departed"). She is finally mentally and emotionally resolved (lucid), but she cannot enjoy its realization because she is dead (departed). This last lyric essentially summarizes the concept of the second verse.
The second pre-chorus laments against the suburbs directly ("Away with these nightmares/away with suburbia"). The prescribed and repetitive life of plastic perfection in suburbia resonates in McMahon's intonation. The break on the last line ("You marry a role/you give up your soul 'til you break down") accentuates the previous lines. The socially constructed notion of a suburban marriage inhibits the existence of a passionate, functional one. Likewise, the private passions of each member that do not fit into their schedules, are not socially acceptable, or are physically impossible to pursue in the suburbs are suppressed into extinction, thus, preventing any personal satisfaction.
The bridge is the only instance in the lyrics of regretful consideration. The Woman remembers youthful endeavors, falling in love, and what it was like to still believe in those freedoms ("But what do you say we go for a ride?/What do you say we get high?"). The last line of the bridge ("But I'm so tired of days that feel like the night") recalls the symbol of the moon. In her feminine self-actualization founded in death, the glow of the moon at night hardly replaces the feeling of the sun in the day. It sustained her and eventually congealed her conviction to kill herself, but it's obviously not the best solution (hence, her fleeting regret). Yet, after another chorus, the voice repeat's "I am a butterfly" until the song ends and establishing the confident belief (by recalling the symbol of the Butterfly) that her decision was right. She had asked, "You wouldn't let me die," but no one had answered so she solved the problem herself.
While this song has some very insightful observations about suburbia and its culture, there are a few matters of concern to be addressed. First, what about the daughter? Why would the Mother kill herself and leave the only gift from her husband to the wayside? Her daughter is probably around 17 and not quite an adult yet. Theoretically, she is capable of taking care of herself, but now she must live with the stress of having lost a mother to suicide. This comes across as inanely selfish. Yet, being selfish is also an arguably integral characteristic of the suburban lifestyle. Second, McMahon's lyrics can come across as incredibly sexist. Some of his songs demand that women placate him and adhere to his romantic advances. This could undermine his legitimacy as a defender of women's rights. Lastly, some people believe this song is about a woman who murders her husband. Additionally, some fans say he has said publicly that this song is about a woman who murders her husband. While this may be true, it's important to note that many artists, SoCo included, tell their fans to "get their own meaning" out of the lyrics. Likewise, as many people argue it could be interpreted as this thesis has explored. In the end, though, it could be argued that it doesn't matter who was killed. What needs to be recognized is that a Woman was driven to actually kill because of the space she inhabited. The suburban culture can have a destructive effect on the psyche of a person if the social constraints it adheres to don't allow people to be themselves as well as members of a premier community.
"Me and the Moon" slips between post- and pre-suicide thoughts, regret, and frustrations, to establish that living in the suburbs can be suicidal in the literal and unconscious sense: literally in the sense that the Woman actually kills herself (and so have many other real people) and unconsciously because most people don't kill themselves, but, rather, become susceptible to intellectual and emotional decay. While the song doesn't offer any definitive answers to avoid these side effects, it attributes a very real reason: the culture and gendered complex of the American suburb.
Works Cited
Brown, Geoff, et. al. "Butterfly." 2001. Website. Available: http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/B/butterfly.html. 20 Apr 2005.
______________. "Moon." 2001. Website. Available: http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/M/moon.html. 20 Apr 2005. |
