Jillgiannotta
116
Points
116
Points
Academic background European literature and philosophy. Speak English, French, Spanish and Italian. Love all music with the exception of those with trite lyrics.
Very interested in current affairs; derisive of those who claim to be democrats but aren't.
| Roxy Music – Mother of Pearl Lyrics | 3 months ago |
| @[Organicmom:49830] in the context of the party, in which the author is fully engaged with a party, “take a powder” is more likely to refer to a line of cocaine or similar. But that is incidental to the song and just another example of the artifice of his life. | |
| Roxy Music – Mother of Pearl Lyrics | 3 months ago |
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@[1cpc:49829] I wrote the long analysis bone in 2016. No I agree the song is not about cocaine, but it does feature in the first part of the song ( the recreation of the party) where they all “take a powder”. Mother of Pearl, is a substitute Pearl, used for cheaper buttons and jewellery especially in the Victorian era. Ferry has closed this imagery because his world, the people in it, their appearance and their shallow ideologies is not real and is a substitute for authenticity. Possibly he is searching for something more in the course of the song, and certainly he is aware of a higher love, but I disagree with you that he persists with this search. That is the whole point of the song: he has settled for a substandard life, and this interpretation is reinforced by the chorus of unaccompanied voices repeating “Mother of Pearl/ I wouldn’t trade you for another girl.” |
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| Oleta Adams – Woman in Chains Lyrics | 11 months ago |
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TEARS FOR FEARS with OLETA ADAMS WOMAN IN CHAINS My take on this soulful beautifully crafted song. Please read on—- “Well you better love lovin And you better behave…” This is a multi layered song and on the surface can be seen as an abusive man subjugating his female partner. However it is much more than that. . In the video we see the woman in her traditional roles- a willing partner for her man’s sexual desire, a virginal bride in her white dress, a housekeeper yet also a sex object in her provocative dancer costume. She is also the soother of her man when he is stressed. The abusive man is the demander of sex, the physically strong bully who expects his woman to cater for his needs— or else. Needless to say, the woman is unhappy and the song is a plea for her freedom from this subordination. HOWEVER, the man is not happy, despite his dominance. He is seen in his testosterone fuelled roles, bullying his woman, in the boxing ring using his physical strength. But very late in the song we see him behind the wire netting, imprisoned in his own perceived societal role. At the very end we see the man caressing a bird, something way outside the image we have seen. However if we view the bird as a symbol of the “woman in chains” then the bird / woman is at the mercy of the man, who decides the fate. So the ultimate message of the song is that the male imprisonment of the female is not conducive to human happiness for either sex. The woman has the poorer deal, but the man too is incarcerated in his expectations and it is only by freeing the woman and embracing his own nurturing side can they both be free. So soulful, just amazing. Written in the 80s, a very brave song for a male duo in that era. If you just listen to just one song this week, listen to this. |
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| Roxy Music – Manifesto Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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Given Ferry's preoccupation with Dylan, I wonder if the last line of the song:- "And when you find an answer/ Bring it home to me " is a nod, subconscious or not, to Dylan's masterpiece "Bringing it all back home"? I'd be interested in reading other opinions. |
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| Roxy Music – Manifesto Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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@[NomadMonad:17771], I wrote this interpretation before I changed my username. I need to comment on "Tryptych". I think it is difficult to discern whether Ferry has faith, but he certainly is searching for spirituality, yet his songs do not speak of a belief in a beneficent deity. He seems preoccupied with the question of free will versus predetermination. This is very apparent in the above song, and also in "More than This" where essentially the same questions are asked but "there is no way of knowing". Of COURSE there's no way of knowing, but endemic in the human condition is the struggle to know the unknowable. "More than This" is a later song, complemented by a video which reinforces my interpretation of the song, but we have no conclusion, so I'd say the writer's position remains unchanged. Agnostic but not optimistic. Ferry reminds me of Samuel Beckett:- "Nothing to express, no power with which to express, together with the obligation to express." |
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| Guided by Voices – The Fool Ticket Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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@NomadMonad My view of what it means to be the Liberal Left was transformed after our Brexit experience. I took a real hammering for campaigning for LEAVE, and my social media newsfeed was replete with a narrative that “Brexiters” are bigots, racists, and unintelligent working class who did not understand the issues. Let’s just put that to the test. My own British constituency, is the 11th most wealthy, and second most educated, where 70% of the adult population are University graduates, ahead of Cambridge even. So you would expect, wouldn’t you, that REMAIN would win by a landslide? However, the remain vote, with a turnout of 77% was only 51/ 49%. And so it is with Donald Trump. Social scientists are busy retrospectively creating “closet conservatives” “reticent right wingers” to attempt to explain this phenomenon, the same phenomenon which they were unable to previously identify. You see, the trouble is that when the media and establishment sneer at JAMs (Just About Managing), those without a college education, blue collar workers, then those very voters will turn to the right when the left fails them. Not everyone who voted for Trump is a racist or a bigot. People turned away from Hillary not because she is a woman, but because she represented the establishment, and offered no palpable change whatsoever. The prevailing view of the elite left gives us one world view only. Political correctness dictates that we can only say A, B, or C, not X, Y and Z, and so we learn to fall silent, lest we be labelled bigots. That is, until the privacy of the polling booth. The Left is losing support throughout the Western world, and is responsible for this result precisely because it has decided that any other way of interpreting the world is unacceptable. Dismissing the opinion of your opponents, or closing down the argument will never win votes. Lack of engagement with real concerns, replacement of debate with insult, rejection of any other opinion which does not conform to certain parameters, will doubtless alienate the very people who might potentially be your supporters. They will inevitably turn away and take their revenge at the ballot box. |
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| Roxy Music – Mother of Pearl Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| @[IrishPoet:17654] I think you have touched on something, but the whole song is the juxtaposition of the real and the spurious, and the massive irony is that at the end of the song the performer ( Ferry) is implicated in this superficial lifestyle that he too cannot distinguish between what is profound and what is shallow. | |
| George Michael – One More Try Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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This is a song with a similar theme to "Faith" (same album). The writer is desperate not to be hurt again or let down, because of the absolute pain it brings. This is obviously a relationship between a younger and an older man, the former, George, is not so experienced, and does not wish to continue the torture of being held at arm's length or rejected, if the other is not really sincere . ("I don't want to hold you, touch you and feel like you're mine....") But the signs are there in the older man's face that he has been here before, and maybe this is a mere distractiion for him. After all the soul searching and working his angst through in the song, he still is irresistibly drawn in and we hear the song title for the one and only time, ONE MORE TRY. I think we are meant to see beyond and know what he already knows- that he is hooked, but that it will not have a happy ending. Some of these themes are reprised in "Cowboys and Angels" |
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| George Michael – Faith Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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I think this is song about a fairly new relationship in which the partners have not yet had sex. The song could be applicable to a gay or heterosexual relationship but for George it's obviously the former. Love is seen as a very special thing, and this is underscored with the religious reference in the title, which is repeated many many times in the course of the song. We also have the church organ music as an introduction and reference to "devotion". The song begins with the temptation to have sex, but, having been hurt before, he wants to wait for "something more". He wants to be sure of his partner's sincerity before completely committing himself, and letting himself completely be submerged in the relationship. ( Before the river becomes an ocean/ Before you throw my heart back on the floor") There is no doubt that the writer sees sex as an important part of this relationship but has to wait for love to accompany that act. I disagree with the person who interprets it as an ex wanting him back. This is not the same relationship and the writer (George) because he references the "other" who tied him down to rules. He wants sex and love to accompany each other and to be at ease within that relationship. FAITH in it, in other words. This will not be the last time George juxtaposes religious and earthly love. |
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| Roxy Music – Mother of Pearl Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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MOTHER OF PEARL This is a wonderful song, poetic yet hard-hitting: an artistic recreation in two parts, of an experience and a contemplation of that experience.This is not the only time Ferry produces a disturbing monologue on the vacuous nature of opulence to for its own sake. "Dreamhome" resonates with the same notion. I have yet to see a coherent explanation of this song. It has been interpreted as a eulogy to cocaine, but I disagree. Maybe the song is a poem, a song and an experience which defies explanation but here goes anyway! The first part creates the party, with its frenzied pace and loud guitar. The music is overpowering, everyone of note is there, and they all "take a powder". The scene is set, and is underpinned by Mananzera's dominant guitar. Then Ferry takes centre stage, and with stylised movements, begins a stream of consciousness contemplating the emptiness of the life he has chosen. He is the consummate player, with every movement, every wave of his hand carefully orchestrated. At this point, it is necessary to consider the title. "Mother of Pearl" is a substitute for real pearl. and is derived from a veneer inside the oyster's shell. An excellent metaphor for his superficial life which has a lustrous veneer but no substance. He is aware that this "party time wasting" is devoid of meaning, empty, superficial, "a pantomime" yet he is lured in just the same. . The world of fame, parties, changes of partners who are solely concerned with image is not conducive to happiness. The following line will feature several times: "If you're looking for love/in a looking glass world /it's pretty hard to find." However, although aware that there is a higher love, it is out of reach, and at that point begins the religious imagery, which adds an ambivalent overlay to the song: "Very holy grail" " Lustrous lady of a sacred world". "Highbrow holy" This love may be aspired to but was "never mine." The celestial, which is merely glimpsed briefly, is juxtaposed with secular love, and the protagonist seems unable to make the distinction. And so it is that the substitute life is embraced. This false shimmering god is irresistible, even to Zarathustra. (Zarathustra is a character in Nietzsche's philosophical novel which is often mistaken as a nihilistic system of thought- Ferry himself makes this error), and in the same way Ferry cannot resist. "Serpentine sleekness" refers to the biblical temptress who engineered the downfall of Adam, and who is the false ideal the protagonist has chosen to worship. He is fully aware of the choice he has made and so " no filigree fancy beats the plastic you." All the magazine cover girls are vacuous and interchangeable: "Career girl cover/exposed and another/slips right into view." The "throwaway kisses" could be for anyone, who cares if they meet their intended target? Just fall back into a life of luxury and all will be in order. Towards the end we have the "choker" image, which is both the necklace which adorns the female, yet also a symbol of her demise, being literally choked in the world where image is rated more highly than reality and sincerity. Finally, and depressingly, we have the affirmation of superficiality above authenticity. "Mother of pearl/ so semi precious/ in your detached world." There is multiple repetition, involving several unaccompanied voices, of: "Mother of Pearl I wouldn't trade you for another girl", reinforcing that message. |
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