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Frankenstein Lyrics
(I still have this shake in my voice
And I'm going to sing you this song)
I don't know you from Adam, it could make my day
If you leave me a message I'll give it away
'Cause the most perfect strangers that you can talk to
Are the ones who pretend that you're not really you
And with any attempts here to play Frankenstein
Come with plenty of chances for changing your mind
When you're building your own creation
Nothing's better than real than a real
Imitation
I won't find it fantastic or think it absurd
When the gun in the first act goes off in the third
'Cause it's rare that you ever know what to expect
From a guy made of corpses with bolts in his neck
If the creature is limping the parts are in place
With a mind of its own and a fist for a face
Say hello to your new creation
Now it's better than real
It's a real imitation
You may wonder what the catch is
As we batten down the hatches
And when later we find that the thing we devised
Has the villagers clamouring for it's demise
We will have to admit the futility of
Trying to make something more of this jerry-built love
And you'll notice it bears a resemblance to
Everything I imagined I wanted from you
But at least it's my own creation
And it's better than real
It's a real imitation
And I'm going to sing you this song)
If you leave me a message I'll give it away
'Cause the most perfect strangers that you can talk to
Are the ones who pretend that you're not really you
Come with plenty of chances for changing your mind
When you're building your own creation
Nothing's better than real than a real
Imitation
When the gun in the first act goes off in the third
'Cause it's rare that you ever know what to expect
From a guy made of corpses with bolts in his neck
With a mind of its own and a fist for a face
Say hello to your new creation
Now it's better than real
It's a real imitation
As we batten down the hatches
Has the villagers clamouring for it's demise
We will have to admit the futility of
Trying to make something more of this jerry-built love
Everything I imagined I wanted from you
But at least it's my own creation
And it's better than real
It's a real imitation
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I read about this song in an interview somewhere. It's about this manufactured relationship between these two people. They both know it's built on lies--on only seeing what they want to see in each other and making up the rest. Frankenstein is a metaphor for their manufactured "jerry-built" relationship. And, of course, the relationship self-destructs in the end.
I think this is a very clever song and I also think it is about a false relationship. "I don't know you from Adam" - the proverbial expression is given a new twist when we are talking about a "real imitation" of creation. "The gun in the first act" quote was Chekov talking about the predictability of drama.. The final failure is implicit in the false start to the relationship. I think also that Aimee Mann must find that her fame gets in the way of forming relationships because the "most perfect strangers that you can talk to are the ones who pretend that you're not really you.." but anyone who bases their relationship on not recognising "Aimee Mann the superstar" in "Aimee Mann the woman" is basing it on a falsehood. Finally, much as I like Aimee Mann the role of Aimee Mann's ex-lover is a very fraught one. If I let someone down they can badmouth me to their friends not to the whole world.
I think the song is remarkably applicable to internet relationships, where the 2 people have not met in real life, so they fill in the blanks using their imagination/idealization, leading to problems down the line (villagers with pitchforks and torches).
Just like Frankenstein’s monster isn’t a “real” man but just something that looks like one l, neither is your image of a person constructed solely of internet interactions.
Aimee Mann's lyrics are always so clever, her rhymes are amazing sometimes-- try rhyming "cordite" sensibly. I particularily admire the lyrics of this song, bits like "villagers clamouring for it's demise". I think this song speaks to the outsider inside all of us.