Natural's Not In It

When I saw Marie Antoinette, this started playing in the very beginning and I literally checked to make sure I was in the right movie.

I love this song, it was the first G4 song I ever heard and Entertainment! is definitely one of the best albums I've ever heard. What's funny about this song is that it is nothing like any of the other songs on the album. I would definitely call it the most different. It still has the classic G4 element though of constant repetition of one line.

It was actually a good song choice for Marie Antoinette because of it's lyrics. What I get from it, is that it's looking at people who have the good life and all the time in the world and no idea how to spend it. People who are in the public eye and a look their private lives. And how often people like this turn to the more sinful indulgences to take up their time (fornication makes you happy), but we only hear about it more with them because they are famous and being watched. It's almost an exagerated look at our own lives.

And they dream of having the perfect life, which people think they can achieve through money. I think "The body is good business" in relation to "Economic circumstances" though alludes to the relationship between sex appeal and power that there is in society, two subjects which can often seem mutually exclusive. How people who have the body for it, use it to gain power (why is Pamela Anderson so famous?), and people who have the power use it to get things they normally could never have (why does Hugh Heffner have so many gorgeous young girls with him all the time?). "We all have good intentions/But all with strings attached" is a criticism towards both ends of that sex/power spectrum. The singer concludes of this system: "This heaven gives me migraine." That's his sarcastic way of saying that such a 'perfect life' isn't worth it.

The title means, there is nothing natural about the way these people live their lives, there's no escape from society for them. Also these people can indulge in whatever they want (a market of the senses) and this is both too overwhelming and separates them from the way regular people live.

"The problem of leisure/What to do for pleasure" is a way of saying that having too much time can be a really bad thing. Look at the way celebrities spend their time and their money just because they have nothing else to do with it.

"Coercion of the senses/We are not so gullible/Our great expectations/A future for the good" I think more or less is a way of someone trying to say that they aren't like the rest and they can't be seduced by such indulgences, they're going to be better than that. It might also be pointing out the way normal people criticize celebrities, like they wouldn't be so susceptable to that seduction if they were that famous. The next lines though are 'Fornication makes you happy/No escape from society.' No escape from society has a double meaning in this context. Meaning, sex makes you happy just like everyone else, you are a product of your society and subject to the same evils we are whether you like it or not. But also it's talking about how these people, famous people, virtually never get a moment alone.

The line 'Sell out, maintain the interest' has to do with the fact that even as much as this life isn't good for these people, they go to great lengths to keep it. They will sell out to maintain the interest. This is why the Lot's wife comment is relevant as well. Lot's wife looked back on everything she was leaving behind and the angel had warned against this. Even living in a place that was being destroyed and corrupt, she looked back, wanting to keep her life. This furthers the idea that G4 are pointing out the love these people have for the chaos, they know their lives aren't the best way to stay happy, but it's hard for them to stop living that way.

In short I think this song is a look at how most people in the public eye live the most imperfect lives, and I think it's sort of a thought process behind their actions.

Sorry if this is a bit long winded and disorganized. And perhaps I'm wrong about the whole thing, who's to say. Enjoy.

Ditto Ptolemy's comments. I would only add that in interpreting any Gang of Four song you have to bear in mind their heavy Marxist influences and their related belief that capitalism creates alienation and internal contradictions on multiple levels. Marx argued that capitalism would destroy itself but that, before it did so, it would creep into every corner of our lives. In this song, that process is creeping into our pursuit of fulfillment--but it's not natural. We cannot truly feel fulfilled from a new purchase, and so this heaven gives me migraine.

I'm not a Marxist, btw, but I'm a economist and so have read a lot of Marx. And I love Gang of Four!

Sorry but I think PtolemyKitty is off here, possibly way off if they really believe that this song is about sympathizing with the rich, the bourgeois, or figures of the ancien regime like Marie Antoinette. The lyrics are Marxist, probably influenced by the structuralism that was most in vogue in the 70s, and it's about how we're ALL enmeshed in the strictures of capitalist society - "no escape from society". Even our most basic desires, sex, the body, are repackaged for profit. The "perfect life" is a "dream" used to keep people compliant. The refrain that capitalism is "natural" has always been around and it's addressing that. "We all have good intentions..." is referring to the classic socialist notion that mere good intentions will be bastardized or co-opted under capitalism. The whole album is about how capitalism affects our lives, primarily in the fields of consumption, personal relations, advertising and market purchases than production.

This song has a fairly funky type of swagger. It sounds good, but also sounds like it's unsure of itself as it lurches along. The very hectoring slogans against capitalism were also de rigueur for the time, almost to the point of mandatory. Gang Of Four were LEFTIST. I suppose that this song is a good way to find out more about the stuff their reacting against, though the mentioning of 'Lot's wife' (who turned to a pillar of salt) was somewhat bizarre. I always took that biblical story as a parable: If you 'look back' you'll become bitter (like salt). Or maybe I'm just too 'fancy-pants' for my own good. Gang of Four deservedly remain a touchstone of musical greatness, as they were definitely fine musician/lyricists.

the remix of this song by the Rakes is the shiz!

this song kicks ass.

That interpretation was quite perfect. Thanks!

I'd actually never heard of this song or band till i watched marie antionette and my friend downloaded it and gave it to me. i think that PtolemyKitty gave a great interpretation and the song makes a lot more sence now so thanx

PtolemyKitty's interpretation is complete. I just wanted to say that marie antoinette is a really great movie and its soundtrack is just as good as the movie!

This song is one of my all time favorites... I love how Go4 looks at society. "Repackaged sex keeps your interest!" That line to me sounds very sarcastic and kind of sums up humanity. I love hating on the general population. Oh, and great interpretation, PtolemyKitty.