Georgia Take me to the Sea

“Georgia, take me to the sea where they drown the babies that nobody can feed” In Johnny Whitney’s work, the sea usually represents nature and purity, and drowning babies obviously is a reference to overpopulation.

“And in that sick ocean, Georgia, we'll be born again. We'll swim so far in that ocean crammed with shopping carts” The “sick ocean” the one where they drown the babies is also where the narrator and Georgia will be baptized, thus “born again”, and the shopping carts signify the marketing of not only nature, but religion as well.

“Georgia's got a tumor in her throat, she grows wild strawberries on the roof of her overpriced apartment in Soho and I close my eyes but the sleep, the sleep doesn't come to me unless I'm shit-faced drunk. I dream of traffic.” The “tumor” in Georgia’s throat is an indicator that she is ill, or may literally have a tumor, yet instead of paying for an operation she’d rather live in her expensive apartment, because as we learn later in the song, she comes from wealth and basks in the status that it entails. Where it begins the speech, I believe that this is Georgia speaking, not the usual narrator. People who can’t sleep are people who usually can’t stand themselves, so they indulge in a vice to lull them to sleep. This shows that Georgia is sick of her status and the rich lifestyle, yet she imbibes in alcohol, a tame vice by society’s standards, showing that she is also striving towards a pure lifestyle. Traffic again references the overpopulation that she is aware of and because traffic is also associated with frustration as well as commercialization, this shows that is angry with overpopulation as well as the manufactured world that she lives in.

“Georgia, Georgia, you know the wedding is tomorrow. She's a well off girl with rich parents who made a fortune off of real estate.” The wedding implies that she is due to be married, probably to a man with money. The fact that the narrator is mentioning that it is tomorrow probably indicates that she got cold feet and called off the marriage, thus preserving her purity and virginity by choosing to leave her lifestyle. The second line mentions her parents, and this is where we find out that she comes from money. We also learn that they made their money from real estate, a method of money making that you often see on early-morning infomercials and thus this is signifying that her parents didn’t really work for the money, and once again points towards the manufacturing of everything.

“It smells like spring is yellow and headphones wail like widows on designer pillows of Egyptian linen.” The first part of this line mentions things that we usually associate with rebirth and happiness respectively. The headphones that “wail like widows” show that they have been discarded; the fact that she has left them on her expensive pillows signifies that she has finally left behind her status-filled life as well.

“We'll I've been here before, where the waterfalls decompose, and symphonies go blind in the desert” This once again is Georgia narrating, instead of the usual narrator. The waterfalls once again signify nature and purity, their decomposing is the manufacturing and using of nature. The desert in Johnny Whitney’s work represents not nature this time, but the bareness of people and how hollow they truly are. Thus, “symphonies going blind” in the desert shows how beautiful things are lost on most of society. Georgia is at the stage where she has just left her former life, seeking a life of purity, and has become holier-than-thou. This is indicated by her saying (rather snobbishly, thus indicating that she hasn’t completely changed from the high-class girl that she once was) that she used to be like those people, but has now become a better person.

“So grab a microphone, put the tape in, press record, Georgia, can you hear my heart explode?” Georgia’s claim to be a better person is something that the narrator realizes to be as corrupt as what she is now against and likely realizes what will happen to her in the future, thus his/her heart “explodes” in grief for her inevitable fate.

“Georgia, take me to the sea, redesigned by the billion-dollar company. Clean as a brainwashed baby, sugar sweet user friendly, version 1.2, supernatural blue” Now we finally get to where Georgia is getting baptized, but she doesn’t realize yet that religion is just as corrupt an institution, if not more corrupt, than the ones she came from. But now she is clean, as well as malleable in a completely new way. The last few lines are phases that sound good and meaningful when you first hear them, but as I can find nothing that they could mean that would be relevant to the rest of the song, I can only think that this is reflective once again of how hollow and manufactured society and the world have become. It sounds and looks great, but really means nothing.

“Georgia's collecting broken glass and tires, she's building an airplane from the lonely hearts of liars. Split knuckles black bloody sheets and cigarettes from con men’s teeth, she'll fly around the world on all that regret.” At this point in the song, she has realized the corruption of religion and has fallen from it, yet still wants another shot at redemption. “Collecting broken glass and tires” implies that she is now homeless and, since she is trying to redeem herself, she collects and sells recyclables. She soon realizes that this isn’t enough to sustain herself, and turns to the obvious answer: prostitution. She’s using the money to travel away to a better life. The “split knuckles” and “black bloody sheets” show that her clients have abused her. Once she gets the money to leave, she regrets selling her body, and giving up the virginity that she saved by not getting married.

“Georgia, I hope the treatment isn't too rough, I hope your eyes don't go into the fog of the world.” At this part of the song, Georgia is finally getting her life together. The narrator’s hope that her “eyes don’t go into the fog” shows that the narrator is afraid that she will relapse into either of her life of status, or into the life of prostitution that she led in the later parts of the song.

“Not everything happens for a reason; I know that it sounds appealing when you loose something that's not replaceable.” Being told that “everything happens for a reason” is something that one’s family and friends tell us. The narrator telling Georgia that this is not the case shows that she was trying to convince herself that this struggle made her a better person, thus the holier-than-thou mentality returns.

“We'll I've been here before, where the waterfalls decompose, and symphonies go blind in the desert.” With the attitude that returned with the last line, this one does again. I believe that this shows she is destined to repeat her struggle.

“So grab a microphone, put the tape in, press record, Georgia, can you hear my heart explode?” This line is also revisited, again confirming that Georgia has indeed relapsed.

Many thanks to my fiancé who helped me with this analysis.