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Taking People Lyrics

Who
Who never showed you
About the easy way
Whose robes did they trade you
For such an easy life

Who
Who never showed you
About the easy way
Who, who never told you
About the perfect life

Guess it's some kind of
Some guarantee
You'll never see

If I was a photographer
Picture taking (Taking people)
Beautiful people
I guess I'd make a mistake
'Cause I'd probably take a picture of you

Who
Who never showed you
About the easy way

And whose robes did they trade you
For such a perfect life
That's such a guarantee
It leaves some certain sickness
You'll never know
Inside of me

That's all I have
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Cover art for Taking People lyrics by Cat Power

Wow, every time I look at one of these songs, I go "Oh, that's my favorite one!" Chan Marshal really is the best singer-songwriter of her generation, (she and good ol' Stephen Malkmus). Such simplicity and emotion.

Anyway, I think this song is about someone who's trying to become famous or comparing themself to glamorous people, always losing out in the end. And Chan's like, hey, in my book, you're a superstar already. Very sweet.

Cover art for Taking People lyrics by Cat Power

I think the song is about someone who is both insecure and competitive trying to gain accolades through advanced academic degree achievement. Specifically the the "robes" reference describes graduation ceremony robes, the "photographer" is taking photos of the graduation ceremony and the "...guarantee you'll never see"" is the false promise of career success, financial security, and status after finally reaching graduation. A good friend and life mentor put this song on a mix tape for me when I was very worried about what people would think of me if I dropped out of graduate school. He, and this song helped me a lot during that transition out of the academic priesthood.

My Interpretation
 
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