I put this song in a mix of songs I made about babies, kids, etc., as we prepared for the birth of our daughter. I see this scene as a dad talking to his kid about life and the world. Except the dad is on speed, pretty amped up, and the baby is sitting there in the high chair just staring at him...
I've been listening to this song off-and-on for almost 30 years, and this interpretation never once occurred to me not even vaguely...and it's so dead on! it's perfect.
I've been listening to this song off-and-on for almost 30 years, and this interpretation never once occurred to me not even vaguely...and it's so dead on! it's perfect.
the key is to recognize that--assuming this really was the intention--David is subverting the pop-music convention of referring to your loved one as "baby," by taking it literally.
the key is to recognize that--assuming this really was the intention--David is subverting the pop-music convention of referring to your loved one as "baby," by taking it literally.
actually I still find it kinda difficult to believe this was his intent (I don't think David at that age could hardly conceive--no pun intended--of himself as a father), but it works better than any alternate explanation I could come up with.
actually I still find it kinda difficult to believe this was his intent (I don't think David at that age could hardly conceive--no pun intended--of himself as a father), but it works better than any alternate explanation I could come up with.
...
another good song for such a mixtape would be "Learning to Hunt" by Guided By Voices, in which a father expresses awe and wonder while he watches his young child engaged in fairly ordinary activities: which--for the kid, in his/her inexperience, are wondrous adventures:
You were a child reaching out brave and true
For big things in the next room and I
Couldn't step into such open sky
Where on the crest of uncertainty you loom
also there's tension between his wish to put a protective cocoon around his beloved offspring forever vs. the knowledge that if he truly loves them, he must allow them the space in which they can explore the world despite the inherent risk.
I put this song in a mix of songs I made about babies, kids, etc., as we prepared for the birth of our daughter. I see this scene as a dad talking to his kid about life and the world. Except the dad is on speed, pretty amped up, and the baby is sitting there in the high chair just staring at him...
I've been listening to this song off-and-on for almost 30 years, and this interpretation never once occurred to me not even vaguely...and it's so dead on! it's perfect.
I've been listening to this song off-and-on for almost 30 years, and this interpretation never once occurred to me not even vaguely...and it's so dead on! it's perfect.
the key is to recognize that--assuming this really was the intention--David is subverting the pop-music convention of referring to your loved one as "baby," by taking it literally.
the key is to recognize that--assuming this really was the intention--David is subverting the pop-music convention of referring to your loved one as "baby," by taking it literally.
actually I still find it kinda difficult to believe this was his intent (I don't think David at that age could hardly conceive--no pun intended--of himself as a father), but it works better than any alternate explanation I could come up with.
actually I still find it kinda difficult to believe this was his intent (I don't think David at that age could hardly conceive--no pun intended--of himself as a father), but it works better than any alternate explanation I could come up with.
...
another good song for such a mixtape would be "Learning to Hunt" by Guided By Voices, in which a father expresses awe and wonder while he watches his young child engaged in fairly ordinary activities: which--for the kid, in his/her inexperience, are wondrous adventures:
You were a child reaching out brave and true For big things in the next room and I Couldn't step into such open sky Where on the crest of uncertainty you loom
also there's tension between his wish to put a protective cocoon around his beloved offspring forever vs. the knowledge that if he truly loves them, he must allow them the space in which they can explore the world despite the inherent risk.