A powerful, foreboding response to the metropolis.
Whether calling forth the pathetic spectacle of pure American kitsch (the sentimental Christmas tree, wrapped in the light of destroyed West Virginian mountaintops, destroyed lives) or urban isolation -- the narrator can't live with or escape the decadence out of which she is woven. The decay exemplified by the infamous city. She wants to concede, surrender to the city's terms (and social/ecological life) but is unable to ignore the grisly truth: the city lies, beneath the veneer of its pristine marketing/self-promotion, it is unhospitable and alienating. She cannot express the depth of her insatiability, the earth-shattering force of her anger.
The song evinces her melancholy...she is resigned, not strong enough to resist, and ends by echoing her desire to somehow fit in ("I wanna be a part of you, New York").
A powerful, foreboding response to the metropolis.
Whether calling forth the pathetic spectacle of pure American kitsch (the sentimental Christmas tree, wrapped in the light of destroyed West Virginian mountaintops, destroyed lives) or urban isolation -- the narrator can't live with or escape the decadence out of which she is woven. The decay exemplified by the infamous city. She wants to concede, surrender to the city's terms (and social/ecological life) but is unable to ignore the grisly truth: the city lies, beneath the veneer of its pristine marketing/self-promotion, it is unhospitable and alienating. She cannot express the depth of her insatiability, the earth-shattering force of her anger.
The song evinces her melancholy...she is resigned, not strong enough to resist, and ends by echoing her desire to somehow fit in ("I wanna be a part of you, New York").