I instantly thought of this poor, suburban "androgynous Girl Next Door" who decides to run away to the city. She can't stand her old life with her disgusting gym teacher (I felt like there was some sexual connotation there) and her obese mother (who falls through the porch). All she has at home are geraniums, who seem so exceptional (like "alien pods") compared to the rest of her dreary life. She hears about the city through a friend, and she's eaten up the glorified image of it ("she had eaten her dog, and she was back for more").
She hits New York City. There's people from New Guinea and L.A., there's violence, and sweatshops. "The story gets hazy and the hair gets too long" as she falls in with a bad lot, so to speak. "The mothers get whiskey" (drunk) and "the girlfriends get tongue" (fall into prostitution). Everyone sells everything out of a cart or the "back of a truck." They'll sell anything just for a little cash to live, from their own body parts ("smoke free lungs"), to farcical sensationalist nonsense ("alien pods"), to sex and slavery ("the souls of the dead"). They sell ways out of the city too (backs of cars and roadway maps). But at one point, Girl Next Door goes too far. She sells something too valuable, too personal (represented by "the back of a head"). She tries and tries to get it back, but "this is New York," and the people are harsh and hard-hearted.
In the end, she's stuck in New York City with nothing. She's still waiting around, trying to get somewhere. But things look very bleak in this cruel, yet glamorous city...
I instantly thought of this poor, suburban "androgynous Girl Next Door" who decides to run away to the city. She can't stand her old life with her disgusting gym teacher (I felt like there was some sexual connotation there) and her obese mother (who falls through the porch). All she has at home are geraniums, who seem so exceptional (like "alien pods") compared to the rest of her dreary life. She hears about the city through a friend, and she's eaten up the glorified image of it ("she had eaten her dog, and she was back for more").
She hits New York City. There's people from New Guinea and L.A., there's violence, and sweatshops. "The story gets hazy and the hair gets too long" as she falls in with a bad lot, so to speak. "The mothers get whiskey" (drunk) and "the girlfriends get tongue" (fall into prostitution). Everyone sells everything out of a cart or the "back of a truck." They'll sell anything just for a little cash to live, from their own body parts ("smoke free lungs"), to farcical sensationalist nonsense ("alien pods"), to sex and slavery ("the souls of the dead"). They sell ways out of the city too (backs of cars and roadway maps). But at one point, Girl Next Door goes too far. She sells something too valuable, too personal (represented by "the back of a head"). She tries and tries to get it back, but "this is New York," and the people are harsh and hard-hearted.
In the end, she's stuck in New York City with nothing. She's still waiting around, trying to get somewhere. But things look very bleak in this cruel, yet glamorous city...
WOW!!! Now I see the lyrics more clearly. Thank you.
WOW!!! Now I see the lyrics more clearly. Thank you.