I remember this song well as when it was a hit, I was a little boy who suffered from a lot of depression. I knew when I listened to the lyrics that my younger brother's birth was NOT the cause of my loneliness, so I recognized that this song's lonely boy, and perhaps other lonely boys (and girls) out there had different reasons for feeling desperately alone and unloved.
Don't worry, I'm mostly okay now, but thanks for saying "awwwww!' in your mind.
I was, in fact, loved as a boy. For various reasons, I had periods when I did not FEEL loved.
What struck me about this song at the time is how ridiculously short and simple it was.
He was born first and an only child for two years, thought it was made him special,. put all his emotional self-esteem eggs in that basket (at age two, really?) then a sister's birth upsets his worldview and sense of self.
Okay, that is unfortunate, one would hope he'd welcome the new addition and rejoice at gaining a playmate.
For this emotional hurdle to somehow fester and form him into a cold, unloving jerk who bolts for the door the second he reaches 18 is pathetic and quite disturbing....but then....
It ends.
The story just ends.
I know his sister has a family ()a son at that) and she follows her parents' child-rearing philosophy and "the cycle continues", the "wheel turns" and all that, but it's over. The song just ends.
All I can think the end is saying is that possibly Andrew Gold deeply regrets that his EARLY childhood confusion that "only son" meant "only one" prevented him from having a meaningful, loving relationship with his sister and quite possibly any woman and so he is left childless while his sister has managed to procreate.
He is now very lonely indeed, as an adult and is coming to grips with the reasons why.
Still, it is too short. There is no resolution. But then, perhaps Andrew Gold himself had not yet had a resolution to his dilemma at the time he wrote the song. One can only hope it was cathartic for him and his life improved.
With that, I think I'll check him out on Wikipedia since it's nearly 40 years later...
Ha! Here's what Wiki says:
"Although Gold put personal references in the lyrics to "Lonely Boy" (including his year of birth), he admitted in an interview that it was not autobiographical: "Maybe it was a mistake to do that, but I simply put in those details because it was convenient. I hadn't been a lonely boy at all — I'd had a very happy childhood."
Also, since Gold died of heart failure in 2011, we cannot ask him "WTF?" about this song since if it wasn't autobiographical at aside from his birth date, what was this song really about?
@CravenImages You say some good things here. What stands out to me is
@CravenImages You say some good things here. What stands out to me is
" "wheel turns" and all that, but it's over. The song just ends."
" "wheel turns" and all that, but it's over. The song just ends."
Book-ended there are; one thought about perpetuation (and with that, infinity), and the other, the opposite....Entropy in , "The song just Ends.
Book-ended there are; one thought about perpetuation (and with that, infinity), and the other, the opposite....Entropy in , "The song just Ends.
If you're familiar with books like "Golden Escher Bach" or even some good books out there about Greatest truths/ideas being the synthesis of opposites, which is often coined paradox. But there's the rub, you see? Because especially at the time of his writing "Lonely Boy", Andrew Gold was...
If you're familiar with books like "Golden Escher Bach" or even some good books out there about Greatest truths/ideas being the synthesis of opposites, which is often coined paradox. But there's the rub, you see? Because especially at the time of his writing "Lonely Boy", Andrew Gold was in a time when ideas broiled under a confrontation & coming together of Western & Eastern Thought. IN less than a decade, the meaning of paradox became confusing; meaning unsolvable conundrum in one breath, and then the result of synthesis from opposites (turning paradox into a miracle machine) in another. Now, while that may seem cerebral, it's the contrary, as the most basic truths of the Universe, and most notably our lives, are ultimately simple expressions of truths that are far greater & beyond their scope (of our lives), yet hold firm to them. Yet, as the song makes great musical & lyrical efforts to convey, what is simple & even seemingly finite never in fact ends. This is a cycle that is much more than cyclical, because those repeated tragedies are the very antithesis of great Universal Truths, which we can't help but perceive as disconnected,opaque & un-relatable, because they are Infinite & Universal, while our lives are anything but. Hence, a paradox itself.
The idea that some are doomed/destined to have parents who don't get it, who confuse security for safety, and safety for happiness, there is very little that you can say for those poor, poor "lonely boys & girls". Life simply had it in store for them to have to learn those painful and difficult lessons on their own and largely alone. It may even be (in one possible reading of the song) that the truth could well be that Lonely Boy's isolation comes from his own mistaken outlook, rather than a universal sense of judgement on a short-worded life pattern. Because in life it's often much harder to tell what the right side is, as there is still no valid formula or equation for it. Gold nuances his very short story with the line,
"Teach him to fight, be nobody's fool",
which is, in fact, antithetical to the accepted doctrine of the nature and consequences of over-coddling.
Where does the truth hide here?
I think that's a big part of the whole song: That the answers to these (& many other heart-wrenching questions & situations) are always hidden...within the questions & situations themselves (a Detective's outlook), and/or "simply" within ourselves, in our own time.
My take on this song is that it was written by Gold about someone he knew growing up; someone for whom he felt a great deal but, in the end, could never do anything for, at least in terms of preventing the car crash of life he/she seemed to be heading towards. There is a profound nature to that of Observer shackled by its own role: For ppl who are capable of seeing outside their lives to peer into another's, yet with no tint or glare from their own reality and/or POV. In the latter, almost everything is to be boiled down to what we can relate to. But with good observation and a modicum of intelligence, some begin to see (mostly by the age of 10 or so), that people are far, far different from each other than we ever consider. This opening up of possibilities also comes at a cost: It means we are also far more limited in our ability to genuinely reach out to them as a result.
There is such melancholy to this song, intertwined with an upbeat, beautiful melody, that it really does often feel like The Eternal Golden Braid (GEB).
Me? most of the time I cry when I hear this song. Mostly because for me the most obvious reading of Gold's story is exactly mine (my life, that is). The only differences are a decade, one instance of gender & ages reversed. And while it doesn't mean I don't love my parents (perhaps the first great lesson of childhood is that nobody's perfect, especially our parents!), their decisions, actions & values were widely seen as perplexing at best. But what are you gonna do about flawed parents and life's little plans?
How funny and cool that lyrics with so few words (simple, final, eternal, perplexing...) can pack such powerful & diverse punches.
Some dance in their living rooms while others cry, alone. Who knows? Maybe life makes Lonely Boys & Girls of us all, one way or another, and perhaps that isn't a bad thing. As long as we know how to be alone sans loneliness. Gold may be commenting on the juxtaposition of recognizing/witnessing tragedy & suffering from afar, all the while seeing how odd and petty it seems from our own distant POV?
Or it's the first song about First World Problems...? ;-P
I remember this song well as when it was a hit, I was a little boy who suffered from a lot of depression. I knew when I listened to the lyrics that my younger brother's birth was NOT the cause of my loneliness, so I recognized that this song's lonely boy, and perhaps other lonely boys (and girls) out there had different reasons for feeling desperately alone and unloved.
Don't worry, I'm mostly okay now, but thanks for saying "awwwww!' in your mind.
I was, in fact, loved as a boy. For various reasons, I had periods when I did not FEEL loved.
What struck me about this song at the time is how ridiculously short and simple it was.
He was born first and an only child for two years, thought it was made him special,. put all his emotional self-esteem eggs in that basket (at age two, really?) then a sister's birth upsets his worldview and sense of self.
Okay, that is unfortunate, one would hope he'd welcome the new addition and rejoice at gaining a playmate.
For this emotional hurdle to somehow fester and form him into a cold, unloving jerk who bolts for the door the second he reaches 18 is pathetic and quite disturbing....but then....
It ends.
The story just ends.
I know his sister has a family ()a son at that) and she follows her parents' child-rearing philosophy and "the cycle continues", the "wheel turns" and all that, but it's over. The song just ends.
All I can think the end is saying is that possibly Andrew Gold deeply regrets that his EARLY childhood confusion that "only son" meant "only one" prevented him from having a meaningful, loving relationship with his sister and quite possibly any woman and so he is left childless while his sister has managed to procreate.
He is now very lonely indeed, as an adult and is coming to grips with the reasons why.
Still, it is too short. There is no resolution. But then, perhaps Andrew Gold himself had not yet had a resolution to his dilemma at the time he wrote the song. One can only hope it was cathartic for him and his life improved.
With that, I think I'll check him out on Wikipedia since it's nearly 40 years later...
Ha! Here's what Wiki says:
"Although Gold put personal references in the lyrics to "Lonely Boy" (including his year of birth), he admitted in an interview that it was not autobiographical: "Maybe it was a mistake to do that, but I simply put in those details because it was convenient. I hadn't been a lonely boy at all — I'd had a very happy childhood."
Also, since Gold died of heart failure in 2011, we cannot ask him "WTF?" about this song since if it wasn't autobiographical at aside from his birth date, what was this song really about?
@CravenImages You say some good things here. What stands out to me is
@CravenImages You say some good things here. What stands out to me is
" "wheel turns" and all that, but it's over. The song just ends."
" "wheel turns" and all that, but it's over. The song just ends."
Book-ended there are; one thought about perpetuation (and with that, infinity), and the other, the opposite....Entropy in , "The song just Ends.
Book-ended there are; one thought about perpetuation (and with that, infinity), and the other, the opposite....Entropy in , "The song just Ends.
If you're familiar with books like "Golden Escher Bach" or even some good books out there about Greatest truths/ideas being the synthesis of opposites, which is often coined paradox. But there's the rub, you see? Because especially at the time of his writing "Lonely Boy", Andrew Gold was...
If you're familiar with books like "Golden Escher Bach" or even some good books out there about Greatest truths/ideas being the synthesis of opposites, which is often coined paradox. But there's the rub, you see? Because especially at the time of his writing "Lonely Boy", Andrew Gold was in a time when ideas broiled under a confrontation & coming together of Western & Eastern Thought. IN less than a decade, the meaning of paradox became confusing; meaning unsolvable conundrum in one breath, and then the result of synthesis from opposites (turning paradox into a miracle machine) in another. Now, while that may seem cerebral, it's the contrary, as the most basic truths of the Universe, and most notably our lives, are ultimately simple expressions of truths that are far greater & beyond their scope (of our lives), yet hold firm to them. Yet, as the song makes great musical & lyrical efforts to convey, what is simple & even seemingly finite never in fact ends. This is a cycle that is much more than cyclical, because those repeated tragedies are the very antithesis of great Universal Truths, which we can't help but perceive as disconnected,opaque & un-relatable, because they are Infinite & Universal, while our lives are anything but. Hence, a paradox itself.
The idea that some are doomed/destined to have parents who don't get it, who confuse security for safety, and safety for happiness, there is very little that you can say for those poor, poor "lonely boys & girls". Life simply had it in store for them to have to learn those painful and difficult lessons on their own and largely alone. It may even be (in one possible reading of the song) that the truth could well be that Lonely Boy's isolation comes from his own mistaken outlook, rather than a universal sense of judgement on a short-worded life pattern. Because in life it's often much harder to tell what the right side is, as there is still no valid formula or equation for it. Gold nuances his very short story with the line,
"Teach him to fight, be nobody's fool",
which is, in fact, antithetical to the accepted doctrine of the nature and consequences of over-coddling. Where does the truth hide here?
I think that's a big part of the whole song: That the answers to these (& many other heart-wrenching questions & situations) are always hidden...within the questions & situations themselves (a Detective's outlook), and/or "simply" within ourselves, in our own time.
My take on this song is that it was written by Gold about someone he knew growing up; someone for whom he felt a great deal but, in the end, could never do anything for, at least in terms of preventing the car crash of life he/she seemed to be heading towards. There is a profound nature to that of Observer shackled by its own role: For ppl who are capable of seeing outside their lives to peer into another's, yet with no tint or glare from their own reality and/or POV. In the latter, almost everything is to be boiled down to what we can relate to. But with good observation and a modicum of intelligence, some begin to see (mostly by the age of 10 or so), that people are far, far different from each other than we ever consider. This opening up of possibilities also comes at a cost: It means we are also far more limited in our ability to genuinely reach out to them as a result.
There is such melancholy to this song, intertwined with an upbeat, beautiful melody, that it really does often feel like The Eternal Golden Braid (GEB).
Me? most of the time I cry when I hear this song. Mostly because for me the most obvious reading of Gold's story is exactly mine (my life, that is). The only differences are a decade, one instance of gender & ages reversed. And while it doesn't mean I don't love my parents (perhaps the first great lesson of childhood is that nobody's perfect, especially our parents!), their decisions, actions & values were widely seen as perplexing at best. But what are you gonna do about flawed parents and life's little plans?
How funny and cool that lyrics with so few words (simple, final, eternal, perplexing...) can pack such powerful & diverse punches.
Some dance in their living rooms while others cry, alone. Who knows? Maybe life makes Lonely Boys & Girls of us all, one way or another, and perhaps that isn't a bad thing. As long as we know how to be alone sans loneliness. Gold may be commenting on the juxtaposition of recognizing/witnessing tragedy & suffering from afar, all the while seeing how odd and petty it seems from our own distant POV?
Or it's the first song about First World Problems...? ;-P
Anyhoo! Dn't worry, Be happy
@CravenImages In a way, Gödel is golden.
@CravenImages In a way, Gödel is golden.