Okay, so I've been thinking about this song for awhile now. I was totally buying the whole it's the accountant and the wife teaming up and setting a fire, either literal or figurative, to their boss/husband and exposing him for all of his bad things.
But something kept tripping me up. The POV. There are three distinctive POVs in this song. First. Second. And Third.
My initial thought was that this song is in third person, to the asshole.
But the line "I am the last one you'd ever suspect of setting the fire". Every other time a first person pronoun is used, it comes after a colon, because it's the words that the accountant and the wife are thinking.
That line doesn't. Which means it's not a quote. And it's not the wife talking because she was mentioned in that verse in the third person, and it wouldn't make sense to just switch pronouns there. Same with the accountant. And it's not the boss because he's mentioned in that line.
Which means there is a forth character in this song. There's the wife, the accountant, the boss, and the narrator.
The first verse is the narrator observing the accountant. The line "far as you can see" is telling to me. The boss sees the accountant as loyal and efficient. The narrator doesn't.
The second verse is also telling to me. "you're an important man" is the kind of phrasing that the boss is likely to use, rather than the wife. the boss doesn't see her as a person, and the narrator sees that as a potential problem.
"no one would dare to question you, oh no
no one would dare stand up"
Those lines are thoughts that the boss has spoken to the narrator and to me, they feel kind of like they're mocking him. Like yes, sir, yes right no one would dare stand up to you. The narrator wants him to keep believing that. No one would dare stand up to you. So what would happen if someone did?
So the accountant and the wife team up. She puts the papers in a pile, evidence that he's never there. What kind of papers? Divorce papers? And he takes all of the evidence that the boss is committing fraud, and he prepares to rat on his boss.
And the narrator sets a fire. Not the wife. Not the accountant. The narrator sets the fire. What does he set on fire? (I'd like to believe it's a literal fire, that makes things more interesting).
And he says to the boss:
"But as you switch on your TV tomorrow morning, you'll hear me saying quietly:
whatever you want, whatever you want, whatever you want is fine by me"
Note the colon. It means the narrator is speaking.
I think this song is about someone loyal to the boss who is protecting him. He knows the boss isn't a good man, and therefore has people who are likely to rise against him. He watches for it. Sees that the accountant isn't as loyal, that the wife is looking for a divorce. He waits until they are ready to come forward, and he puts a stop to it. That's why at the end he says, "it's over" because the people who wanted to hurt the boss are gone.
Okay, so I've been thinking about this song for awhile now. I was totally buying the whole it's the accountant and the wife teaming up and setting a fire, either literal or figurative, to their boss/husband and exposing him for all of his bad things. But something kept tripping me up. The POV. There are three distinctive POVs in this song. First. Second. And Third. My initial thought was that this song is in third person, to the asshole. But the line "I am the last one you'd ever suspect of setting the fire". Every other time a first person pronoun is used, it comes after a colon, because it's the words that the accountant and the wife are thinking. That line doesn't. Which means it's not a quote. And it's not the wife talking because she was mentioned in that verse in the third person, and it wouldn't make sense to just switch pronouns there. Same with the accountant. And it's not the boss because he's mentioned in that line. Which means there is a forth character in this song. There's the wife, the accountant, the boss, and the narrator. The first verse is the narrator observing the accountant. The line "far as you can see" is telling to me. The boss sees the accountant as loyal and efficient. The narrator doesn't. The second verse is also telling to me. "you're an important man" is the kind of phrasing that the boss is likely to use, rather than the wife. the boss doesn't see her as a person, and the narrator sees that as a potential problem.
"no one would dare to question you, oh no no one would dare stand up" Those lines are thoughts that the boss has spoken to the narrator and to me, they feel kind of like they're mocking him. Like yes, sir, yes right no one would dare stand up to you. The narrator wants him to keep believing that. No one would dare stand up to you. So what would happen if someone did?
So the accountant and the wife team up. She puts the papers in a pile, evidence that he's never there. What kind of papers? Divorce papers? And he takes all of the evidence that the boss is committing fraud, and he prepares to rat on his boss. And the narrator sets a fire. Not the wife. Not the accountant. The narrator sets the fire. What does he set on fire? (I'd like to believe it's a literal fire, that makes things more interesting). And he says to the boss: "But as you switch on your TV tomorrow morning, you'll hear me saying quietly: whatever you want, whatever you want, whatever you want is fine by me" Note the colon. It means the narrator is speaking. I think this song is about someone loyal to the boss who is protecting him. He knows the boss isn't a good man, and therefore has people who are likely to rise against him. He watches for it. Sees that the accountant isn't as loyal, that the wife is looking for a divorce. He waits until they are ready to come forward, and he puts a stop to it. That's why at the end he says, "it's over" because the people who wanted to hurt the boss are gone.