So many of Pitchfork's messages would be too sugary for a duet between Blümchen and Paul McCartney if they weren't cloaked in all that darkness, and none more than this one.
Choosing love, no matter what, is the only way to be happy. That's already a pretty sappy message. But why contrast Adam with a Stone Age tribesman instead of some other modern guy?
First, it makes the point that all the things we treasure about our advanced civilization don't matter. Not just the fancy cars, even things like not punishing rape victims with exile. Bad stuff still happens unfairly, so the most important choices in our lives are still the same as they ever were, and the right answer is still the same.
But it also makes the point that there is actually an advantage to living in the 20th century instead of 5000 years ago. For Ajam, choosing love would have meant probably death; for Adam, it just means trading his fancy lifestyle for a more austere one.
So that's what civilization is for: the freedom to choose love.
And that's what lyrics are for: a way to sneak ideas like that into our heads without us realizing how desperately sappy they are and cynically rejecting them.
So many of Pitchfork's messages would be too sugary for a duet between Blümchen and Paul McCartney if they weren't cloaked in all that darkness, and none more than this one.
Choosing love, no matter what, is the only way to be happy. That's already a pretty sappy message. But why contrast Adam with a Stone Age tribesman instead of some other modern guy?
First, it makes the point that all the things we treasure about our advanced civilization don't matter. Not just the fancy cars, even things like not punishing rape victims with exile. Bad stuff still happens unfairly, so the most important choices in our lives are still the same as they ever were, and the right answer is still the same.
But it also makes the point that there is actually an advantage to living in the 20th century instead of 5000 years ago. For Ajam, choosing love would have meant probably death; for Adam, it just means trading his fancy lifestyle for a more austere one.
So that's what civilization is for: the freedom to choose love.
And that's what lyrics are for: a way to sneak ideas like that into our heads without us realizing how desperately sappy they are and cynically rejecting them.