All comments just IMHO here, obviously.
I really like Yazoo's lyrics. They sync a lot with my early adulthood feelings. If only because my parents were always blasting them, creating associations whether I liked it or not.
I personally think this one may be more about Vince Clarke's early adulthood rather than Alison. The track seems purpose built by Vince but I may be completely wrong, I get a sense of claustrophobia, both physically from being confined to one's bedroom, watching the clock, but also, perhaps, emotionally. There is a sense of angst, maybe from the usual mental growing pains of youth or more significantly from not fitting in with parental, social or peer norms. Kind of like how a vibrant teenage energy might feel like their bedroom is both an escape or refuge (with personal pictures, photos and magazine extracts) and such on the walls, but also a prison. A prison within the broader home, complete with parental wardens.
Externally the bright white walls and electric light at night are an oppressive lack of freedom and privacy? Internally they seem like a kind of glaring, harsh awareness of things. The narrow and jarring perspectives that come with the departure from childhood. Grown up ideas that don’t necessarily agree with what one is coming to know on a personal level. Regardless of how bright, rational and factual they are.
By extension, the song may express a general sense of personal passion (personal truth) being confined and denied within the constraints of a conservative environment (for me).
All comments just IMHO here, obviously. I really like Yazoo's lyrics. They sync a lot with my early adulthood feelings. If only because my parents were always blasting them, creating associations whether I liked it or not.
I personally think this one may be more about Vince Clarke's early adulthood rather than Alison. The track seems purpose built by Vince but I may be completely wrong, I get a sense of claustrophobia, both physically from being confined to one's bedroom, watching the clock, but also, perhaps, emotionally. There is a sense of angst, maybe from the usual mental growing pains of youth or more significantly from not fitting in with parental, social or peer norms. Kind of like how a vibrant teenage energy might feel like their bedroom is both an escape or refuge (with personal pictures, photos and magazine extracts) and such on the walls, but also a prison. A prison within the broader home, complete with parental wardens. Externally the bright white walls and electric light at night are an oppressive lack of freedom and privacy? Internally they seem like a kind of glaring, harsh awareness of things. The narrow and jarring perspectives that come with the departure from childhood. Grown up ideas that don’t necessarily agree with what one is coming to know on a personal level. Regardless of how bright, rational and factual they are. By extension, the song may express a general sense of personal passion (personal truth) being confined and denied within the constraints of a conservative environment (for me).