Listening to a Song

[livingdeb]

Today I drove to Round Rock in evening rush hour traffic (about a 37-minute trip) and home at night (quicker). Even though traffic is annoying, I kind of like the time alone with music.

Today I really listened to the lyrics of a song I had only noticed the chorus of before. The chorus is basically, "I know what kind of love this is." That part is sung quite loud. Then all the quiet parts are clues about what kind of love it is. And the super quiet parts are additional clues. It's only barely enough clues. You're not allowed to know what it's about until you've listened carefully.

You can simulate my experience by reading only the easiest-to-read parts, then only the easiest- and second-to-easiest-to-read parts, etc.

I KNOW WHAT KIND OF LOVE THIS IS.
After all, I was there when we made it.
I know why I did what I did.
To end a lifetime of wallflower shame.¹
With Buster Brown,
The big man in the town,
When no one was around.

I KNOW WHAT KIND OF LOVE THIS IS.
I KNOW WHAT KIND OF LOVE THIS IS.
I KNOW WHAT KIND OF LOVE THIS IS.


The man in black said, "You won't mind.
It'll be over before you know it.
You can pretend that you are mine²
If it will help you to get over it."
In my parents' bed,
Pretending I am dead,
Remember every word he said.

I KNOW WHAT KIND OF LOVE THIS IS.
I KNOW WHAT KIND OF LOVE THIS IS.
I KNOW WHAT KIND OF LOVE THIS IS.

And when I wake he will be gone
And I won't see him until the classroom.
It's just a tale of right and wrong
That they will whisper inside the bathroom.
How she lost the key.³
She'll never be the same.
He doesn't even know her name.

I KNOW WHAT KIND OF LOVE THIS IS.
I KNOW WHAT KIND OF LOVE THIS IS.
I KNOW WHAT KIND OF LOVE THIS IS.

¹The real lyrics are supposedly "wallflower shade."
²Really: "You can pretend that you are blind."
³Really she "lost the game."

First I wonder what kind of love it is. Then I realize it is a sad love. Then I realize it's a rape, probably by her uncle or someone. Then I realize it's one of her schoolmates and remember that she took some initiative of some kind, too; she didn't want to be a virgin anymore, and people are talking, so he must be bragging, so maybe it's not quite rape. Then looking at the real lyrics, I guess it's really just about someone who took a chance with the wrong guy, who just used her as a one-night stand. I don't know.

I always hope these pretty songs will be nice, but they rarely are.

Comments

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

The more I think about it, the more I think she was just raped. She knows why she did what she did, but I don't--maybe because she was forced. She ended a lifetime of wallflower shade, which perhaps she liked. (I might be biased because it's hot, and I like shade right now.) "Big man in the town" might not mean some popular guy but literally a big guy, perhaps a bully.

Speaking of the guy, I thought he was a fellow student since she'd see him at school. He could be a teacher for all I know. She could be eight years old for all I know. The word "love" is being used throughout, as if someone used that to smooth his way in, and she's replying that it's not really love.

Robin said he could be a student and she could be a teacher.

It's got to be something where he knows it's something she'll have to get over and yet somehow a story about what happened gets out, implying that he's bragging.

I don't get it. Except that it's disturbing.

[indigo-rose99.livejournal.com]

I agree. Disturbing. The lyrics are not linking me to the sense of the music. I wonder if I've heard it.

T gives me weird looks when I point out songs I don't like because the lyrics are fundamentally disturbing. This one has always creeped me out (though not as much as yours):
Saying I love you
Is not the words I want to hear from you
It's not that I want you
Not to say, but if you only knew
How easy it would be to show me how you feel
More than words is all you have to do to make it real
Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me
Cos I'd already know
What would you do if my heart was torn in two
More than words to show you feel
That your love for me is real
What would you say if I took those words away
Then you couldn't make things new
Just by saying I love you
More than words
Now I've tried to talk to you and make you understand
All you have to do is close your eyes
And just reach out your hands and touch me
Hold me close don't ever let me go
More than words is all I ever needed you to show
Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me
Cos I'd already know
What would you do if my heart was torn in two
More than words to show you feel
That your love for me is real
What would you say if I took those words away
Then you couldn't make things new
Just by saying I love you
More than words

I've always took the subtext to be saying "Don't TELL me you love me, show me with sex". *sour look* Gee, thanks.

And you may disagree when you read the lyrics. But he keeps repeating that he doesn't want to hear the words, but he wants... More. *sigh*

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

The way I interpret it is that actions speak louder than words. I imagine she does stuff that hurts him like stands him up or forgets important dates and then thinks she can fix everything by just saying, "I love you." She uses the words like a tool; he would rather have better evidence. Or maybe she's just not touchy-feely and he is, so that makes him feel unloved even though he isn't, so he's just letting her know this.

"Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me
Cos I'd already know"

If you can only tell by the words, and otherwise you'd never be able to tell, that doesn't sound like the greatest relationship.

Of course, when I read these lyrics, I couldn't tell the gender of the singer. My interpretation of what the singer means fits the female stereotype, whereas yours fits the male one.