So, when I got to thinking about "depthlessness" as a quality of Postmodernism, I couldn't help but think of the band They Might Be Giants. Now, I know not everyone loves them, but I think as far as Postmodern bands go they're one example that I think deserves note.
Let's get this thing started, okay?
Here're the lyrics, for those who are interested.
"Ana Ng" by They Might Be Giants
The song's depthlessness is apparent on two separate levels: the initial reaction and the secondary reaction to the music. When you first hear the song, something in you tells you that the song is just a load of silliness, completely devoid of meaning and purpose.
Further in, however, you start to wonder if there really is something beyond the top layer. You start to gain some sort of unexplainable grasp of the song, an understanding of what its saying without understanding what it says. You may begin to think the meaning may lie in the lyrics.
That's when it falls apart again. The lyrics are garbled nonsense, strings of words that sound okay, but when you read them they make no sense. The thread is loosened, and what grasp you had on meaning is gone, completely flushed away. You had thought sense was about to happen, but it flew away like a frightened bird the second you even looked at it. The song has just deconstructed itself, right before your eyes. You are lost, grasping for rationality that no longer exists.
"They don't need me here, and I know you're there
Where the world goes by like the humid air
And it sticks like a broken record
Everything sticks like a broken record
Everything sticks until it goes away
And the truth is, we don't know anything"
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1 comment:
hahaha. my neighbor back home is best friends with these guys..though i think they'd enjoy this, the song actually has meaning, or at least it was written in hopes of a message to be sent about a person living on the exact opposite side of the world as you. that you want them desire them, and the irony of everything that comes with love.
"Make a hole with a gun perpendicular
To the name of this town in a desk-top globe
Exit wound in a foreign nation
Showing the home of the one this was written for
My apartment looks upside down from there."
wouldn't it be easy just to shoot a hole in the globe and jump to the person waiting to be with you forever? ;)
i'm not defending. kinda just saying that unless someones writing in the form and mindset of having no meaning at all, poetry/lyrics etc. usually have personal traits to go along with a certain thought at one time. fans, readers, listeners, and what have you may never grasp it, but ya never know.
i guess as long as people are writing anything close to personal not everyone will understand. because being vague is AWESOME.
ok. i'm done.
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