Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Song Analysis: Sitting

You know, analyzing a song someone else came up with is tantamount to being a graffiti artist.
One approaches a finished structure and adds their own elements to it.

An architect designs an adobe-style building made of stone, and you come along, deciding that what this plain-looking structure needs to liven it up is a mural of a forest during sunset---or a kaleidoscope of psychedelic colors.
Then, when those who designed and built this structure express outrage at the way someone "desecrated" their creation, you "can't understand why they don't appreciate your attempts at enhancing their otherwise bland-looking building".  You just don't get that the way the building looks on its own is what those who created and brought it into being wanted, and nothing else.

Analyzing someone else's song is a bit like that.
Like ...Who am I to try to interpret the meaning behind another person's statements?

But I'll make that attempt at this top-20 hit by singer/songwriter Steven "Cat Stevens" Georgiou ....
The way I figure it, it's an anthem of a young man who still hasn't figured out what he wants in life and lacks a sense of direction.
He has this great fear he'll lapse into a permanent state of social and intellectual atrophy if he isn't able to find a niche and a sense of purpose he can ground himself with.
In the final verse he also holds the world-at-large partially responsible for his dilemma by condemning the way it often puts up obstructions and obstacles which often hamper one's attempts at self-improvement.

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