Right to Breathe

[koganbot]

I posted this over on poptimists, where meserach was asking if any blogs focused on pop lyrics:

Girls Aloud would be interesting to explore because, even though I sometimes like them quite a lot (made my P&J ballot last year with a song that most Brit critics didn't seem to like), I'm sure I don't get them. There seems to be a Brit tendency to simply declare control over style, as if to assert you're using fashion rather than following it. Not that most Brits do this, just the ones who make a point of manipulating style. Whereas their American counterparts - Warhol, Madonna - are much more contentious in their manipulations, which I think is a tacit admission that they're not in control, that one has to fight for style. So naturally I tend to identify harder with the Americans. Back forty years or so I recognized that the Stones were the best rock group, and I identified with Jagger's mind, and with Ray Davies', and his distance from the gorgeousness of his own music, but my heart was with Dylan and the Airplane and the Velvet Underground.

(Not that there aren't counterexamples. John Lennon always seemed to be fighting for his very right to breathe.)

Comments

for me the theme of all girls aloud songs is 'chicklit', the question is isolating the trope.

[cis.livejournal.com]

i don't think 'i won't sleep with you until i love you' is the theme though? that seems a little erm romantic a spin on the whole business.

i always assumed 'the show' was about contradictory impulses: 'i won't go unless you want me to' vs 'get in the queue', which is also 'if it's not you... i won't do that' vs 'nobody sees the show until my heart says so'. i.e. 'i want you but only on my own terms'.

hung around kitchen in underwear acting like a lady, fluttered mascara like a butterfly = being seductive, being in control, being the one who makes themself wanted rather than the one who wants, the one who survives dating w/o loss of pride.

Re: for me the theme of all girls aloud songs is 'chicklit', the question is isolating the trope.

[koganbot]

Well, yesterday was only the second time I listened to the song (as far as I can recall), the first being in Heat 7 of Best Of 2004 last January, so I've yet to get really acquainted with this song, despite having now seen it in its underwear. "Heart" signified "Love" in my rather simple mind, but I will need to explore further.