The lyrics to "Stars and the Moon"
A video of "Stars and the Moon"
"Stars and the Moon" by Jason Robert Brown is a narrative song about a woman who meets three men through out her life who love her. One has no money or ambition and another lives on the road and left his wife and kids but both are romantic and love her, and promise her "stars and the moon." She doesn't stay with either of them because she wanted a life "like the movie stars led" and was "scripted and planned." Then she meets the 3rd man who is young and wealthy. She marries him only to realize later that she'll "never have the moon," meaning she'll never dream or love anyone the way she could have been in love with the first 2 men. Jason Robert Brown is saying that she should have gone with one of the first 2 men.
He shows she should have gone with one of the first 2 men through imagery. The first man tells her "I'll give you stars and the moon and a soul to guide you" and "I'll give you hope to bring out all the life inside you/ and the strength to help you grow" The images are dream-like and beautiful. The rich man she marries imagery is less lovely and more materialistic. He says "I'll give you cars and a townhouse in Turtle Bay /And a fur and a diamond ring /And we'll be married in Spain on my yacht today /And we'll honeymoon in Beijing./And you'll meet stars at the parties I throw at my villas /In Nice and Paris in June" There aren't really any metaphors or images here. There is no romance, he is simply telling her what he can literally give her. Its almost like a business offer rather than a proposal.
I think that none of the men would be good for her. I understand why she didn't stay with the first 2 men though. I mean as much as she loved them, or could have the first man was planning on "letting life pass him for awhile" and the second man left his wife and kids "on a whim." Who is to say he wouldn't have left her? The first man wasn't reliable. I like the reality of the song. Most of the time it would be a poor amazing man and a mean rich man. She would have chosen the rich man and the lesson would be that there is more to life then money. The song is more complex then that. It isn't just that one man is poor and the other is rich, it's that 2 men are unreliable but have life. The other man isn't bad necessarily but he is lifeless. I think if she had gone with the first man she would have been in love for awhile but would become frustrated with struggling as she got older. She would have had the same problem with the second man except he may have left her. The romantic part of me wants to say that she would have been happy with the first man but realistically I don't know if she would have. It sounds a bit cheesy but I think that in life we choose things and in the end we gain things from our decision but we also lose things. We can almost never be completely happy no matter what we choose. The right decision is just when you gain the most and in this case there just was no right decision.
Showing posts with label Poetry/Lyrics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poetry/Lyrics. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
"Luka" A Nothing Broken, Nothing Thrown Child
http://www.lyricstime.com/suzanne-vega-my-name-is-luca-lyrics.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZt7J0iaUD0
The song "Luka" by Suzanne Vega is about a child named Luca who is abused by his parents. He is talking to his downstairs neighbor begging him/her to leave Luca alone about it. It is told in the 1st person. I think Suzanne Vega is saying children who are abused might not want you to say anything about them being abused but that makes it all the more important to speak up.
"Luka" has lyrics with images of violence said in a very "I'm-fine-mind-your-own-business" almost positive sort of way. The speaker says "Yes I think I'm okay/ walked into the door again/ if you ask that's what I'll say/ and it's not your business anyway/ I'd guess I'd like to be alone/ nothing broken nothing thrown". The first two lines shown in denial but that he is obviously hurt if he has to make the excuse that he walked into the door. The next two lines show that that is not the real story because he says that "walked into the door" is what he'll say. However that implys that that is just what he is saying, but he thinks it's not the neighbors business. Then Luka says that he wants to be alone and that he didn't break anything and nothing was thrown at him. If he has to say that nothing was thrown at him then that means someone has done something to make the neighbor think that. This makes me think that things have been thrown at Luka before, but Luka is saying it isn't that bad this time because nothing was thrown or broken. The music is a bit upbeat with a catchy melody. This is a metaphor for Luka trying to make things at home seem happy and upbeat when with the violent lyrics they are obviously not.
I think that Suzanne Vega brings up a issue that is not given enough attention and puts it in a digestible way. Issues like this are often put in a depressing way. Suzanne Vega's song became popular because it, like similar songs such as "Pumped Up Kicks" are songs people want to sing along to and doing so think about issues when they may not have otherwise. I remember when I was little, like 7, my mom would listen to this song because she loves songs with deep lyrics and I would listen and hum the song for days after words. I listened to it again recently and looked at the lyrics and started wondering about the fun song I hummed in 2nd grade.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZt7J0iaUD0
The song "Luka" by Suzanne Vega is about a child named Luca who is abused by his parents. He is talking to his downstairs neighbor begging him/her to leave Luca alone about it. It is told in the 1st person. I think Suzanne Vega is saying children who are abused might not want you to say anything about them being abused but that makes it all the more important to speak up.
"Luka" has lyrics with images of violence said in a very "I'm-fine-mind-your-own-business" almost positive sort of way. The speaker says "Yes I think I'm okay/ walked into the door again/ if you ask that's what I'll say/ and it's not your business anyway/ I'd guess I'd like to be alone/ nothing broken nothing thrown". The first two lines shown in denial but that he is obviously hurt if he has to make the excuse that he walked into the door. The next two lines show that that is not the real story because he says that "walked into the door" is what he'll say. However that implys that that is just what he is saying, but he thinks it's not the neighbors business. Then Luka says that he wants to be alone and that he didn't break anything and nothing was thrown at him. If he has to say that nothing was thrown at him then that means someone has done something to make the neighbor think that. This makes me think that things have been thrown at Luka before, but Luka is saying it isn't that bad this time because nothing was thrown or broken. The music is a bit upbeat with a catchy melody. This is a metaphor for Luka trying to make things at home seem happy and upbeat when with the violent lyrics they are obviously not.
I think that Suzanne Vega brings up a issue that is not given enough attention and puts it in a digestible way. Issues like this are often put in a depressing way. Suzanne Vega's song became popular because it, like similar songs such as "Pumped Up Kicks" are songs people want to sing along to and doing so think about issues when they may not have otherwise. I remember when I was little, like 7, my mom would listen to this song because she loves songs with deep lyrics and I would listen and hum the song for days after words. I listened to it again recently and looked at the lyrics and started wondering about the fun song I hummed in 2nd grade.
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