Archive for Musicals.Net Musicals.Net |
| andie |
Help with translation (what did they mean when they said...)I wonder if I can ask for help here... My friend and I are trying to translate Rent so that our friends who don't understand English can also appreciate it. Not being native speakers ourselves we have some difficulties with the task (a whole load of them, actually =P) You would help tremendously if you explain a couple of lines to us.Sorry if the questions are too dumb =) To start off: 1) at the very end of the song "RENT" they're singing: "We're not gonna pay rent <...> 'Cause everything is rent". Errm... Why is everything rent and how can it be a reason not to pay? 
2) "How do you start a fire When there's nothing to burn And it feels like something's stuck in your flue" - what does the phrase "something's stuck in your flue" mean? Is it the influenza flue or another flue? Oh, in case you're interested, we're translating it into Russian. |
||||||||||
| Pounce |
Re: Help with translation (what did they mean when they said
I honestly don't know. It might be a good subject for debate because when I first heard it, I didn't know what Larson meant by that. I don't think it is intended as a reason not to pay rent. It might have some deeper meaning on life in general.
A flue is a pipe or something like that to safely take away hot gases such as from a fire. So if you are burning a fire and something is stuck in the flue blocking the gases then it will backup and that is a bad thing. But the meaning is not literal. Probably some vague reference to some sort of obstruction in a person's life causing some bad thing to happen.
I don't envy you. RENT is not straight forward English. It has poetic meanings and is rooted obviously in American thought. |
||||||||||
| Rumblepurr |
The "Flue"The Flue is also the chimney opening in a fireplace. Before such things as spark arrestors and the like, the chimney flue was often open to the sky... and birds... and other things. If something were to lodge in the flue, it blocks the draft, and the smoke (and possibly the fire too) enters the room and house because it has nowhere else to go...The saying can be metaporical as well... pent-up anger can be one such metaphor where something or someone does not allow you to "vent", and so the anger builds to a point where you "explode" in a rage... same with other emotions... |
||||||||||
| andie |
It was silly of me not to find the right meaning of "flue" in the dictionary, but I'm glad I asked and got your speculations about metaphorical meanings of the line. Unfortunatly, I can't think of a way to save the double meaning (or even a hint of it) in the translation.
I don't envy ourselves either. Guess, it's easier to translate ten Phantom of the Operas, than one RENT. There will be lots of places where we'll have to sacrifice those poetic meanings. But at least people will have understanding of what's going on, instead of just listening to music and watching the action. I found one Russian translation on the net, but it's a word-by-word translation. Apart from the fact that it's completely missing the point of the original, it doesn't make much sense in Russian. Laughing over it ecouraged me a bit. Now, on to the next question. This time it's Angel/Collins love duet. 3) "I think they meant it When they said you can't buy love Now I know you can rent it A new lease you are, my love, On life be my life" I'd like to clarify the line "Now I know you can rent it". I know that "new lease on life" means revival of the will to live, "the chance to live or last longer or with a higher quality of life" (as the dictionary says). So with the help of Angel Collins makes a new lease on life, and vice versa. But I don't completely get the logic of the statement, since renting life and renting love is not exactly the same. Guess it's hard to explain something like that to a foreigner... Sorry for all the trouble 
|
||||||||||
| Pounce |
No trouble at all. The questions you raise are the same ones I had. This is my idea. We often use the expression that "you can't buy love". That expression itself is open to discussion. I'm taking it to mean that we cannot own and keep another person's love. We can only have it for a period of time but never own it. We pay "rent" on love by giving of ourselves to another person. We like to think of love as being everlasting but it is only temporary. It seems to affirm the idea repeated in RENT that we only have the here and now. |
||||||||||
| andie |
Hmm... The "now" in "now I know you can rent it" implies that they realised it just after meeting each other. Since it's the beginning of their relationship with violins in the air and stuff, I think they should have the most positive attitude about it, with the only thing spoiling it being their forthcoming end (  ). They might realise, that love is not everlasting, but they should have come to this conclusion before the meeting, which doesn't explain the "now"... I also thought about love being temporary, but it is not absolutely clear to me yet.
|
||||||||||
| andie |
It's becoming more and more interesting. Being a complete dummy in audio equipment, I searched for "the digital delay" on the net (remember, it's the thing which Mark was asked to fix for Maureen's show). It appeared to be some kind of a pedal to produce sample delay/echo. The problem is: in Russian it has a completely unedible equivalent, consisting of four or five ugly words. I thought I could use some other equipment's name, but it should be one of those things in the movie (or at least it shouldn't obviously NOT be there). And, by the way, was there any pedal?... There was that thing near the mike, which Mark fixed in the end (a mixer or something).
Lines dealing with equipment: [RENT] "The digital delay --- Didn't blow up (exactly)" [Tango Maureen] (The lot. JOANNE is reexamining the cable connections for the umpteenth time) <...> JOANNE (playing with some wires) "Line in"... <...> JOANNE "Line out"... <...> JOANNE The samples won't delay But the cable So the cable connections are all correct, but the equipment still doesn't delay/make echo, right? |
||||||||||
| Pounce |
Well, keep in mind that it is a human created story and as is the case in many stories there are bound to be some errors in logic of the plot. If we were watching a real life story, all actions would have logical reasons. To enjoy these fictional stories we have to at times give the author some artistic license. But as to the point at hand, I think we just have to assume that they didn't realize this until "now". I don't think that they had to have realized it before but it's really an unimportant detail to the story. Just accept it. |
||||||||||
| Pounce |
I don't think it is very clear as to what the audio problem is. The lines are
I suppose Mark's solution has nothing to do with the cables. |
||||||||||
| andie |
Yeah, it hasn't. I thought Joanne wanted to say: "The samples won't delay, but the cable is plugged in correctly (so I don't get why it's not working)" and Mark interrupted her with "There's another way" (maybe = "I don't need your unprofessional opinion"). Well, it doesn't really matter. I just hope someone who is familliar with the sound engineering posts a reply and names some devices. |
||||||||||
| andie |
[RENT]
JOANNE (On phone) Don't screen, Maureen, it's me -- Joanne Your substitute production manager Hey hey hey! (Did you eat?) Don't change the subject Maureen But darling -- you haven't eaten all day You won't throw up You won't throw up Is Maurine afraid to eat because she may throw up on stage (because of nervousness or something, though it's not likely since it's Maureen we're talking about) and Joanne is insisting she should eat and telling Maurine won't throw up? Or did I get it wrong? |
||||||||||
| briggsgirl |
ok...here's my take on this.
1) the line "we're not gonna pay rent" is an expression of their anger about how they have to pay a lot of rent, when benny said that they weren't going to have to pay anything. "'cause everything is rent" means that everything seems to have its price, i think. 2) i agree with pounce and rumblepurr's descriptions of the "flue" line. they're asking how they can start a fire if there's nowhere for the smoke to go, since there's something stuck in the flue. it's a metaphor for how they feel stuck, like they have nowhere to go and they're stuck in a cycle. 3) pounce describes this very well ("you can't buy love...now i know you can rent it"). rent is temporary, and the central idea of the show is to live for today. angel and collins are the only couple who completely live for today, and don't dwell on the past or future. 4) with "the samples won't delay" joanne is just trying to get maureen's mike to work. it doesn't necessarily have to involve a pedal, she just wants the mike to echo (like it does when she uses it later in over the moon) instead of simply magnifying the noise. she's saying that she thinks the cables are all right so she can't understand why it won't work, and mark says that he knows another way to solve the problem. unfortunately, i don't know a technical name for this, sorry! 5) i think this line is about maureen being afraid to eat because of the jumping around/nerves she will have on stage. she doesn't seem to be the nervous type, but she is doing something that could potentially go wrong (which it does). so i hope that helped! these lines are hard to explain to anyone...they're hard to understand, and i have no idea if i'm even interpreting them correctly. it's all very metaphoric. but i think that's what they're about. |
||||||||||
| jonahgreenthal |
Here's my take, as a sound engineer, on the audio issue.
A digital delay (or any type of delay) is not necessarily a pedal. It creates an effect that people often refer to as an echo. For example, "One Song Glory" features a delay on the guitar part, and you can clearly hear the delay in "Over the Moon" at several points. In the case of guitarists, delay is often controlled at concerts and gigs via a pedal, but much more complex units are common. They are rack mounted, and would have been found in the rack that Mark and Joanne wheel around throughout "Tango: Maureen". I couldn't describe the exact problem Joanne's having; so far as I can tell, Jonathan picked words relating to sound engineering that rhymed well without particular regard to having a plausible problem and solution. I think it's pretty irrelevant anyway, but go ahead and speculate if the mood strikes you. Hope that helped. |
||||||||||
| milady05 |
just wanted to add another interpretation of "everything is rent":
i agree that the line may refer to everything having its price , but i think it may also be an echo of the line about the [social] fabric: "What binds the fabric together/when the raging, shifting winds of change/keep ripping away?" another meaning of the word "rent" is "torn," so mark and roger may be repeating the idea that the fabric of society (friendship? their lives?) keeps being changed. just my $0.02. good luck on the translation. are you trying to make it rhyme, too?  i don't think my russian vocab is good enough to even try an unrhyming version! best wishes, though.
|
||||||||||
| andie |
Oh, that's a very good thought. "Everything has its price" is also a nice meaning and I'll have it in mind, but it doesn't seem completely logical to me in the context. milady05's explanation really makes sense, don't you all agree?
We're not rhyming it - don't have enough guts nor skills for it. Our goal is to make it sound natural while being as precise as possible. I think if make it rhyme at all, we should also... erm... what's the word for keeping the same number of syllables and stressing them at the same places? I will worship the person who succeeds in this task! For instance: what's the main word in RENT, the one you can't skip no matter what? Right, its "rent". In Russian there's no simple equivalent, there's a word combination, which goes like "appartment payment" or something like that  Or another example: "525600" has another number of syllables and, which is even more frustrating, the way it is stressed doesn't allow to fit the phrase into the music no matter how I shift it 
jonahgreenthal, briggsgirl, thanks for your help with the equipment . 
|
||||||||||
| andie |
MARK & HALF THE COMPANY
How do you leave the past behind When it keeps finding ways to get to your heart It reaches way down deep and tears you inside out Till you're torn apart Rent! Yay! This one is obviously also referring to the participle "rent" which means "torn". So the title of the musical has a double (triple etc) meaning, one of which is the rent that thay have to pay (literally and in "I'll Cover You" sense of the word and any other sense) and the other is that their lives are torn apart by illness, artistic frustration and whatever.... What do you think about it? |
||||||||||
| briggsgirl |
^yes. the word rent looks like it has multiple meanings...i think that even just in the context of those few lines, the word rent covers both meanings. it means torn apart in that their lives aren't going anywhere good (like you said, due to frusteration and illness, love, and all that) but it could also be referring to how they're trying so hard to get rid of the past and live for today, but through it all they've still got to pay the rent, which is somewhat pulling them down, back into the past.
ok i kinda started rambling there...hope that makes some kind of sense! |
||||||||||
| Pounce |
I can see that this should be a good exercise for all of us in understanding RENT.
I looked up the meaning of rent and besides the most common meaning of payment for use of something there is: verb A past tense and a past participle of rend. noun 1. An opening made by rending; a rip. 2. A breach of relations between persons or groups; a rift. slang A parent. Often used in the plural: had to stay home with the rents. I don't know if it was intentional by Larson but even the slang definition fits with the show what with the parents calling. |
||||||||||
| milady05 |
you're right, andie, the "everything has its price" bit was not expressed clearly. what i meant was that you have to pay for everything; "everything is rent" could also mean that nearly all of our expenses (food, gas, electricity) are ones that we have to pay month after month after month, whether we want to or not.
so the idea that "everything is rent" speaks to "american consumer society," and also to things being eternally expensive, i think. i hear you on the "rent" thing. i'm not sure how you even say that in russian (checking with my grandparents!) but i know how 525,600 will be difficult. maybe you could change the stresses. a quick-quick "piti-sot" and a slightly slower "dvadsat' pyat'" and even slower "shest' tisyach minut'". that'd work, right? |
||||||||||
| andie |
 That's funny how it fits (I believe Larson didn't have this in mind when he thought of the conception for the show).
The last question about the title song: BENNY Draw a line in the sand And then make a stand ROGER Use your camera to spar MARK Use your guitar ALL When they act tough - you call their bluff MARK & ROGER We're not gonna pay As far as I understand this passage is concerning conflict between Benny and officials on one hand and Avenue B people on the other. The line Benny is referring to - is it that "those who are with me, come to my side" kind of line? "Make a stand" means "Hold firm against something or someone". So, Benny is prepared to state his position and face those who disagree, including his old friends - is that right? Then, using camera and guitar to spar. Do they intend to use them as arguments in this conflict (like make a masterpiece and prove that they are 'golden' and worthy and that slum people shouldn't be treated as dirt) or are they going to literally use them as weapons, to hit and kick
"When they act tough - you call their bluff" (call one's bluff - ask to prove what someone is claiming) "They" are those guys who are collecting rent and going to demolish the tent city, right? Singers have decided to check if "they" would dare by ignoring them and not paying a cent. That's how I understand it. Please, correct me if I'm wrong. |
||||||||||
| Pounce |
The phrase "draw a line in the sand" is basically an act towards one's opponent of saying "go this far and no further". It is a warning to an opponent (or even a dare) to not cross the line.
Yes.
Mark is a filmmaker so he uses the camera as his weapon. An example of that is when Mark films the police harassing a homeless woman. Roger is a musician so his guitar and his songs are his weapons. But of course both both want to use them in a fashion for which they are intended. 
But I think Benny is speaking of the matter at hand, namely wanting to get the people out and build the new project. Roger and Mark are speaking in generalities of how they fight their fights.
Basically, yes. The one asking is guessing that the other can't prove the claim.
I think so. |
||||||||||
| andie |
Yes, yes, yes! That's the thought I had in the beginning, but I couldn't clearly formulate it even to myself! Thank you, milady05 and everyone! I have a feeling that I understood more about the whole musical and its main ideas - I didnt expect that much!
I didn't want to trouble people with Russian language issues, but since you're interested  ...
There are different ways to say "Rent": 1) "kvartplata" (as short of "kvartirnaya plata") = payment for a flat, but since they are living in a former studio, not a normal flat (the one we would call "kvartira"), this word won't sound right. 2) "arenda". Another way around: "arenda" usually refers to warehouses, commercial facilities, etc. It would be appropriate for a studio, if they hadn't lived there. 3) "arendnaya plata" - guess, that's the only right substitute for "rent". Sounds horrible =P Imagine fitting it into "rent rent rent re~ent rent"! Of course, there are other ways, but the thought of singing "arendnaya plata" 5 times in a row makes me laugh. Technicaly, you can try to fit "525600" into the music, but it will sound unnatural. You see, shifting stresses doesn't work well for Russian (lucky Japanese, they don't have stresses at all!). And swallowing the first syllable also won't work... Aah, a genius wanted! |
||||||||||
| andie |
Cool, the dictionary didn't know this  Thanks!
|
||||||||||
| andie |
MIMI
I'm illin' I had it when I walked in the door It was pure Is it on the floor? illin' 13 meanings can be found in the urban dictionary: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=illin Guess here it means "not feeling very well" (because she needs smack) And "pure" refers to heroin, doesn't it? |
||||||||||
| EponineGiry |
In reference to drugs, "pure" means that it wasn't mixed with other drugs, which would give it a much nastier kick. | ||||||||||
| andie |
ROGER
Maybe it's not the moon at all I hear Spike Lee's shooting down the street MIMI Bah humbug ... Bah humbug from Wikipedia: "Shelton Jackson Lee (born March 20, 1957), better known as Spike Lee, is a controversial film director, producer, writer, and actor noted for his many films dealing with social and political issues. He is also a distinguished documentarian and teaches film at New York University. At their best, Lee's films are penetrating and energetic portraits of people and places, interweaving psychology and context, time and place. Lee's movies have examined diverse and complex issues, ranging from race relations, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and political issues." Reminds me of Mark and his documentary. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any of Spike Lee's films. I don't think, saying this, Roger has Mark in mind, nor the real Spike Lee. What does he mean? Is he just kidding (like: if anyone's to light up the neighbourhood, it must be Spike Lee who is interested in shooting urban life)? I thought "Bah humbug" was just a nonsense which sounds nice when sung, like "umbababa" or "du-du-du-dum". But just in case I cheked with Wikipedia, and it said that Scrooge, the main character in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", used it. "Scrooge's phrase, "Bah, humbug!" has been used to express disgust with Christmas traditions in modern times." Does it have anything to do with the mention of Spike Lee? Or the forthcoming X'mas? |
||||||||||
| andie |
just before "TODAY 4 U":
COLLINS Still haven't left the house? ROGER I was waiting for you, don't you know? COLLINS Well, tonight's the night Come to the Life Cafe after Maureen's show ROGER No flow "No flow" - what does it mean? |
||||||||||
| briggsgirl |
i don't know much about spike lee. but maybe he means that there's a movie being shot and that's where the light is coming from? i don't know. i bet there's some sort of meaning there but i don't know enough about spike lee to know what it is.
bah humbug used to have a christmas connotation, but now it pretty much is an expression of disbelief, like "yeah right". mimi's saying of course it's the moon, i doubt spike lee is shooting down the street. and i'm not sure what the "no flow" means either. maybe it's referring to money? roger doesn't have any money so he doesn't want to go to the life cafe since he can't pay? |
||||||||||
| EponineGiry |
"No flow" refers to the fact that they have no money to pay for dinner at the Life. i.e. no cash flow.
Briggsgirl is correct about Spike Lee. |
||||||||||
| jonahgreenthal |
Another possible interpretation of the Spike Lee line is that Roger is making fun of Mark who, like Spike Lee, is a director. Mark is shooting down the street at the time. | ||||||||||
| DramaRobin2002 |
I'm pretty sure the Spike Lee line comes from the fact that Spike Lee often shoots in NYC. Roger is saying that the light could be lights from Spike Lee's movie set and not really moonlight.
And a while back there was discussion about Joanne's line to Maureen- "You won't throw up. You won't throw up!" Many people also interpret that as Maureen having an eating disorder. |
||||||||||
| qpidsangel |
i always interpreted that as Maureen was just nervous about her show. *shrugs* |
||||||||||
| Pounce |
I think some people are trying to read too much into the story. Unless there is additional evidence of Maureen having a problem with her weight we probably should assume Larson was just tossing in some unimportant detail such as Maureen's pre-performance jitters. |
||||||||||
| Pounce |
If it is a real language problem...just use the English "rent". Sometimes if a foreign equivalent doesn't work with a song they'll just the original word. It'll probably work if you retain the title of the show RENT rather than translating it. Might give it more of a feel that it is set in America. Besides, even RENT uses a french phrase "La Vie Boheme" which sounds better than "The Bohemian Life". |
||||||||||
| andie |
I'll leave the title as it is, but I'll have to translate "rent" in songs (for example, "we're not gonna pay rent"), because otherwise lots of people won't understand the meaning. The work sped up. It's going much easier than I expected. Especially "TANGO: MAUREEN" - translated it all in one breath =) But "LA VIE BOHEME" is approaching.... Guess I'm going to need a lot of help there. |
||||||||||
| andie |
Suddenly got interested - what's that Santa Fe they're singing about? There's quite a number of Santa Fes on the map. | ||||||||||
| briggsgirl |
new mexico, i believe. |
||||||||||
| The Very Angry Woman |
Yes. It's the only major Santa Fe in the United States and the only one it would make sense for them to sing/talk about. |
||||||||||
| andie |
In "OVER THE MOON" Maureen makes use of the nursery rhyme:
Hey, diddle, diddle, The cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed To see such sport, And the dish ran away with the spoon. It's one of Mother Goose rhymes. Thought it might be useful for someone who, like me, is not a native speaker. Now I'm puzzling my brains with what to do with this knowledge...
|
||||||||||
| andie |
Look, what I found on the net (if you want to elaborate on that "Hey deedle deedle" rhyme):
"In England's royal court, it was the custom to dub people with silly nicknames. Elizabeth I was often called “The Cat” from the way she fiddled with her Cabinet ministers as if they were mice. The cow, moon and her “lap-dog” were also characters in these court charades. The dish was Elizabeth’s serving lady and the spoon was, of course, the royal taster. When these last two secretly eloped, Elizabeth had them captured and confined to the Tower of London. Nobody fiddled with Elizabeth!" (http://www.rooneydesign.com/HeyDid.html) |
||||||||||
| andie |
To riding your bike, Midday past the three Piece suits Does it mean riding your bike (being free as a bird) past yuppies who work all day in the office and are out for lunch? |
||||||||||
| vicki_girl |
Sorry, I'm kinda of a late comer to this discussion but yes, that's how I interperet that line too. Also I wanted to throw some of my humble opinions on interpretating some of the lines. I also wanted to comment on the original post about the "stuck in your flue" line. Here's my take on the metaphor. How do you create an emotional repsone in people ("start a fire") when you don't have any inspiration ("Nothing to burn") and your caught up in your own problems right now ("something stuck in your flue"). BTW, I completely agree with whoever wrote... "another meaning of the word "rent" is "torn," so mark and roger may be repeating the idea that the fabric of society (friendship? their lives?) keeps being changed. " Also, " I'm illin' " was mentioned. Yes, she not feeling well because she starting to feel the first effects of withdrawl. The "Spike Lee" and the "bah humbug". Mimi is trying to create a mood in the moonlight and Roger is trying to break the mood my saying it's not really moonlight, it's something else. Mimi replies "bah humbug", accusing him of being a Scrooge. The whole "you won't throw up" thing to me is a way that Maureen gets attention. She's a drama queen. She's refusing to eat just to get people to say "please eat something" and get them to show her (again) that she is the center of their lives. Anyway, that's just another fan's take on some of the "poetry" in the lyrics. If I'm being too opinionated and uppity for a fresh face, I'm sorry. 
|
||||||||||
| andie |
Thanks, vicki_girl =)
That was of much help, especially the "bah humbug" thing and "the flue". Any additional opinion on any of the questions discussed will be much appreciated. So, everyone, please don't hesitate to share, even if the question was asked a long time ago. |
||||||||||
| andie |
LA VIE BOHEME:
(To) never playing the Fame Game Is this a become-a-star TV show or a game people play to break the ice at parties? |
||||||||||
| andie |
I should tell you, I'm disaster - I don't get it at all: "Clinging - a shoulder, a leap begins Stinging and older, asleep on pins" (I SHOULD TELL YOU) |
||||||||||
| DramaRobin2002 |
Not an actual game. It's like, to never doing something just for the sake of being famous. |
||||||||||
| briggsgirl |
yes that's it exactly
i agree. it's about not getting involved with the celebrity life, and being an artist because you love it, not for being famous. i will think about the "i should tell you" bit a little more before i post about it. i think you should start by looking at the entire song as a whole, it's easier to interpret that way, in my opinion. |
||||||||||
| Lancelot |
Re: Help with translation (what did they mean when they said
It means that nothing in life is free. And that you have to pay for everything and they are against the "system" (i.e. Government) |
||||||||||
| jadenbelle |
Actually, I think the phrase "I'm illin'" means something like "Crap!" or "I swear" (I had it when I walked in the door...) | ||||||||||
| sh0rtstuff329 |
I'm illin (though I wouldnt really know) I took to mean that she's maybe going through a mild withdrawal, like she hasn't had her heroin in a few days? So shes feeling the effects of that and it's making her sick, like earlier in the song where she talks about being weak on her feet.
I Should Tell You is a really difficult song to interpret I'm sure because it's hard to follow in English. I agree with whomever posted earlier that you should probably take the song as a whole. A lot of the words were picked, I think, for the feel and flow of the song rather than literal meaning. In the section you posted, they're mostly talking about their unease in starting a new relationship when all the ones before have ended so badly and they both have so much baggage attached to them. He says "I should tell you, I'm disaster" because everything he's done in the past has gone so wrong, and then they say something like clinging to a shoulder a leap begins, I think. This I took to mean that they're searching for something stable to hold on to and then taking a chance on it because it's something they need in their lives, whether it's ultimately good for them or not. Hope this helps! |
||||||||||
| DramaRobin2002 |
While that does work in the Light My Candle context, "I'm illin'" is also said by the group of junkies following The Man in Christmas Bells. "I'm willin' I'm illin' I gotta get my sickness off Gotta run, gotta ride Gotta gun, gotta hide - gotta go" So it more than likely means that she is beginning to go through withdrawel. |
||||||||||
| jadenbelle |
Touche
From the Urban Dictionary: -Going crazy -Doing stuff you shouldn't be doing -Not using proper judgement -Not feeling well So everyone was partly right |
||||||||||
| andie |
Guess I'll also try to retain the flow of the song in this verse, rather than stay close to the meaning. But still, I'd like to get an understanding of what "Stinging and older, asleep on pins" means...
I got that I was supposed to be a disaster here =)
It sure does =) Thanks! |
||||||||||
| andie |
"You're what you own"
1) You are the things & money that you own, no one cares about your "soul" or whatever. 2) The only thing you own is "you". - which one is it? |
||||||||||
| DramaRobin2002 |
It's mostly number 1. The song is about how living in America in the 90's, it not about who you are but what you have and how people are completely materialistic. I think a lot of Mark's part is him dealing with the fact that he "sold out" to work for Buzzline. |
||||||||||
| briggsgirl |
it's about being judged based on what you own (material things), so number one.
the part about sleeping on pins could be about being constantly full of nerves and never relaxed? like "walking on eggshells" maybe? i'm really not sure about this one, but that's just an idea i had...i will think on it some more. |
||||||||||
| vicki_girl |
I wanted to make one more comment on "I'm illin'", since there has been some more debate since I looked at this thread last.
The phrase is a fairly common slang term used in the US by junkies when they first begin to feel the effects of withdrawl. They have to get more of the drug to keep from getting really sick. Don't ask me how I know this. |
||||||||||
| andie |
That's what I thought. I had some doubts, because it seemed a little bit strange - a girl comes to tempt a boy's heart and starts off with saying she's a junkie and needs a smack right now. But then, Mimi is a shameless girl
|