I feel like all I do nowadays is complain… maybe I’m just an old miserly soul, or maybe I’m a scrooge this holiday season because of all the stresses of finals. In any case, here I go again with another complaint, and this time it’s The Band Perry that has caught my attention. Well, The Band Perry really didn’t do anything but put out some pretty awesome music – I guess my complaint is geared more towards those listeners of The Band Perry who seem to be getting the wrong idea from one of their songs.
While surfing my news feed on Facebook about a week ago, I saw that a close friend of mine had posted a status with a quote from The Band Perry’s hit song, If I Die Young.
" ‘Funny when you’re dead, people start listening.’ "
Here’s a link to the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NJqUN9TClM
At that time, I really didn’t know the song well at all. I recognized the line, and I could hum the melody – I had heard my niece singing the song around the house – but I had no idea what the true context of the line was. I immediately thought that the song was trying to justify suicide, and I was pissed; I thought this song was reaching out to millions of impressionable teens and tweens (even my 9-year-old niece), telling them that it’s fine to take their own lives for the sake of getting others to understand them. I considered the influence of pop music, and I went into English major mode; it reminded me of what Samuel Johnson had to say about books almost 300 years ago:
“[books] are the entertainment of minds unfurnished with ideas, and therefore easily susceptible of impressions; not fixed by principles, and therefore easily following the current of fancy; not informed by experience, and consequently open to every false suggestion and partial account.”
I was upset at The Band Perry for putting out such a message to the masses, but I was jumping to way too many conclusions… I was wrong. I was doing exactly what my blog’s complaint is addressing: I was misinterpreting the song.
I read the lyrics a few times through, watched the music video, and did some research and found that the song is really an allusion to Tennyson’s Lady of Shalott. I can say now that I actually enjoy the song. It still refers to a suicide of sorts, but it’s a forced suicide brought on by a curse in a tower in Arthurian times, and it comments on the separation of the individual from society. It’s really a beautiful little gem about giving up on the idea of forever to fully experience life. At least that’s what I took from it – but I know that’s definitely not what my niece hears.
So then this is where my problem arises; I doubt that every listener of the song will research it like I did, and I know that very few people will understand the reference right away. As it is by itself, I think that the song can easily give the wrong idea to young listeners, even though it is really not promoting suicide. The Band Perry made a great song, and the problem is that that song is being played for an audience that lacks the capacity to really understand it. I’m still very afraid that, because of a misinterpretation, my niece might believe that her voice will be stronger in death than in life.
I guess I kinda lost myself in this blog. Who am I even complaining about now? It’s not The Band Perry’s fault, and it’s definitely not my niece’s fault. Who’s fault is it then? Popular cultures fault for enjoying a song without really understanding it? I think I’ll leave this blog open-ended. I really look forward to some of your thoughts on the song and on this seemingly unsolvable situation.
