Finally

Bit of a gap in work due to a hectic summer but I now have very short comments on each song lyric I chose, except for Die In the Summertime and Faster which I decided to drop from my list on reflection as they're a little too abstract and hard to talk about in much depth for my level.

During my analysis of the lyrics I spent time researching Stephen Hawking and his views on genetic modification: http://www.greens.org/s-r/20/20-01.html, this website was useful.

Also for 4st/7lb research on anorexia where this site proved useful http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/anorexianervosa.htm

Once again http://www.richeyedwards.net/ proved useful.

Here are my starting critiques of each song lyric which will develop into something more like an essay:

Me and Stephen Hawking
These lyrics were written after Richey’s period of depression and self-abuse and although he was still cynical it is clear from almost all the words he left before his disappearance that he was happier and more at ease. The best example lies here in the line ‘overjoyed me and Stephen Hawking, we laugh, we missed the sex revolution, when we failed the physical’. Here we find an example of Richey’s prevailing sense of humour and in the original typed lyrics he has annotated this line, marking it out as a joke. He is mocking himself for being so young and in his prime but being very fragile. The cynicism remains though, the words deal with fears about genetic modification.

4st 7lb
This song is not a direct account of Richey experiencing anorexia but shows his understanding of what it is like to experience mental disorder. The chorus line about wanting to walk on the snow shows the anorexics desire for order and neatness in their lives, hence wanting to be thin and have little impact on their surroundings, they talk of ‘not soiling its purity’ as if they are not worthy to step on something like snow if they will damage it. For the anorexic in Richey’s lyrics, being anorexic is a form of self completion, this is shown in the final line ‘I’ve finally come to understand lifethrough staring blankly at my navel’ and in ‘I’ve long since moved to a higher plateau’. This is certainly what Richey thought of himself, someone who lived in the modern world but was not truly part of it, hence the ‘higher plateau’, another level of existence.

Yes
In these lyrics Richey displays his contempt for the horrors that are allowed to continue in the world such as sex exploitation. His hatred of the corruption that money can bring is expressed in the line ‘in these plagued streets of pity you can buy anything, for $200 anyone can conceive a God on video’ signifying that money can get one anything no matter the moral consequences. Similarly the seeming worthlessness of human dignity in a commercial world is explored in the line ‘he’s a boy, you want a girl so tear off his cock, tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want’ meaning that people can be altered and dehumanised if it serves to meet a demand in the market.

Life Becoming a Landslide
With these words Richey talks about his fears of growing up and his views on relationships. The most striking line is that of ‘there is no true love, just a finely tuned jealousy’. Many experts on relationships are in agreement that jealousy is an essential psychological part of a relationship, without jealousy one is detached from one’s partner and would not care if they cheated. Richey has realised this and it occurs to him that the ‘true love’ which so many speak of is purely a perfect balance of the feeling of jealousy. With this knowledge he is immensely cynical of relationships and love and it perhaps for this reason that he never found anyone he really did love. In the previous lines ‘my idea of love comes from a childhood glimpse of pornography’ Richey explains that he believes the illusion of love is created through imagery that we are exposed to as children and are unable to do anything other than take it at face value. His views on growing up and the tragedy of the loss of youth are also explored. The line ‘I don’t want to be a man’ is not a reference to gender despite the glam image the band generated but to not wanting to become an adult. As one becomes older, in Richey’s mind one loses one’s idealism and passion, ‘everyday more numb to agony’ means we become desensitised to suffering, both our own and others because we notice it less. He also talks of our alienation from our families as we grow older, ‘babies in time barely even recognise, words that once stroked now bruising tired lips’. The words our mothers spoke to us to comfort us as children now mean nothing to us and do not have the same effect as they once had. Richey feels that our separation and lack of closeness to our mothers is unhealthy.

Drug Drug Druggy
Although it is unrecorded whether Richey habitually abused drugs he had certainly taken some in his lifetime. Here, he tells the story of an addict and their dependence on drugs and rejection of everything else in the world.

Spectators of Suicide
Richey portrays a dim view of society here. Lines like ‘cigarettes a lifeline’ refer to the way that we create and cling to items to keep us going in society without which we would give up all hope and will to live. ‘Choking on the billboards’ used imagery of how advertising and products are almost force fed to us and our inability to do anything about it.

Some are obviously more developed than others but these serve the purpose of showing what area of his mindset each lyric deals with. My next task is to write an introduction for the essay which I plan to use as part of my final presentation.