| Wednesday, January 31, 2007 |
| P-p-pr-pr-pr-pro-professional!?! |
There's a thread on the message boards that brought up the inevitable question regarding what this one-word lyric in "Amateur Lovers" could mean. Is Jon asking "are you a professional? or is he asking who is considered a professional?" wondered the original poster. There were some insightful responses, so here are some of the quoteworthy ones:
Purple Sheep:
I think in the song he's taking the role of an "amateur lover" and then at the end he's saying "Professional? Why would I ever want to be a professional? I want to remain an amateur lover!" and is thus mocking the character he's singing as.
Sobe!:
I think he's making the point that people call themselves "professionals" in love... when we're all really just amateur lovers, because no one really takes love seriously anymore.
Rose seemed to agree with the above poster:
...at the end he's saying how everyone pretends to know they know what they are doing by repeating professional.
I particularly liked likimtastic's observation:
I think he is trying to make a point by using a little well placed stuttering "p-p-p-p-p-professional" to kind of poke fun at how stupid we (our culture) sound when we talk about love like we know what we're doing.
There seemed to be a consensus on the fact that Jon was being sarcastic, and that the message of the song is conveyed through its sarcasm - a view I agree with (I think its fairly obviously so.)
Anyway, this was my response:
Thats my favourite part of the song.. how Jon's pr-pr-pr.. stammering slowly blends with the guitars and the beat, it has a progressive edge to it. You guys have some good interpretations.. my first interpretation of it was that Jon might be pointing out the irony of the fact that even though we're amateur lovers, we act all "professional" with each other, which actually reflects our ignorance of how to love. Our (especially urban) culture would be a lot more laidback and people-centered and not so "professional" if we knew how to love. But the true beauty of that one-word lyric is that it opens up the song to so many different possibilities/interpretations - its a great poetic moment from Jon... it just nicely counter-balances the song by throwing in that autonym of "amateur": professional.
So what does that lyric mean to you?Labels: song meanings |
posted by phil @ 3:27 AM  
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| 10 Comments: |
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Was my quote from the thread, or the article that I had put here?
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Was my quote from the thread, or the article that I had put here?
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I wouldn't really consider it to have a "progressive edge"...it's more of a tame version of a psychedelic breakdown. (Think "Whole Lotta Love") The whole song has a strong late 60's rock influence.
But anyway, I'd agree with the interpretation that we've lost any concept of being professional lovers. It is great how Jon leaves it open to interpretation. I've definitely moved on from my initial impressions of it being about prostitution....
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^yeah I guess I'm just quick to call things "progressive" haha. What I meant though is that even though the end sounds all chaotic, if you listen closely, the different elements going on in the song at that time seem a bit disconnected at first and then they come together and fall into the same beat pretty nicely. Rhythmic experimentation, in a small way. There's actually a lot of rhythmic experimentation on the record. It can sound chaotic on the surface like AL's end but its actually pretty precisely executed if you listen closely.
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and rose, its from the thread, I would have mentioned it otherwise.
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you know, I've said this before but, I hear a bit of what might be a Tool (the biggest progressive band today?) influence, on this record. They were probably listening to "10,000 Days" while making this record haha. You can hear it in the precise, tight playing style (at times falling into a repetitive groove), especially in the soaring art-rock of "Circles", the rhythmic experimentation, dark & angular riffs of DSH and its overall "tunnel-y", twisted feel, and also in the dirty, grinding saw-like guitars of "Awakening", DSH and a handful of the songs.
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Yay, I got quoted on switchFeed.
Um yes.
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I think it's strange to think about how influential music really can be. I was writing a poem today and I didn't even realize that I had been humming 'Circles' the whole time. The rythm of the poem was coincidentally similar to that song.
I definitely think that one stuttering line was mocking the world's outlook on love. Everyone thinks they're in love when they're in a relationship but anyone else could look at them and call them fools. When I hear that line, I hear a sort of scoffing, so-pathetic-it's-funny tone as if responding to someone calling themselves professional. "Ha! Professional?"
How profound of Jon.
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wow..hehe now that its written down it really does make sense!...thank you so much for this entry *thumbs up*
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Good entry