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my upbringing was weird: exhibit 373
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thelionforreal's post included a line from "Southern Cross," and I needed to add it to my playlist, and the next song down in the folder was Dan Fogelberg's "Leader of the Band," so I added that too.
Two lines into the song, I remembered riding in the car with my mother while she expounded her theory about the song having a religious meaning. Most of my mom's theories about songs were that the song in question was about God (Mariah Carey's "Hero" and Madonna's "Rain" both stick in my memory as making more sense in that regard than "Leader of the Band," which seems to be straightforwardly concerned with a more earthly type father figure, but whatever - the only time I actually tried, unsuccessfully, to talk her out of such a theory was regarding Gloria Estefan's "Coming Out of the Dark" because I'd heard somewhere that it was specifically about her fans - my mom was still sure it was about God regardless of authorial intent) except one: Ambrosia's "Biggest Part of Me."
That one, according to my mom, was about Quebecois separatism. The song, she said, was basically a love song from Canada to wayward Quebec, pleading with it not to leave. I can't recall whether she considered Quebec to be the biggest part of Canada geographically or economically, but she had a whole analysis of the song to back it up, including the fact that at some point toward the end of the song, the background singers appear to be repeating Canada over and over.
All my mom's theories could never explain one lyrical problem, though:
The leader of the band has died
And his eyes are growing old...
I mean, what the fuck does that MEAN? The man is dead in the past perfect, but his eyes are aging in the progressive present? Does Mr. Fogelberg have this guy's eyes DECAYING IN A JAR OF FORMALDEHYDE ON HIS DESK? Inquiring minds have been wanting to know for quite some time now.
ETA: Okay, apparently "The leader of the band has died" is my own personal "Cause you been bad, you bad." (ha! try to guess the correct lyric from my ex-roommate's mishearing, I dare you!) Which is sort of reassuring. Because it really didn't make any sense.
thelionforreal's post included a line from "Southern Cross," and I needed to add it to my playlist, and the next song down in the folder was Dan Fogelberg's "Leader of the Band," so I added that too. Two lines into the song, I remembered riding in the car with my mother while she expounded her theory about the song having a religious meaning. Most of my mom's theories about songs were that the song in question was about God (Mariah Carey's "Hero" and Madonna's "Rain" both stick in my memory as making more sense in that regard than "Leader of the Band," which seems to be straightforwardly concerned with a more earthly type father figure, but whatever - the only time I actually tried, unsuccessfully, to talk her out of such a theory was regarding Gloria Estefan's "Coming Out of the Dark" because I'd heard somewhere that it was specifically about her fans - my mom was still sure it was about God regardless of authorial intent) except one: Ambrosia's "Biggest Part of Me."
That one, according to my mom, was about Quebecois separatism. The song, she said, was basically a love song from Canada to wayward Quebec, pleading with it not to leave. I can't recall whether she considered Quebec to be the biggest part of Canada geographically or economically, but she had a whole analysis of the song to back it up, including the fact that at some point toward the end of the song, the background singers appear to be repeating Canada over and over.
All my mom's theories could never explain one lyrical problem, though:
The leader of the band has died
And his eyes are growing old...
I mean, what the fuck does that MEAN? The man is dead in the past perfect, but his eyes are aging in the progressive present? Does Mr. Fogelberg have this guy's eyes DECAYING IN A JAR OF FORMALDEHYDE ON HIS DESK? Inquiring minds have been wanting to know for quite some time now.
ETA: Okay, apparently "The leader of the band has died" is my own personal "Cause you been bad, you bad." (ha! try to guess the correct lyric from my ex-roommate's mishearing, I dare you!) Which is sort of reassuring. Because it really didn't make any sense.