matthew yglesias way over-analyzes a postal service song:

Also, frankly, it's nice that this guy's "finally seeing why [he] was the one worth leaving," but he doesn't really explain it to the audience very well.

UPDATE: My friend Kriston writing in comments proffers a reasonable explanation of the Postal Service lyric:

It's a great story. He comes to visit her in DC and she's moved on from college hipster days ("you seem so out of context / in this gaudy apartment complex") and started her career track ("I'll wear my badge: a vinyl sticker with big block letters adherent to my chest / that tells your new friends I am a visitor here: I am not permanent"). He's just some bum musician, but it sounds like she does some VIP stuff. I'd leave him too.

That's reasonable, but from an aesthetic point of view I think it's still problematic because it dependds on a lot of extra-textual material. There are, after all, any number of reasons why a person might seem "out of context" in a "gaudy apartment complex" besides having left her "college hipster days" behind. I think a problem with most popular music is an inability to respect the speaker/author distinction. The song makes sense as long as you assume that the speaker just is the singer, but art shouldn't work like this. One of the things that I think is great about Eminem is that you get a real sense from him that the speaker in his songs should be understood as a character, even though much of the content is obviously somewhat autobiographical in nature.

i don't know why he thinks it's required that any songwriter explain the full background or intentions of the song, or clarify the lyrics to the listener. isn't that part of the fun of music, especially mopey emo-ish music--being able to make up half interpretations to the lyrics? or even not being able to fully penetrate the meaning of the lyrics at all. yeah. of course it depends on extra-textual material, which the listener then provides for himself, at least in my case. it's a great interaction between musicians and fans. hell, i probably wouldn't have made it through half of my adolescence if thom yorke had sat me down and explained exactly what he meant on "the bends," or in which songs he wanted the speaker in his songs to be seen as a character and not a literal version of himself singing. is paranoid android ACTUALLY THOM???

i mean, who wants to listen to a song that goes, "i'm sad because my girlfriend left me and has got a new job and a new apartment and i'm still a lame unsuccessful musician and that's why she dumped me." not nearly as catchy.

also, i think the meaning of "the district sleeps alone tonight" (as kriston nicely explains it) is fairly obvious through the lyrics, and i don't understand why MY didn't get the gist.

anyway, i'm over-analyzing an over-analyzation. and so it goes.

p.s.: this reminds of a radiohead website that used to exist when i was 17 or 18 called my iron duck. it posted misinterpretations of radiohead lyrics. for example, someone had gone through listening to the song 'the bends' for several months, seriously thinking that thom yorke was singing, "my baby's got depends, oh no." 'my iron lung' had the most misinterpretations, especially in that fuzzy chorus that repeats a few times throughout the song. i quickly learned the right words so i could be cool and in the know, and i still remember them: the headshrinkers/they want everything/my uncle bill/my belisha beacon.

now those lyrics -- i have no idea what the fuck thom means there. but as far as fairly straightforward narrative lyrics a la the postal service, it seems more or less clear.

see? don't you feel better already?
now someone go buy me some tequila.

you know what? screw it. i'm not reading the news anymore. i'm not going to read political blogs that tell me what's going on in the world. dan rather and peter jennings -- adios. i may make an exception every once in a while for the daily show, but only because i need my daily dose of brilliant snark.

but that's it. i'm cutting myself off from the world and keeping myself completely uninformed of any reality. i don't want to hear anything more about the shitbomb that's going down in iraq. i'm not going to think about the fact that massive terror attacks might occur in rome this weekend. innocent japanese civilians in iraq held hostage who will probably be murdered? LALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU.

no. i'm going to concentrate solely on things such as the correct pronunciation of bruschetta, the wonders of scientology, celebrity fashion, and maybe taking on a fulltime job of reviewing reality tv crap. though that's not really different from 99% of the content in this blog. but that's okay. that's my entire worldview now.

as far as i'm concerned, outside of my front door exist only puppies, kittens, rainbows, daisies, and maybe a unicorn or two. that i can ride on to the store to buy some really good chocolate and a whole hell of a lot of alcohol. cause i've got a feeling i'm going to be drinking quite a bit in the months to come.