Song lyrics - am I misreading this?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>Hi, there’s a beautiful song on the radio right now by the Band Perry, called “If I Die Young.” But after I heard it a few times, I started paying closer attention to the lyrics - especially the last verse. Is it just me, or is this song romanticizing suicide?</p>

<p>Here’s the 3rd verse, followed by the chorus:</p>

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<p>It’s not like I think this song will make lots of teenagers run out and kill themselves. But for someone already depressed and considering it, this song sure makes it sound romantic and a great way to get attention.</p>

2

<p>hmm…I don’t think so. It sounds more like someone writing lyrics from the perspective of fear of death and wants to live his/her young life enjoying so there are no regrets. Then again I never heard the rest of the song.</p>

3

<p>I don’t really think the song glorifies suicide, it’s a very sad song and will certainly depress the hell out of someone already depressed, but I don’t see an issue with the verse you posted. I’m familiar with the whole song and if I had to sum it up in a sentence it would be something like “dying young is sad but if this has to happen to me then ill still be okay.” Poetry has never been my strong suit but that was how I read it.</p>

<p>Here’s the rest of the song:</p>

<p>If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song</p>

<p>Lord make me a rainbow, I’ll shine down on my mother
She’ll know I’m safe with you when she stands under my colors
Oh, and life ain’t always what you think it ought to be, no
Ain’t even gray, but she buries her baby
The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I’ve had just enough time</p>

<p>If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song
The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I’ve had just enough time</p>

<p>And I’ll be wearing white when I come into your kingdom
I’m as green as the ring on my little cold finger
I’ve never known the loving of a man
But it sure felt nice when he was holding my hand
There’s a boy here in town, says he’ll love me forever
Who would have thought forever could be severed by
The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I’ve had just enough time</p>

<p>So put on your best, boys, and I’ll wear my pearls
What I never did is done
A penny for my thoughts, oh no, I’ll sell 'em for a dollar
They’re worth so much more after I’m a goner
And maybe then you’ll hear the words I been singing
Funny, when you’re dead how people start listening</p>

<p>If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song</p>

<p>The ballad of a dove
Go with peace and love
Gather up your tears, keep 'em in your pocket
Save them for a time when you’re really gonna need them, oh
The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I’ve had just enough time
So put on your best, boys And I’ll wear my pearls</p>

4

<p>Lafalum84, When I heard this song, I thought the same thing you did. So I asked my 18 year old daughter who listens to a lot of music, and she takes it the same way also.</p>

5

<p>This is how the lyrics struck me as well…that being said , when I was young I didn’t pay close attention to some really powerful messages in songs . And if I had , don’t know if they would have influenced me
Disturbing
And I can see where someone who is depreesed would relate to it and it might bring them down even further</p>

<p>Two songs that immediately pop into my head involve losing virginity ( Frankie Valley - " Oh what a night "
Am mentally disturbed youth whose symptoms were ignored until he raped and killed his girlfriend …Warren Zevon _ Excitable Boy )</p>

6

<p>

Sadly, this is how some people think of themselves if they’re in a situation they can’t get out of. I remember one man in CA just around the time of the housing collapse. Killed himself when he couldn’t pay his mortgage… “worth so much more after I’m a goner”… Of course you never want to have this playing when someone is already low, but then if you’re contemplating suicide, you’ll find this kind of message in a lot of art.</p>

7

<p>I think you have to watch the video also. I love the song and when I watch the video - I get a hopeful message. For most of the song the girl is floating alone in the boat. At the end - she rejoins her mother (?) and friends and they all look quite happy. I see it as more about making the most of the time you have since no one knows just how much that is going to be.</p>

<p>But on the other hand:</p>

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8

<p>How about this one?</p>

<p>Frank Ocean – Swim Good Lyrics</p>

<p>[Verse 1]
That’s a pretty big trunk on my Lincoln town car, ain’t it?
Big enough to take these broken hearts and put 'em in it
Now I’m driving 'round on the boulevard, trunk bleeding
And everytime the cops pull me over, they don’t ever see them
And I’ve got this black suit on
Roaming around like I’m ready for a funeral
Five more miles 'til the road runs out</p>

<p>[Hook]
I’m about to drive in the ocean
I’mma try to swim from something bigger than me
Kick off my shoes and swim good, and swim good
Take off this suit and swim good, and swim good, good</p>

<p>[Verse 2]
Got some pretty good beats on this 808 CD, yeah
Memory seats I’m sitting on stay heated
I woulda put tints on my windows but what’s the difference
If I feel like a Ghost, no Swayze, ever since I lost my baby
I’ve had this black suit on
Roaming around like I’m ready for a funeral
One more mile 'til the road runs out</p>

<p>[Hook]</p>

<p>[Bridge]
I’m going off, don’t try stopping me
I’m going off, don’t try saving
No flares, no vest, and no fear
Waves are washing me (out)</p>

9

<p>I guess I just didn’t assume that the girl was dead because she killed herself, nothing really alluded to that for me, I assumed something else tragic happened. The line about people listening more when people are dead is, sadly, true. Sometimes people don’t see the people right in front of them until they’re gone. I saw that line as sad commentary on that rather than glorifying it.</p>

10

<p>It never occurred to me that the song was about suicide. But upon hearing it a few times I began to think that “If I Die Young” is the kind of song that will be played at young people’s funerals for the next 20+ years…</p>

11

<p>laf, I have heard this song a million times on the radio and I keep meaning to look it up because it is terrible and so morbid. Every time it comes on I have to switch stations - spare me! I have no idea why this song would appeal to anyone, but that’s just my opinion… Such a downer! (And I am 22…).</p>

12

<p>The other thing that bugs me about this song happened when I saw the Band Perry sing it on a CMA TV show - the singer smiled the whole way thru the song. Has she ever given a thought to what she’s actually singing?</p>

13

<p>I also hate this song and change the station every time I hear it. And I agree that it totally romanticizes the prospect of dying young–but if you really want a eye-rolling experience, watch the ridiculous music video.</p>

14

<p>I’ve never heard the song, so I’m just reacting to the printed lyrics. It seems to have a Christian perspective. It’s melodramatic and self-aggrandizing, and – like many poems – it romanticizes dying young, but I don’t think it’s talking about suicide.</p>

15

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<p>That is not what the song is saying. It says IF I die young, not when I die young. You never know when you are going to die. She could die young from whatever reason and she wants to know that all of her wishes are going to be met.</p>

16

<p>She is imagining her early death, fantasizing about it. It’s not just a question of you never know when you are going to die. It’s a Christian-rock, self-centered version of Keats’s Ode to a Nightingale</p>

<p>Now more than ever seems it rich to die,<br>
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,<br>
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad<br>
In such an ecstasy!</p>

<p>Crossed, to some extent, with the poem Keats wrote when he knew he was actually dying young:</p>

<p>This living hand, now warm and capable
Of earnest grasping, would, if it were cold
And in the icy silence of the tomb,
So haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights
That thou wouldst wish thine own heart dry of blood
So in my veins red life might stream again,
And thou be conscience-calmed—see here it is—
I hold it towards you.</p>

<p>Basically, the singer is imagining the big fuss everyone would make if she died young, how sad everyone would be, and how pretty she’d look. And thinking her life would seem beautiful that way. (And being smug about her virginity.) But that’s not the same thing as promoting or advocating suicide. Next door to it, maybe, but still not the same.</p>

17

<p>Next door as in an attached townhouse maybe… it’s not promoting or advocating suicide, but it makes it sound really pretty. If I die young there will be rainbows and a bed of roses and everyone will finally hear me and notice me and it will all be beautiful. </p>

<p>I think a song that says young death is beautiful and a way to be noticed and heard ends up making suicide sound sound pretty appealing. I don’t think that was the GOAL of the song but I find it to definitely be the unintended effect or result of it.</p>

18

<p>Well, this thread has sent me on a fun journey.</p>

<p>Introduced me to a band, previously unknown to me, and to one of their songs.
Got me to read a bit of Tennyson, who I have been neglecting for more than a couple of years, and a few essays analyzing The Lady of Shallot. (Seldom has a video so forcefully and obviously slammed me on the head with its cultural reference point.)
Enjoyed going back to the video of the song and considering its visuals after the review of Tennyson. (the window blocked, the empty mirror frame, fuzzy focus at times, etc.)
Even got reminded to watch the Anne of Green Gables movie again should I ever channel-surf past it.
But, maybe most interesting in my travel, I found a fun little island of information:</p>

<p>[If</a> I Die Young by The Band Perry Songfacts](<a href=“http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=20040]If”>If I Die Young by The Band Perry - Songfacts)</p>

<p>I like this Songfacts site, especially how it gathers quotes from the artists concerning their music. (Kimberly Perry explains the song’s meaning, etc.) </p>

<p>This is what I love about the internet, sometimes. Discovering something new because of a post on a board, etc., and looking into that new thing leads to anything from reading a poem to finding a nice reference site.</p>

19

<p>Not to hijack this thread, but what do THESE lyrics mean?
Partly due to the tonality and melody of the song, as well as the words, I have also wondered if this one is about death, even suicide.</p>

<p>“Chasing Cars” by SnowPatrol</p>

<p>We’ll do it all
Everything
On our own</p>

<p>We don’t need
Anything
Or anyone</p>

<p>If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?</p>

<p>I don’t quite know
How to say
How I feel</p>

<p>Those three words
Are said too much
They’re not enough</p>

<p>If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?</p>

<p>Forget what we’re told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that’s bursting into life</p>

<p>Let’s waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads</p>

<p>I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own</p>

<p>If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?</p>

<p>Forget what we’re told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that’s bursting into life</p>

<p>All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they’re all I can see</p>

<p>I don’t know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things will never change for us at all</p>

<p>If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?</p>

20

<p>“Those three words
Are said too much
They’re not enough”</p>

<p>“All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they’re all I can see”</p>

<p>Sometimes a love song is just a love song.</p>

<p>But your post lead me around the net a bit (again :wink: ) and now I finally sort of understand the “chasing cars” line.</p>

<p>From Wikipedia,</p>

<p>“The phrase “Chasing Cars” came from Lightbody’s father, in reference to a girl Lightbody was infatuated with, “You’re like a dog chasing a car. You’ll never catch it and you just wouldn’t know what to do with it if you did.”[6]”</p>