Is it possible to post a transcript? I can’t read it; the words are tiny and my eyes are not young anymore (and weren’t very good even when they were young).
Yes sorry about the tiny words; I can’t read them either. I’d share Pliny’s cartoons more often if the words weren’t so tiny! You can zoom the screen to read?
iknklast, when I go to Pliny’s site I have the same problem, but clicking on the picture brings up a better, higher definition picture which is easily readable.
Lady M., I’ve just read the analysis you linked to and think it explains the song perfectly, but, Jesus in a juice box, some of the comments! There are several classic examples there of just one or two lines from a piece of writing being isolated, having all context removed, and using those few words to condemn the whole piece. Then, when all of the context has been carefully re-explained, the critics ignore everything that has been said and simply pull out the same lines and repeat their objections.
I think I might offer up my own re-write of the song that should be acceptable to even the most ferocious bad-will reader and critic of the original.
(Intro music)
Person 1: I really can’t stay.
Person 2: I can get an Uber here within the hour, unless there’s a cab company you’d prefer to use.
@Lady Mondegreen #2 – I’m not sure I entirely agree with the analysis you link to. It rebuts the “what’s in this drink” line, and tries to make the case that “the woman gives plenty of indication that she wants to stay the night” and “As she’s talking about leaving, she never says she doesn’t want to stay. Her words are all based around other people’s expectations of her”.
Looking at the lyrics though, her first two lines are literally “I really can’t stay” and “I’ve got to go away”. The first thing she says is that she doesn’t want to stay, and he refuses to respect her decision and then grabs her by the hand. It’s only at this point, after he’s refused to respect her own desire to leave, that she tries to convince him that other people who he might respect would want her to leave too.
By the time she agrees to half a drink more, she’s already tried to extract herself from his company enough times that it seems almost as plausible to me that this could be read as a de-escalation tactic on her part, rather than a cloaked desire to stay.
“I really can’t stay,” was a pretty standard formula that could mean anything from “I’m only here because the occasion demands it and I’m leaving asap” to “I’d love to stay but I’m not sure I should?” It never read to me as “I don’t want to stay.” I think it fits with the reading.
In real life it’s better to err on the side of caution. Sure. Me, I still think the song makes perfect sense in a joyful and non-rapey way, taken as a whole. In addition to the social mores of the time, I think we should pay attention to the lines that both singers repeat together, to the easy intimacy between them, to that musical upswell at the end.
Is it possible to post a transcript? I can’t read it; the words are tiny and my eyes are not young anymore (and weren’t very good even when they were young).
This feminist loves the original. And I’m not the only one.
http://persephonemagazine.com/2010/12/listening-while-feminist-in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/
Yes sorry about the tiny words; I can’t read them either. I’d share Pliny’s cartoons more often if the words weren’t so tiny! You can zoom the screen to read?
iknklast, when I go to Pliny’s site I have the same problem, but clicking on the picture brings up a better, higher definition picture which is easily readable.
Lady M., I’ve just read the analysis you linked to and think it explains the song perfectly, but, Jesus in a juice box, some of the comments! There are several classic examples there of just one or two lines from a piece of writing being isolated, having all context removed, and using those few words to condemn the whole piece. Then, when all of the context has been carefully re-explained, the critics ignore everything that has been said and simply pull out the same lines and repeat their objections.
I think I might offer up my own re-write of the song that should be acceptable to even the most ferocious bad-will reader and critic of the original.
(Intro music)
Person 1: I really can’t stay.
Person 2: I can get an Uber here within the hour, unless there’s a cab company you’d prefer to use.
(Music fades to end).
@Lady Mondegreen #2 – I’m not sure I entirely agree with the analysis you link to. It rebuts the “what’s in this drink” line, and tries to make the case that “the woman gives plenty of indication that she wants to stay the night” and “As she’s talking about leaving, she never says she doesn’t want to stay. Her words are all based around other people’s expectations of her”.
Looking at the lyrics though, her first two lines are literally “I really can’t stay” and “I’ve got to go away”. The first thing she says is that she doesn’t want to stay, and he refuses to respect her decision and then grabs her by the hand. It’s only at this point, after he’s refused to respect her own desire to leave, that she tries to convince him that other people who he might respect would want her to leave too.
By the time she agrees to half a drink more, she’s already tried to extract herself from his company enough times that it seems almost as plausible to me that this could be read as a de-escalation tactic on her part, rather than a cloaked desire to stay.
Here’s an explanation that I found recently. I’m no history buff, especially of jazz, so I can’t say whether a word of it is true or not.
https://imgur.com/gallery/RPbt2
“I really can’t stay,” was a pretty standard formula that could mean anything from “I’m only here because the occasion demands it and I’m leaving asap” to “I’d love to stay but I’m not sure I should?” It never read to me as “I don’t want to stay.” I think it fits with the reading.
In real life it’s better to err on the side of caution. Sure. Me, I still think the song makes perfect sense in a joyful and non-rapey way, taken as a whole. In addition to the social mores of the time, I think we should pay attention to the lines that both singers repeat together, to the easy intimacy between them, to that musical upswell at the end.
Holms, yes, that’s the Persephone author’s take as well.
A woman who wanted to be seen as a “Nice Girl” was in a real bind if she had a libido. And the penalties for being Not a Nice Girl could be severe.
AoS, :D