I’ve never felt this way with a song. I don’t know. Well, this is my second post about it. The first one was just an overview about the lyrics, but not it’s content. Hmmm… That’s perplexing.
I remember the day when I first heard The All American Reject’s Gives You Hell. It is so inviting, and I was listening to it repeatedly and was always excited for the ‘crowd’ singing the refrain. That’s all. It was fun, a bit mean, but the kind that you can tolerate.
Then, comes Britney Spears’ If U Seek Amy. I know it’s nothing compared to the 70’s song If You See Kay, which is aside from the title, spells out the word ‘cunt’ as well, courtesy of the line “See you in tea.”
Ok, enough of the introduction. This is bout 3oh!3’s Don’t Trust Me. If you have read the preceding post, you’ll know that I have no idea about the ‘Do the Helen Keller’ line. Although, I knew the overall meaning of the lines:
Shush girl! Shut your lips.
Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips.
I just realized the ‘do the Helen Keller’ could mean ’shut up! Communicate without talking, communicate using your hips – dance.’ And for the Helen Keller reference… It’s like ‘imitate the disabled’. (FYI: Helen Keller is blind and deaf).
It is so sad! I loved the song before I realized this. And as I come to know this, I listened to it, enjoyed it, but on the Helen Keller part, I felt something. I could forgive the ‘don’t trust a ho’ line. But that part is like too much. Maybe I feel so bad about my self for liking this song. One thing is for sure, I really can’t help but love the song. I love the beat, I love the one-liners, the vocals, the effects. It’s just so sad that it has to be offensive.
I have two different takes on the lines.
One, it’s like saying women is better off shutting their mouths. That they’re made to shake their asses. That women aren’t here to be heard but to be seen. Alright, that’s bad.
But, on the other hand, it could mean, forget who you are for a while. Dance and have fun.
It doesn’t matter what 3oh!3 is really trying to say or what is their intentions for writing this song, if they have. It’s not about how it was intended but how it was received. It’s not talking about women altogether if we’re going to hear the whole song and analyze the whole lyrics. But most people don’t care about the lyrics at all, they’re after the beat, the catchy part. And sadly, the catchiest part is the most offensive. I must admit that as a man, I find it cool, in a way, the idea of saying ‘Shush girl! Shut your lips.’ I mean, some women are too talkative.
I know, it won’t be as popular as it is without those controversial lines. And even without it, it still won’t be a descent song. Even without my favorite ‘vegetarian’ line, it’s still a good song. And this made me think to disregard the people who are offended. Why would I get affected because they are?
And this is a song. And it was made to be a joke.
Now I sounded undecided. I was just thinking, what if I’ve known what the song was, before I heard it. Maybe I would listen to it out of curiousity. And maybe I won’t like it as much. But I know my self, and I can certainly say that I still would have liked it, in a different way though. Why am I being like this with just a song? Well, as I said, I’ve never felt like this before.
Thoughts?
