Posted by Anton J on 5/21/2012, 2:53 pm, in reply to "Lyrical (Over)Analysis - Michelle by The Beatles / The teen pop satire interpretation"
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"Michelle" has never seemed like a "serious" love song to me, just like "Drive My Car" has never been a "serious" (maybe straight-faced would be a better term) car song.
I'm not sure I'd call it biting satire though, just a bit of fun without any deeper thoughts behind it.
--Previous Message--
: You may have read this theory on George's
: Rubber Soul review but this is a more detail
: essay on this topic.
:
: So this song has a reputation of being a
: simple "love" song. However,
: perhaps there is more that meets the eye
: regarding this song and that this piece is
: actually a satire on teen pop music and
: "silly love songs".
: Don't believe me? Let's go through the
: lyrics
:
: "Michelle, my belle.
: These are words that go together well,
: My Michelle."
:
: So the beginning of the song starts off with
: Michelle, my belle (which means my beloved)
: but there isn't any emotional meaning or
: deep thoughts to those words. They are
: essentially just words that sound romantic
: and goes together well. Michelle is not
: really a real girl Paul knows, it's just a
: nice female name that matches the pop song
: archetype. Which is Paul satiring the nature
: of pop music.
:
: "Michelle, my belle.
: Sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble,
: Très bien ensemble."
:
: Now Paul is just repeating the same line but
: in French because translating English
: language into French automatically makes the
: song sounds more romantic. However, like the
: message of the song, it's only done because
: it goes together well with the song not
: because of any real meaning or affection.
:
:
: "I love you, I love you, I love you.
: That's all I want to say.
: Until I find a way
: I will say the only words I know that
: You'll understand. "
:
: It's turns out that John Lennon suggested
: the incorporation of the "I Love
: You" section of the song. Which makes
: sense because John suggestion in songs
: generally incorporate the cynical, downbeat
: section to the song (see. Getting Better, We
: Can Work It Out etc).
:
: You see this is the clever part of the song
: where Paul is singing generic "I Love
: You" to the audience not because he
: actually does love anyone, but because the
: audience can't understand anything other
: than "I Love you". "Until I
: find a way" to sing lyrics with deeper
: meaning and songs that are more intelligent,
: he will keep on singing "I Love
: You" types songs because they are the
: only type of songs that the teen pop
: audience will understand. They are too
: stupid to understand lyrics that mean
: anything more than "I Love You".
: Oh man, that really biting cynical satire
: there from Lennon/McCartney.
:
:
: "I need to, I need to, I need to.
: I need to make you see,
: Oh, what you mean to me.
: Until I do I'm hoping you will
: Know what I mean."
:
: So the whole I need to make you see what you
: mean to me. In normal pop songs that
: generally means that he wants the other
: person to know that he loves her but in the
: context of this satire, it's a twist because
: he wants the fans to know that they mean
: nothing to him. That he's hoping that one
: day the fans become intelligent enough to
: see through the facade so that he would be
: able to write songs that are more
: intelligent.
:
: Then there's the generic "I love
: you..." to follow the trope of the pop
: song genre
:
: "I want you, I want you, I want you.
: I think you know by now
: I'll get to you somehow.
: Until I do I'm telling you so
: You'll understand."
:
: So Paul is singing "I want you"
: and repeating it multiple times until the
: audience understands and gets (I think you
: know by now) the "subtle" point
: that Paul "wants and love the
: girl" because if he makes the song more
: subtle without outright declaration of love
: and affection, they won't understand what he
: means (man Paul is ridiculously nasty and
: cynical in this song. I'm no lover of teen
: pop but the fans of that genre aren't that
: bad).
:
: Then there is a few repetition of the
: previous lyrics and ends up with the
: declaration that "I will say the only
: words I know that
: You'll understand, my Michelle." which
: summarise the song that they are writing
: simplistic love song lyrics that people can
: understand easily.
:
: Now some people may disagree and that this
: song is actually about loving a French girl
: despite the fact that they can't really
: communicate with each other due to language
: difference (thanks to George Starostin for
: pointing out the literal interpretation, I
: honesty could not make that connection that
: there was a language barrier between the two
: lovers which led to the creation of this
: convoluted theory). However even if that was
: true, isn't it genious that the song can be
: interpret as a straight up "silly love
: song' whist simultaneously be a
: deconstruction of the same silly love song
: genre?
:
: Now you may wonder why you should buy into
: this teen pop satire interpretation when
: there's a perfectly logical and more simpler
: love song literal interpretation of the
: song.
:
: Well for two reasons, a) This interpretation
: perfectly symbolises the status of Rubber
: Soul being the start of the mature phase of
: The Beatles writing music beyond "I
: love you". What better way to say that
: we are more than just another teen pop band
: by writing a song that parodies it b) This
: interpretation creates thematic consistency
: with the rest of the album. The basic theme
: of rubber soul is basically disillusionment
: with their relationship with woman and
: relationship with the teenage fans that
: worship them. This interpretation completely
: gels well and complements songs like
: "Think For Yourself" and "If
: I Needed Someone" and if this
: interpretation is true it would create
: greater unity between songs. Hell you could
: almost make this album a concept album about
: this topic.
:
: Now maybe it's unlikely that Paul McCartney
: intended the song to mean this (but I
: haven't completely ruled it out) but it
: certainly in my "head canon". I
: just find it amusing the idea of Mr.
: "Silly Love Song" writing a parody
: of songs the type of songs he has written a
: lot of and I have an image of McCartney
: laughing in his head when people sing this
: song sincerely.
:
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