Another piece for 1 Song A Day…this time I’m thinking about critical thinking and pop together, and one of my favourite songs of the year. Oh, and by the way, I signed the acceptance page of a job offer yesterday, so I’m now a Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Queensland. (For US audiences, Lecturer in Australia is, I think equivalent to something like Assistant or Associate Professor?). Not quite sure how much my workload will affect how much I write about music and do my linkstumblring, but we shall see!
An excerpt:
And when the chorus begins ‘if I wanted someone to clean me up, I’d find myself a maid’, the line has to be a direct nod to Neil Young’s ‘A Man Needs A Maid’. Except that Dawes – however respectfully, considering the pastiche – disagree with Neil Young’s old ode to chauvinism. Depending on your point of view, Neil Young’s song will either evoke thoughts about a) how abjectly hopeless men are, how we need women to ensure we don’t fall apart or b) how a woman’s place is in the home, looking after these abjectly hopeless men. As a sometimes abjectly hopeless specimen, I can see the appeal of a) but can also see just how horrifying b) is.
I’ve never understood the line of thought that “A Man Needs a Maid” is sexist! (Well, maybe if you look at the title out of context.) Neil’s using “a man” not in the universal sense, but in the particular – this man needs a maid. Or rather, he needs something/someone stable to cling to, but his wounds are still raw from last time around (“My life is changing in so many ways/ I don’t know who to trust anymore”). He both needs love and fears it, knowing that an emotional connection will wreck the stability he’s so desperate for (“To live a love, you got to be part of”). The idea of hiring a maid (who’ll live nearby but not with him, and will “go away” only at the mutually agreed-upon time) is an attempt to align his needs for companionship and emotional distance. But no matter how often he repeats the phrase “a man needs a maid,” even backing his assertion with great symphonic strings and bells, he knows it’s an unsatisfactory compromise – he always comes back to wondering “When will I see you again?” The song’s not about women, but about trying to reconcile conflicting emotions despite knowing deep down that’s impossible. Men aren’t the only ones who can relate.
(PS: Congratulations on your new position! Here’s hoping you’ll have time to keep turning out more fine pieces.)
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o-song reblogged this from sallyo and added:
Thanks! And I agree with this - I was too glib in that piece about ‘A Man Needs A Maid’. But I do think the song having...
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sallyo reblogged this from o-song and added:
I’ve never understood...thought that “A Man Needs...Maid” is...
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o-song posted this
