_The Lord of the Crypta Culta_ wrote (a while ago):
>Does anyone know an interpretation for the lyrics on Playground Twist (DO
>they have a meaning at all) ? It's one of my favourite S&B-songs but
>there's no way I can understand what they're trying to say.
I have no "official" explanation, but since no one else posted, here are the
lyrics and my best guess...
***
PLAYGROUND TWIST
The title seems to imply some sort of ironic "twist" on the "playground"
(childhood, youth, etc.) The song, overall, is a progression from youth to old
age...
->Hanging....
->Hanging from your daisy chains
->Swinging in the trees
->Running from your enemies
->And falling on your knees
->On your knees
->Get down on your knees
The first stanza evokes images childhood, with visions of daisy chains,
swinging in the trees, and running from bullies on the playground. Hanging
here has an obvious double meaning (swinging in the trees with friends, or
hanging with a rope around your neck).
->Throw the dice
->You three blind mice
->Did you ever see
->Such a thing in your life
->You swallow the trail
->But still arrive
->Inside your entrails
Throwing dice...another child's game, although one for older children...the
kids have aged a bit, maybe junior high?
"Three blind mice"...a children's song.
"Did you ever see such a thing in your life?"...Perhaps referring to the young
adolescent's coming of age/puberty? The rest of the stanza fills out this
idea of carnal knowledge and the body with "follow the trail" (i.e. start the
sexual chase, the mating dance, the rites of spring), and "arrive inside your
entrails", another reference to the body.
->Hanging....
->Hanging out at party games
->Dancing in the shadows
->Up and down on the see-saw
->Balancing the scales
->You're drunk
->Yet you're balancing the scales
Again, the hanging...
The subject could be older now, high school or college-aged, going to parties
and dancing in the shadows (evil). Trying to balance his or her life (see-saw,
scales). Having a hard time because they're not fit to take care of it yet
(drunk), but hanging on nonetheless.
->Someone to blame
->Someone to shame
->Someone who you can claim
->Go back to pass the parcel
->And follow the leader
Older still, married perhaps, the subject find someone to blame, shame, and
claim (his children, perhaps?). He passes the blame/shame (parcel) to someone
or something else, finds excuses, and finds a "leader" to blindly follow. This
leader could be person, a substance (drug), or even a religion...
->Hanging....
->Hanging from your climbing frames
->Swinging in the gallows
->Laughing with your buddies
->But you can drown when you're shallow
->You can drown....
His "shallow" lifestyle has lead him to ruin. He laughs with his so-called
"buddies" as he hangs in the gallows. He drowns in his self-destruction.
***
This is just a spur-of-the-moment interpretation...I'd love to hear other
interpretations, and suggestions on this one... I'm grasping at straws on most
of this...really have no clue about the song, either, but this seems to fit.
Now, back to college work and slightly less exciting interpretations of old
English Lit... :-)
Aaron
"I'll bake their bones for telling lies..."
declerca@carleton.edu