“Candy Man” – Grateful Dead
1)
The lyrics “Pretty lady ain't/got no friend/till
the Candyman/come round again” remind me of Baby’s first moments in her
relationship with Alphonse and later on during her first experimentation with
heroin. Baby chose both of these vises in order to fill her void of loneliness.
“Street Spirit/Fade Out” – Radiohead
2)
This song sounds as if it could have been
playing throughout Baby’s journey. Not only does the title apply to her attempt
of leaving her old life behind, but the sound of the music reminds me of the
many times she wandered the streets alone in a desperate sorrow, depressed and
alone.
 |
| Radiohead's music is full of angst like Baby's journey |
“City Girl” – Tegan and Sara
3)
The theme of this song reminds me of when Jules
sends Baby away to juvenile correction.
The lyrics “You say I love you but I cannot stay” represent how Baby
felt once her rebellion led to her father’s reaction of sending her away. She
was confused with her father’s feelings towards her. The theme of this song
applies to Baby’s persona after she gets out of juvenile correction as she then
starts hanging out on the streets much more often, emphasizing her “City Girl”
personality.
“VCR/Wheels” – Tyler the Creator
4)
When Alphonse begins to notice Baby, one can’t
help but be disturbed at their age gap. That, and the creepy way that he lurks
around watching Baby is reminiscent of Tyler’s lyrics:
You're
my favorite show, any chance I get I try to watch
Die
hard fan, can't stop with the tapings
Sorta
like a psycho when I can't stop with the raping
After they have sex, which is very much
illegal considering their age gap, Alphonse begins to grow crazy with lust and
the need to control Baby like a director would to his actors in a show.
“Society is a Hole” – Sonic Youth
5)
When Baby needs Xavier, she acts as if she is
not a child prostitute, but rather, as if she is still a child. The lyrics
“Society is a hole/It makes me lie to my friends/It’s running down my
street/With white power sneakers,” create the perfect parallel of this
situation. Baby must lie in order to fit into what she thinks society deems as
normal for a child, hence the imagery of sneakers in the lyrics.
“You’re Lost Little Girl” – The Doors
6)
When Baby has her first experience of
prostitution with the man Alphonse tells her to meet, my reaction was, of
course, that she was much too young. The lyrics “You’re lost little girl/You’re
lost/Tell me who/Are you,” immediately came to mind. These lyrics represent the
idea that Baby doesn’t know what she is doing in her life as a prostitute and
that she is lost in a world that she does not belong in.
“Grow up and Blow Away” – Metric
7)
When Patti Smith leaves behind her education at
the Teacher’s College, it is as if she is giving up on growing up. These lyrics explain her feelings behind this
decision: “If this is the life/Why does it feel so good to die today?/Blue to
gray/Grow up and blow away…” These lyrics mimic Smith’s concerns with
conforming to the societal standards of adulthood, hence her leaving that path
behind to fulfil her artistic dreams.
“Love in High Places” – Kimbra
8)
When Patti Smith first meets Robert Mapplethorpe
on the bed, in her friend’s apartment, the connection between them is instant.
This song describes the theme of Smith and Mapplethorpe’s intertwining roles as
each other’s muse through a beautiful metaphor: “I will be your lotus/Growing
slow, so you don’t notice.” At the end of the book it is much more obvious that
they each blossomed into a successful muse for one another, like a flower that
needed time to grow.
“Sing Another Song, Boys” – Leonard Cohen
9)
When Smith finds out that Mapplethorpe may be a
homosexual, she feels rather confused. He is, after all, her lover. Leonard
Cohen’s song perfectly explains the details of her predicament: “She wants to
be his woman/He says “Yes, I might go to sleep/but kindly leave, leave the future/leave
it open.” These lyrics explain the fluidity that is Mapplethorpe’s sexuality,
and how he is unsure of what he wants because he cannot see what he will be
like in the future, once he understands his sexuality better.
“Smells like Teen Spirit” – Nirvana
10)
Robert Mapplethorpe’s artistic talents were full
of positive and negative energy. The lyrics “I'm worse at what I do best/And
for this gift I feel blessed” describe this internal struggle that Mapplethorpe
battled with throughout Just Kids.
His artistic talent drove him down some dark paths, but altimetry fulfilled his
life in just the way he dreamed of.
 |
| Kurt Cobain's gift was so painful he committed suicide |
No comments:
Post a Comment