Song Interp. 2: Sister Disco by The Who

 

Sister Disco

As I walked through that hospital door

I was sewn up like a coat

I got a smile from the bite of the wind

Watched the fresh fall of snow

 

I knew then that my life took a turn

I felt strong and secure

And with adhesive tape over my nose

I felt almost demure

 

Goodbye Sister Disco

With your flashing trash lamps

Goodbye Sister Disco

And to your clubs and your tramps

 

Goodbye Sister Disco

My dancing's left you behind

Goodbye, now you're solo

Black plastic; deaf, dumb and blind

 

Bye, goodbye Sister Disco, Now I go

I go where the music where the music fits my soul

And I, I will never let go, I'll never let go

'Til the echo of the street fight has dissolved

 

I will choose nightmares and cold stormy seas

I will take over your grief and disease

I'll stay beside you and comfort your soul

When you are lonely and broken and old

 

Now I walk with a man in my face

Ooh, a woman in my hair

I've got you all lookin' out though my eyes

My feet are a prayer

 

Goodbye Sister Disco

With your flashing trash lamps

Goodbye Sister Disco

And to your clubs and your tramps

 

Goodbye Sister Disco

My dancing's left you behind

Goodbye, now you're solo

Black plastic; deaf, dumb and blind

 

Analysis

In this song, disco is personified as a troublesome woman. The narrator has had a coming to, realizing that he doesn’t like disco anymore, because it’s bad. Though some may see disco music as something that’s good, he feels that it encourages “grief and disease” with its “black plastic” characteristics. To the narrator, disco is simply a thing of the past. When disco is mentioned in this song, the term refers to the whole disco style of living as well as the music.

The song starts out with the narrator entering a hospital. When he says that he “was sewn up like a coat”, the reader can assume that he went into the hospital because he had some bad wounds. Right in the first stanza, the narrator refers to the happy feelings he got “from the bite of the [changing] wind”. He also describes his observation of the “fresh fall of [white, pure] snow” inside of a hospital. He is reflecting on the change that is going on within himself.

He “knew then that [his] life took a turn”. Even though he had just been hurt, he “fe[lt] strong and secure…almost demure”. The reader understands why he feels this way when he next mentions that he has “left [sister disco] behind”. He hates disco’s “flashing trash lamps, clubs” and whores. He is glad to leave her solo. When the narrator says, “my dancing’s left you behind”, the reader can get a mental picture of the situation. He is dancing in his joy towards the music that “fits his soul” (rock and roll), and in so doing he leaves sad disco all alone. He hopes to stop all of the “street fight[ing]” that disco had created. A street fight may have been what put him in the hospital.

Further explaining his dislike for disco, the narrator “choose[s the] nightmares and cold stormy seas” that would come with soul reflecting music rather than choose the fake and evil disco. He feels he is better for not picking disco since he will be able to “stay beside [it] and comfort [it’s ignored] soul” when everyone else chooses not to have disco, too. He is now complete; he has sense and expirience “in [his] face” and understanding love “in [his] hair”.

Song Interp. 1: Silas Stingy by The Who

Silas Stingy lyrics

Once upon a time there lived an old miser man

By the name of Silas Stingy

He carried all his money in a little black box

Which was heavy as a rock

With a big padlock

All the little kids would shout

When Silas was about

 

[Chorus:]

Money, money, money bags

Money, money, money bags

There goes mingy Stingy

There goes mingy Stingy

Money, money, money bags

Money, money, money bags

There goes mingy Stingy

There goes mingy Stingy

 

Silas didn't eat, which was just as well

He would starve himself for a penny

He wore old clothes and he never washed

'Cause soap cost a lot

And the dirt kept him hot

All the little kids would shout

When Silas was about

 

[chorus]

 

In the back of his head

Was a voice that said

"Someone will steal it all

You'll be lying in the gutter with an empty box

The thieves will be having a ball"

 

[chorus]

 

He bought a safe to put the box in

And a house to put the safe in

And a watchdog on a chain to make quite sure

And his face was very funny

When he counted up his money

And he realized he hadn't any more

 

Analysis

From the very first words, “Once upon a time”, the reader can tell that this song will tell a story that is meant to teach a lesson, just as all stories that start out with those same words do. The writer uses the name of the “old miser man” to describe his characteristics, since the reader is likely to see the character in that light if his name describes him that way. The fact that the children, which have long been depicted as symbols for purity, happiness, and livliness, recognized and taunted Silas because of his strange habit makes him seem a little sinister. The image of a “black box” and the fact that he “didn’t eat” add to his sinister appearance, raising images of evil, sin, and secrets into the readers mind. These are all very story-like, sing-song attributes.

The alliteration used makes the fact that “Silas Stingy” is stingy more obvious. The reader is also told that he puts every bit of “his money in a little black box”, which is a very stingy act. The box he stores his money in is as “heavy as a rock”, which allows the reader to assume that he had a lot of money in the box. The box also has “a big padlock” to keep out “the thieves” hand and possibly his own, since he is stingy.

He never took care of himself, even though he could; “He would [rather] starve himself for a penny”. Because he “didn’t eat…wore old clothes and never washed”, others, like “little kids”, feel fine calling him “mingy Stingy”. Since Silas has replaced his love for people with his love for money. Silas Stingy can help his appearance but chooses not to since his love for money is so severe. This act almost encourages their jokes; “he would [ruin his name] for a penny”.

The reader never observes any words spoken to Silas other than the name-calling that the children do, and that is most likely because he is socially awkward. In this poem, he has no relationships with other people. If this is true, then the reader can understand why he would only harbor feelings of paranoia toward people. His paranoia has “a voice [in the back of his head]” telling him he will lose all of his money to the people he hates, and they “will be having a ball”.

In his state of paranoia, he buys many different objects for his money’s security, “realiz[ing] he hadn’t any more” only after he had counted it. Money can be used as a very loose symbol in this poem for anything material. The moral of this poem is that being “stingy” does no good, especially when it makes a person crazy enough to ignore their own morals.  I have no idea what the social implications were that might have inspired this poem. I do know that 1967 was the last year that the American dollar was actually worth a dollar, and that everyone (in any decade) meets a stingy person.

Cultural Arts Event 3: Talent Show

Summary of the Fort Dorchester 2008 Talent Show

They called us from our classes to head to the gym. The gym. When I bought the ticket I was totally ignorant of the fact that the talent show was in the gym. I still can’t believe that they would stuff all of us in such a close space. When I got to the gym, I was looking around for a familiar face in that huge crowd. When I finally found someone, we went and got a seat.

We sat there for a long time before anything started, and we saw the tail end of the practice section that the first group performing was going to do. Little did I know that that first sign of repetition was going to foreshadow a whole two plus hours of the talent show. The music signaled the beginning of the show.

The next part is sort of hazy to me. My want to leave was distracting me from listening to the whole thing. There were a couple of dance groups that went first. It was group dancing, and  remember that the boy group did something strange with their red ties, laying them across their eyes.

There were other groups, too. This one guy did some break dancing by himself, and that was pretty cool. There were only a handful of performances that stood out, all of the rest just blended together in a stew of wagging behinds, sexual movements, and heavy base tones. Periodically, the audience would be blessed with the presence of some hot MTV or rap star.

 

Analysis

I have never really enjoyed talent shows or pep rallies, and I’ve given them a fair shot, too. I have been to at least three of them the whole time I’ve attended Fort Dorchester. The only reason students go to the pep rallies and the like, unless they need a cultural arts event, is to get out of class. The students that get a ticket to get out of class are typically rambunctious. When someone gets a whole bunch of people like that together, its very noisy, super rowdy, and not my scene.

This go around was bothersome, particularly because I was forced to listen to the same thing over and over again. Most of the performers were either hip-hop dancing or singing a song. I was expecting to hear at least a little diversity, but when any new genre or style came to be played, I couldn’t hear them.

Don’t get me wrong, the first couple of songs that had been played or danced to were great. At the beginning of the show, the blasting base tones in the rap music made my heart vibrate. The first couple of dances were kind of cool. Later though, was when the sight became repititious and boring. When the crowd would start talking to each other when someone they didn’t know of didn’t want to hear came on, I found it incredibly rude. I wanted to listen to them, but I couldn’t hear the new things above all of the background noise.

There was a girl who tried to play an acoustic guitar, Kim and her friend sang a song, but I could barely hear the tune for the other noises and the reverb on the microphones. I was only able to hear Jerry’s rap song. Any other acoustic guitar playing, pop, or hard rock songs just floated above the audience and into barely anyone’s ears.

The dancing on average, like I said, was only moderately entertaining. The repetition makes the memory I have of the whole thing less fond, but there was another thing that bugged me about the dancing. I believe that dancing is a form of expression (I think many would agree) and only a couple of the dances were expressive. All of the other ones were generic dances that I could watch by better performers on MTV.

I saw many people leaving early, and I would have followed them if my ride had been at the school. Before the names of the winners were announced, I, along with fifty other people, headed for the double doors. When I was only five feet away from the exit, the doors started to get blocked by administrators, trapping me inside. When I was in line to buy my ticket, there was a boy standing in line in front of me looking for an extra quarter. Instead of giving him the extra cents to buy his own, I should have just said, “Here you go man, just take my ticket”, simply because I already knew better. As soon as I bought that little red sucker, I regretted it. I don’t even know who won the talent show.

Cultural Arts Event 2: The Wizard of Oz

Summary and Analysis of the Wizard of Oz, presented by Fort Dorchester High School

 There is a young girl, named Dorothy, who lives on a farm in Kansas. A big tornado sweeps through her home, taking the house that she’s in off of the land and into the sky, miles and miles away from where it was picked up. Dorothy’s house stays in one piece and ends up landing in a place called Munchkin town right on top of the “wicked witch of the east”. The town is inhabited by little “munchkins”, and they graciously thank Dorothy for helping them get rid of the witch. The witch’s sister, the “wicked witch of the west”, comes to take her sister’s magical ruby shoes and avenge her sister’s death. An ironic situation arises when Dorothy herself puts the ruby shoes on, binding herself to them, stopping the remaining wicked witch from getting anything she wants. Dorothy must go to the Wizard of Oz to get home, and she meets some new friends on her way. We all know the plot.

 When I bought the tickets for the play, I thought it would be pretty similar to the movie. I set my standards too high, expecting the acting, singing, set, and script to be up to par with the film. I guess that was a little silly of me to do, since high school plays don’t usually match in quality with feature films. I was deeply disappointed in all of the said areas simply because I know that our school has the potential to put on a better show.

 First off, I have to say that I was astonished that there was no singing. Zip. The times that it was attempted, the audience received an earful of flat chant that made us want to stop them from going off to see the wizard. But it’s fine, we didn’t have to stop them ourselves. The guy in charge of sound control did it for us.

 That poor Toto. I heard that half of the time spent on getting ready for the play was used in casting for the perfect dog. Too bad the audience couldn’t tell how much the school liked the dog when he’d yelp in Dorothy’s arms or get pulled by the leash attached to her wrist that was reaching for her boquet of flowers. The owner was furious, and I’m sure Dorothy was, too. Toto could carry his voice louder than she could with hers.

 Munchkin town was thoroughly disappointing. There was nothing aesthetic, or even stimulating, about the set. The munchkins were adorable while they tripped over their hideous flimsy mushroom field that symbolized their whole city. I think that someone in the set department got “munchkin” and “smurf” mixed up. And where did the two other evil characters come from, Hocus and Pocus, or whatever? Their purposeless lines weren’t even funny, and neither was the ballerina tutu. If I was any one of the many, many children attending that show, I would have been very confused by the end of the play.

 There was one thing that I liked about this play. When the play started to get really boring and limp, there was a little mishap on the set. I was sitting there with my cheekbone on my elbow, slowly dozing off, when all of the sudden I see the most phenomenal thing that ever happened in all of the school plays that I’ve gone to see. The gates of Oz start to crumble, and it was an event just as delectable to me as the crumbling walls of Jericho were to the chosen people. Finally, after all of the bad and awkward acting from the main characters, there was something that connected them to the audience. Everybody, cast, crew, audience, was laughing. And they played it off so good, too. The Wizard of Oz himself made a reference to the set problem, blaming Dorothy for coming down and tearing up his city. The cover-up was so good that there were some older children who were asking their parents why everybody had started laughing.