Song Discussion (Oingo Boingo)

[sojuske]

Now, there is an Oingo Boingo thread. But, here is an idea. For a bit, isntead of obsessing, lets delve deeper into the mind of Danny Elfman.
How to do that? Well, a way to do that is to analyze his songs. Such as why they can be at times so powerful. Or you can mention a song and explain (in more than one or two sentences please) Why you like that song so much. Is it the lyrics? The beat? How he sings it? How does it touch you? What does it ultimately mean?
If it's ultimately, you believe just a fun song, that is fine. Just don't go "Oh my god, this is great cause it just is" I doubt anyone on this board will do that, but it's just a warning.
So here we go. I'm going to post here too, but in a bit. I'll edit it if no one posts first.

[Teh Squishy]

Yay for Sharon!!

Well, as i'm not too big of a boingo fan, i won't be able to talk so much about the deeper meanings of stuff, but I really like some parts of "Dead Man's Party" (a favorite of the board).

First off, you've got one of the most famous lines:

"I hear the chauffeur comin' to the door
Says there's room for maybe just one more . . ."

This, to me, symbolizes the on-set of death, with the chauffeur being Death itself/the Grim Reaper/what-have-you.

really, the entire song follows the same premise as "No one lives forever", talking mostly about man's mortality and how "we all pass away", as a certain skeleton once said.

It almost seems as though Danny wants death to come, or at least isn't afraid of it:

"Waiting for an invitation to arrive
Goin' to a party where no one's still alive"

This shows that his view of what happens after death is not scary or dangerous, but enjoyable and something to look forward too, in a way.

"Got my best suit and my tie
Shiny silver dollar on either eye"

I think this may symbolize man's obsession with work/money/whatever that they base their lives on, and Danny's pointing out that these things are meaningless if "Everybody's coming" aka going to die someday. Why focus on the material? you can't take it with you.

And then, some more proof that death is both inevitable and not to be feared:

"Don't run away it's only me
Don't be afraid of what you can't see
Don't run away it's only me . . ."

That's my lil two cents. Enjoy!

[Emily]

Thank you so much for this thread... a more intelligent conversation, as it were. Anyways, one of the songs I like by Danny is "Gratitude". The beat is uptempo - kind of fun to bounce around to, but the lyrics are what makes the song... "Was it good for me as it was good for you?" insinuates some sort of sexual innuendo.

I think 'Gratitude' is not just about the obvious sexual implications, but it may be about a relationship between two people... I'm not too sure what kind of relationship, but obviously a somewhat romantic one.


I'll probably add more thoughts later, that's all I got for now.

[sojuske]

"Its a dead man's party. Who could ask for more?
Everybody's coming, leave your body at the door"
Also ties in with what you are saying Squishy. It is futile to escape it, and it brings a sort of pleasant connotation. In a way it seems he's trying to say that everyone dies, but that shouldn't matter. "Who could ask for more?" Makes it seem that it's one of the better things in the world.

However I spotted something else as well in one of the lines that you previously mentioned
"Got my best suit and my tie
Shiny silver dollar on either eye"
Is a reference to greek mythology (whether he knows it or not) Those who would die, were dressed in their best and had coins put on their eyelids (and sometimes in their mouth) to pay the ferryman Charon, to cross the river styx into the land of the dead. Without it, they would be stuck in a limbo, unable to speak to others and trying to find someone to pay for them. So in a way it can also be shown as his readyness. He's dressed, he has the money, so he can actually go to the Dead Man's Party aka die and go wherever that takes you.

I'm really pleased with your interpretation squishy, because it makes sense. *applause to squish* Now, I'm going to attempt to do what you did for another song, that most people have heard. I was going to try Dead or Alive, but I got really confused at what was going on, when reading you discover that he doesn't know exactly what's going on.
And then I was going to try just Another Day, but that didn't work either, because of how hard it is for me to elucidate and bring my point across. So I think I'll bumble around with a few, and once I fix up my writing a bit more, post, or edit post. *laughs* I'm so very indecisive. But there are so many to choose from
I could continue to try Dead or Alive, I could go onto the paranoia of Just Another Day, or the song that I love, that shows human culture and emotion and psyche, Insanity.

Edit: Or respond about Gratitude, cause I love that song and Genine brought it up.
Gratitude,
It very well could be about two people, in fact it is about a relationship. However, I did not see the sexual implication in that line. I took "Was it as good for you as it was good for me" talking about life, and how it affected the person.
For me Gratitude is about the pain that one gets from not having gratitude. The speaker is pointing out things that differer in the chorus and trying to define what gratitude really is, and how it all differs.
It's also about how the speaker was ruined by someone he loved.
"I used to eat little girls like you for breakfast.
I used to fly, high up in the sky,
I used to chew up rocks and spit out gravel
I had a heart as cold as Ice"
That is a past tense issue, before he met the person who he's asking "Life's been so good to me, has it been good to you?" (And in one version of the song I guess he wanted to be politically correct and changed little girls to people)
However, you see what he ends up as.
"You took away my hope, you took away my fantasy" a horrible thing to be done to anyone. As well as he realized that his standing in the world was in fact insubstantial
"I lived way at the top in castles made of sand" brings apart the image of a king on his sand castle. And the hopes and fantasy's it was built on, washed away with the high tide, her gratitude. Or lack thereof.
However, he cannot escape this "love" as seen by his line he sings directly after he mentions his castles and how he used to be at the top. "I dream of you sometimes" The person seems to not leave, no matter what.
He is also wondering if she is the worse off for what she has done. "Life's been so good to me. Has it been good to you?" when placed with his leer and the tone of the song, could be taken as, his life has been horrible for him, and the sarcastic asking of whether she is ruined as well.

I'm also seeing that she might have cheated on him due to the group... chorus? line.
"All the girls just want to have fun... In a big warm bed at night... In a broken elevator..." and then asking "Now is that gratitude?"
I missed some lines... >.> Ah well.

[EbonyStar]

Yes, awesomeness, Sharon. Congrats to you for making this thread, it rocks already.

Didn't they put coins on the eyes of people in the "old west" when they died?
My dad said something about that, when we were watching the farewell concert. It's kind of like how pharaohs (sp?) would be buried with all their treasures and gold and jewels and whatnot, except it's more of a poor man's wealth.

Anyway, I figured it'd be a reference to that, considering during the farewell concert the decorations during DMP and the little claymation clips were very Dia De Los Muertos

[sojuske]

You were correct in that Tara, probably he got it from there too.

And I noticed this whent talking with Jem that he uses sex a lot in his songs.
Elevator man is all about sex "who's going down yah. Moving slow without a sound." plus a few other lines "going up and going down" "Come take a ride of a piece of abstract reality, oh. It's only just a dance."
Elementary physics is all about sex. Everybody needs as well. Wild Sex... well... Heh.
Every song seems to have sex at one point in the song. Or Religion, or death, or randomness. Mary is all about hedonism (though you wouldn't really think of it when you listen)
Nothing to fear "Won't you make an old man happy, won't you make an old man happy? won't you let me show you paradise, don't ask your mother for advice"
"Was it as good for you as it was good for me?" - Gratitude
He manages the double meanings so well in his songs, a lot of times you don't notice it until you hear him sing it and then go, "oh man..."
So, random two cents on boingo songs with the sexual undertones.

[Norrington's Phantomess]

Oh, but we love random.

[Emily]

Lately, as many of you know or don't know, I have begun a full fledged obsession with POTO. Anyways, I was listening to Oingo Boingo's song "Private Life" and it hit me -- the song fits the Phantom so perfectly.

This is my private life
I have no friends to fear

The Phantom is all by himself (obviously he has no friends). But this also stands out to me because he has nothing to fear - he is his own person, living his life and having no one else to care for (except when he falls in love with Christine, that is).

If you can find me
Come and get me out of here

Since the Phantom hides/lives underneath the opera house, not too many people know about him. When he meets Christine, he wishes for her to stay with him. Though I sometimes think he wishes to be freed from his miserable exstinence, I also think he feels safe within his lair.

There are a few other verses - one mentions a closet, which reminded me of the Christine doll which the Phantom keeps behind a mirror. In the movie, it's more or less like a closet, but in the play, he keeps it inside the mirror. Another mentions pictures on a wall, which reminded me of the movie version of POTO. In that version, he keeps all these pictures of Christine on a wall.

I'll add on more later, I don't feel like rambling right now.

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