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I've probably heard "Don't you want me," the 1980s anthem by Human League, a billion times.Only vaguely paying attention all these years, I knew it was about a guy feeling sad that his girlfriend dumped him. But I never knew why she dumped him. (I never cared either, and it could be argued that I still shouldn't care. But it's too late -- I've already started writing this post.)
Today, I paid enough attention enough to the words to realize how overly controlling our supposed protagonist is. He says to the girl, "I picked you out, I shook you up, and turned you around. Turned you into someone new."
He adds, "Don't forget it's me who put you where you are now," and threatens, "And I can put you back down too."
In other words: without him, she is useless to the world.
One thing I always liked about the song is that he gives the girl a one-verse rebuttal. But rather than fight back and say that she hadn't wanted to be turned into someone new, she takes the high road and says they've had good times but "it's time I live my life on my own."
Later, I'll let you know whether I think Tommy Tutone deserves Jenny (at 867-5309).
3 comments:
Happy Valley has the 867 exchange. For at least ten years the name listed in the phonebook for 867-5309 has been a Jennifer.
She probably gets dirty looks when she gives out her number, since people think it's a fake.
well to be fair, it was kind of obvious that he was kind of controlling from the chorus:YOU'D BETTER CHANGE IT BACK OR WE WILL BOTH BE SORRY
plus she gets the best line, "but even then I knew I'd have a much better place either with or without you" so it's not like she needed him to pull her up and turn her around, so there.
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