I was in my teens when I heard this song by the British band The Jam for the first time. It wasn't even the original, but Oasis' cover - which I find every bit as good as The Jam's, or at least very close.
I have always found this tune so haunting ever since, and I think it all boils down to the combination of opposites, for whenever there is a line exuding charm or tenderness - which would make us expect that beauty is about to come into sight-, there comes immediately another one to grind that beauty into pieces. I think everybody, at some point in their lives, has ever felt something similar.
The Jam
The Gallaghers
If you gave me a fresh carnation
I would only crush its tender petals
With me you'll have no escape
And at the same time there'll be nowhere to settle
I trample down all life in my wake
I eat it up and take the cake
I just avert my eyes to the pain
Of someone's loss helping my gain
If you gave me a dream for my pocket
You'd be plugging in the wrong socket
With me there's no room for the future
With me there's no room with a view at all
I am out of season all year 'round
Hear machinery roar to my empty sound
Touch my heart and feel winter
Hold my hand and be doomed forever
If you gave me a fresh carnation
I would only crush its tender petals
With me you'll have no escape
And at the same time there'll be nowhere to settle.
And if you're wondering by now who I am
Look no further than the mirror
Because I am the Greed and Fear
And every ounce of Hate in you.
I have always found this tune so haunting ever since, and I think it all boils down to the combination of opposites, for whenever there is a line exuding charm or tenderness - which would make us expect that beauty is about to come into sight-, there comes immediately another one to grind that beauty into pieces. I think everybody, at some point in their lives, has ever felt something similar.
The Jam
The Gallaghers
If you gave me a fresh carnation
I would only crush its tender petals
With me you'll have no escape
And at the same time there'll be nowhere to settle
I trample down all life in my wake
I eat it up and take the cake
I just avert my eyes to the pain
Of someone's loss helping my gain
If you gave me a dream for my pocket
You'd be plugging in the wrong socket
With me there's no room for the future
With me there's no room with a view at all
I am out of season all year 'round
Hear machinery roar to my empty sound
Touch my heart and feel winter
Hold my hand and be doomed forever
If you gave me a fresh carnation
I would only crush its tender petals
With me you'll have no escape
And at the same time there'll be nowhere to settle.
And if you're wondering by now who I am
Look no further than the mirror
Because I am the Greed and Fear
And every ounce of Hate in you.
