Quote:



....I wonder if you could have focussed more exclusively on your theme (‘following fashion is silly’) rather than branching out to other thoughts (‘there’s a lot of rubbish on the TV’, ‘what a shame about the poor’…). The effect is to dilute somewhat the power of the message.

In the obvious comparison (dedicated follower of fashion), it’s interesting to note how Ray Davies sticks very closely to his theme. But then again, that’s why he’s Ray Davies and we’re on the PGMusic user’s showcase forum!

Also, with just a little more fine tuning, you could maybe have eliminated some of those ‘nearly’ rhymes of which there are several (magazines / green; Nic's / sick)

e.g.
Designer label on your shirt, you sure it’s not a fake?
Those trainers set you back a bomb cost pennies to make.

Regards,
Marc


Thanks for your detailed critique Marc!

Theme focus: I have in fact done this throughout! You’ve just misunderstood some of the lyrics. I didn’t talk about ‘rubbish on TV’. If you look again at the words in the middle eight (not an ‘interlude’ by the way – just an orthodox middle eight!)

“Take a good hard look at yourself, and your little fantasy.
Haute couture and heroin chic like the dummies on your TV...
Is that what you want to be?”

This clearly challenges the gullible person to examine their obsession, and look at the waif-like ‘size zero’ (anorexic?) models and celebrities etc. they see on the TV, and ask themselves: do they really want to be like those people??? (I think it’s appalling how the fashion/celebrity industry leads millions of women, and young girls especially, to develop serious anxieties about their prettiness, size and attire, just to help these industries sell their dream-wares).

I made no comment about the poor. The fashion-obsessed person I am addressing says how the sight of the poor spoils her shopping trip to Harvey Nicholls!

'Nearly' rhymes: Sorry, one hallmark of a quality song is that the rhymes are clever and not clichés like ‘moon’ and ‘June’. I think I’ve come up with some pretty good ones, including the two you mention – magazines/green, Harvey Nics/sick! Sorry!

Regards
John

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