Bob wrote:
> > It SHOULD be "you began to hang me up", right? > >
and then Catherine wrote:
>
> I think it's Joni being dual again (dualous?
> dualistic?) In other words, putting several different
> meanings into one little phrase. It could mean "hang
> up [as a painting]; or it could mean she's "hung-up"
> on the guy; or that he's holding her back.
I hadn't thought of Catherine's interpretation but I think it's a good
one. Entirely possible that Joni would come up with a clever way of
saying more than one thing with a single phrase.
But as far as the sequencing of the words 'hang up me' goes, setting
the double entendre aside, I think she's emphasizing 'me'. In other
words, you painted all of those other women and then you started to
paint *me*. I don't think you would get quite the same meaning from
'you began to hang me up'.
I don't think grammar is necessarily important in writing the lyrics
to a song. Not that I'm a songwriter but it seems to me there are a
lot of elements to writing a good lyric. It has to have some kind of
rhythmic structure, to be really effective it has to convey some
emotion and if you're really good, the words - images, combination of
sounds, meter - will sound musical on their own. Joni often speaks in
one character or another and sometimes those characters don't use
perfect grammar. And sometimes re-arranging one or two words or
phrases puts a whole new spin on the meaning as Bob's example
illustrates. Also the choice of one word over another or sequencing
the words in a different way just makes the thing flow and sound
better.
We're talking about writing songs here, not doctoral theses, right?
Mark in Seattle
