Muller, part-time sex symbol, full-time Joni hater objected to:
> "Then you began to hang up me
> You studied to portray me "
In addition to what Catherine said, (get WELL Catherine!) I'm thinking that
* Using 'me' at the end of the line gives the following line, which also
ends in "me" some symmetry.
* She avoids the dangling prepositional.
* Now that I see the two lines on a page, it even implies that the boyfriend
is _examining_ the narrator, by placing her on the wall for examination, to
use her as fodder for a new portrait. I know it's a stretch but if you hold
this idea for just a second and re-read the couplet, you get.
First line: He began to study me as a model.
Second line: In order to portray me.
I honestly don't think this was her *primary* meaning, but we all know that
SIQUOMB works in mysterious and multiple ways. (Joni, I love your work.)
And it does work very well that way.
However I disagree that invoking "hang up" means that she's infatuated with
him. I think she talking about "hang ups". As in, "I just can't enjoy
hip-hop. It totally hangs me up." By reversing "me" and "up", she's
breaking Michael Yarbourgh's "Stevie Wonder" rule. He objected to this
(paraphrased)
"When I was a little, nappy-headed boy,
when my only worry, was what for Christmas
what would be my toy."
I stated when Michael put forth his law, that it didn't hang up me. :) As
long as it doesn't result in a sing-song type of rhyme. My two cents.
Lama
np: a brown tabby cat in my lap, purring.
