Violet Chachki - Vanguard
"Boom like dynamite"
"Nothing is black and white"
"Boom goes the dynamite"; used to indicate a pivotal moment. [S]
"Black and white"; to have a simple view of what’s right and wrong / good or bad. [S]
These opening lyrics are very blunt and get straight to the point that nothing is ever as simple as people want to believe, which is a very good starting point for the theme of self-empowerment the song and video holds and wishes to teach. I believe that these lyrics represent how the world has finally reached a pivotal point of finally accepting that there's so much to society than just sticking to the "norm" that has always been chosen to show the 'idealistic' world. In the case of this music video, the lyrics are about the treatment of the LGBTQ community, but fit with how the world is a much more accepting community in general for people that would be seen to 'stick out' or go 'against the norm', of which the support hasn't been so prominent in the past.
"I'm your private eye"
"Out of sight, in your mind"
"Private detective"; a person privately hired to do investigative or detective work. [S]
"Out of sight, out of mind"; if you do not see someone or something frequently, you will forget about it. [S]
The words that she sings in this part are extremely self-indulgent, yet presented in such a way that you feel you are breathing in her power to make you, yourself feel just as empowered. For example, the second line describes how she'll make such an impression that you'll never forget her; a take on the idiom 'out of sight out of mind', which could be another way of showing how times have changed and old ideas such as this one don't apply anymore. The title of this song is apparent throughout this whole song, for example in this line she is saying how she can see you but you cannot see her, just as it should be when in a vanguard so that you can survive. This linking to the idea that to survive in life we need to act like this and stick up for our own and not be afraid to stand up for what's wrong.
"See me on your screen"
"Bullseye so obscene"
"Screen"; a surface or device on which an image or a video is displayed for viewing. [S]
"Obscene"; (of the portrayal or description of sexual matters) offensive or disgusting by accepted standards of morality and decency. [S]
These particular lyrics are probably the most meaningful in my opinion, as I believe that they actually represent the deep maning of how "people like Violet" and even "ordinary" people sometimes, are perceived by the closed mind. I feel like she's showing us that no matter what, people will find something to pick at when you're in the public eye - whether it being what you're wearing, who you are, who you love, what you look like - and there's nothing we can do to stop people doing that, and so we should just stop worrying and embrace who we truly are.
"Baby break loose for me"
"Baby break loose for me"
"Break loose"; to run away from confinement. [S]
"To run away from confinement" - "To run away from imprisonment". Not being your true self is just like imprisonment, and pretending to be someone else isn't easy and despite what some that are scared or ashamed will tell you, it will never get easier. And it will never get easier because if you lock something up for a long period of time, the only thing you'll have left that is familiar enough to turn to is insanity and self-destruction. Not being yourself will kill you in the end. That is the bluntest way I can put it. The problem is - even now in the year 2015, even being your true self in cases, such as being being transgender, queer, or a cross-dresser in any form, are still targeted for hate-crimes from being called slurs to being tortured and murdered. The message that Violet/Jason took and represented in this video and song is that this simply needs to stop, and they need everyone to join in and take a stand against this inhumanity.
"Vanguard, leaders of the front line"
"Undercover femme after midnight"
"Vanguard"; the leaders of any intellectual or political movement. [S]
"Feminine"; having qualities or an appearance traditionally associated with women, especially delicacy and prettiness. [S]
In 1969, there was a liberation movement which consisted of a spontaneous, violent demonstrations, which occured in and outside of the club 'The Stonewall Inn' and took place to finally take a stand against the way LGBT people and anyone who challenged gender 'norms' were treated at that time (and sometimes still are). This was marked down in history as 'the 'Stonewall Riots' - the beginning of an era of developing acceptance for the community. I mention this as this event links very well to this topic used, as a vanguard is basically what was formed on that night with all those people, and it actually managed to significantly tone down the monstrosity that was happening so often and so horrifically in the past - proving that working together actually does work and will prove to be successful again if we continue to work together.
"Vanguard, living for the moment"
"It's a dog eat world gonna own it"
"Living in the moment"; to live only for the pleasures of the present time without planning for the future. [S]
"Dog-eat-dog"; people will do anything to be successful, even if what they do harms other people. [S]
Dead Dandelion - Sharon Needles
Dead Dandelion - Sharon Needles
"One thing in common, our time isn't slowing down";
"There's only one thing that links us all together, and that's that we live and die."
I feel like this line is very establishing of what the whole song is overall about, and from this I definitely believe that they would guess it was about the transition of life to death. When reading about this I actually came across quite an inspirational article on how to actually slow down and be able to enjoy your short life; here, which is 100% worth a read if you are someone who is obsessed with always trying to deal with being perfect and productive.
"But we all got polished pine boxes in the six feet underground
Where we all rot";
"We all die eventually and lie in the same way"
This line is very reflective of how no matter who you are or what you do with your life we all end up the same eventually and I think this shows the mood of the song as being quite sad and as given up on believing in the point of life. This could also show that the song is aimed for people who aren't in the best mindset about life and need someone who sees your point of view to tell you it's okay to feel that way. The main/first feel I get from this line is to stop worrying about what's seen as right and wrong or what people will think of you for your actions, as they're no better than you; we're all just human. No matter what you look like, who you are, what you do etc, inevitable death is there for all of us, and so why bother wasting your time on what another thinks. They should probably be worrying about themselves for once, anyway.
"Our time is borrowed, we're all just skin and bones
What is forever?";
Time doesn't exist. Therefore forever doesn't exist. That's it. Stop thinking you have to conform to everything told and taught - what makes any other person more important? If you want to live your life differently from the made up "rules" already there in life, whether it's not wanting to dress the same, look the same, whether it's not wanting to take the normal 'school to college to university to job' route that everyone is so obsessed with, just go for it. This is YOUR life, no one else's - we only get one chance at it.
"You're my addiction and heaven is fictional
Baby, no place to go";
"I adore you, and I only have the rest of my life to show you that because heaven is just something another human made up so that they could convince themselves that they would enjoy life then instead of now, because they simply weren't enjoying life whilst living."
The matter of fact is that we simply do not know what happens once we die until we die. Even then we might not realise that what we're doing is the result of our death, and so why bother waiting until then to live your life. There's no point of having a life if you're not able to live.
"And if there really is a God, then love is his game
Wish I had known it from the start"
"Love must be a game, because I'm always being played. I wish I knew better before."
This line is coming from someone that is not happy with the facts of love and how it simply just will not last forever, no matter how much you want it to at the start. You will fall out of love, you will fight, you will cry, but that's just how it goes - it's your choice whether the loving is worth all the fighting. If you knew from the start how your relationship (any, including platonic) ends before it happened, would you change your path? Would you walk the other way before you met? Would you tell them how much they mean to you before they could believe they didn't mean anything?
"We're sealed by our fate";
"There's nothing we can do; everything happens for a reason."
- Wasting time on thinking of what was or what could be will only hurt you more, so don't think about it in the way that it will impact your own life dramatically. If it happened, it was just supposed to happen. My old art teacher once told me that 'everything happens for a reason' and that has really stuck with me because I feel like anything that happens and/or happened was simply just in your course of life and was going to happen no matter what, and if you take this and add it to your own life, it will help you be a little more easy-going on yourself and not allow you to worry as much as you would have before.
"Bartender pour another round, some things never change"
"Get me another of the usual for the usual reason"
This touches upon how everyone deals with the bad things in life different ways, and whether it's good or bad for you doesn't matter, because it was simply always going to happen. I feel like alcoholism and drug addiction is just something a lot of people use to cope with their life because it's just simply too much to handle when everyone around you is telling you you're wrong all the time. I don't condone it, but I certainly don't judge people for it because they're just trying to get through.
"True love is true pain"
"When you're in love there's a lot more to lose, and when you do it hurts more than you could imagine."
No matter how much you love someone, you cannot love them enough to cover their own missing love, and so that overflow of love is just going to hurt you a hell of a lot more in the longrun. Even if it's the other way round and you're the one who is the one out of love, you've got to live with the idea that that person loves you so much and you're inevitably going to break their heart. This line shows the belief that no pain is like love.
