Song Meanings - Baby, One More Time (Britney Spears)

In my first blog entry, I explained that I was going to use this blog to discuss what I think are the meanings of various song lyrics.  Just because.

In that entry I discussed what I *thought* "If You Could Only See" by Tonic meant.

Next up: "Baby, One More Time" by Britney Spears

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-u5WLJ9Yk4&ob=av3e

This is obviously a classic teen pop anthem.  And even though I was never a Britney "fan", it was a catchy song and I really liked it.  But one of the main reasons I liked it was the darker meaning I heard in the lyrics.

On the surface, it appears to be about a girl who has let her boyfriend go, and now regrets it and wants him back.  Case closed.  But that never made sense to me.  And since it had catchy musical hooks, I kept listening and eventually I heard a few lines that stood out to me and helped me see the true story:

"When I'm not with you I lose my mind.  Give me a sign: Hit me baby one more time."

"I must confess, that my loneliness is killing me now."

Here's what I hear: A girl breaks up with her *abusive* boyfriend.  She's finally had enough.  But as time passes, she gets lonely and starts wondering why she did it.  Was it really that bad?  "When I'm not with you I lose my mind."  So she is asking him to LITERALLY hit her one more time to remind her of the crap he put her through so she could be strong enough to stay away.  Whereas, HE used to be the one killing her, "I must confess, that my loneliness is killing me now."  She wants her ex to end her suffering by reminding her what a douche he is.

But that's just how I hear it.

Song Meanings - If You Could Only See (Tonic)

Howdy,

The beauty of the Internet is everyone gets an opinion.  Of course the danger of the Internet is the same thing.  But I'm going to use this power to discuss songs and what they mean to me.  What the lyrics mean, and how they affect me...because music is very important to me, has been very theraputic at times in my life, and because I like talking about it.

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to explain what the ARTIST(S) meant or intended the songs meaning to be.  This is just how I interpret the lyrics.  So this is all going to be filtered through my middle-aged-screwed-up-man filter.  You've been warned.

First up: "If You Could Only See" by Tonic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfg6-4mBs6Y

This is a wonderful song that starts off soft and tender, then gets harder and aggressive, and then alternates back and forth throughout the remainder of the song.  I think my first impression was that it was about a man explaining his love for a woman to people who don't get it.  Case closed, right?  I don't think so.

The more I've listened to it - and frankly the more shit I've been through - I now hear a conflicted man singing.  The soft tender parts are him talking to his friends/family and "rationalizing" that even though this looks like an unhealthy relationship, it's really wonderful:

"If you could only see the way she loves me
Then maybe you would understand
Why I feel this way about our love
And what I must do.
If you could only see how blue her eyes can be when she says
When she says she loves me."

But then when the song gets rougher, I think we get to hear the crap his significant other puts him through.  We hear him defend her to his support system, then experience the pain he's in:

"Well you got your reasons
And you got your lies
And you got your manipulations
They cut me down to size.
Sayin' you love, but you don't.
You give your love, but you won't."

I think it's summed up best in this line..late in the song:

"And you got to take a little dirt to keep what you love.  That's what you gotta do."

This guy is being unappreciated, taken advantage of, hurt, and yet he stays with her because...if you could only see how sweet she is.  Sometimes.