Welcome to "Behind the Lyrics" with Elise Chandler. Each week, I find a song that I feel is understated both musically and lyrically, and I analyze it through several critical lenses.
I decided it was time to look at a happier, more upbeat song to take a break from some of our heavier lyrical messages in the previous few weeks. This week, we're analyzing "My Type" by Saint Motel. The music in this song is the show. Fun, sassy, and reminiscent of another era, you could listen to this song a hundred times and never really care what the lyrics are saying, but the lyrics have their own funny social commentary within.
For this particular song, I'm going to put my commentary between stanzas to make it easier to see where I am using my textual evidence.
"My Type" by Saint Motel
"And take a look around the room Love comes wearing disguises How to go about and choose? Break it down by shapes and sizes I'm a man who's got very specific taste"
The personification in line two of this stanza is really quite accurate. Who knows who they will end up with in the future? We think it is as simple as a physical attraction "break it down by shapes and sizes", but truly, it has to be way more complex than that.
While this is a true and deeper thought process, the narrator decides to get silly with it in his chorus:
"You-you-you're just my type Oh, you got a pulse and you are breathing You-you-you're just my type I think it's time that we get leaving You-you-you're just my type"
He says in stanza 1 that he has "very specific taste". He is building up his audience to hear what that is and does a fantastic litotes (understatement), which leads to the humor when he states, "you got a pulse and you are breathing". He doesn't care what his lover looks like. He just wants one, and he is being pretty blunt about it.
"When there's loving in the air Don't fight it, just keep breathing I can't help myself but stare Double check for double meanings I'm a man who's got very specific taste"
Line 4 here in this stanza is my favorite. This band is very aware of the poetic terms and how to use them, and that is what is clever about this song. It is one grand comparison of love to poetry. In poetry, there are usually plenty of double-meanings, or you at least have to search for meaning. When you are looking to begin a relationship, you have to read the other person's body language, their tone of voice, and so much more -- it is a skill one has to develop.
"You-you-you're just my type Oh, you got a pulse and you are breathing You-you-you're just my type I think it's time that we get leaving You-you-you're just my type
You-you-you're just my type Oh, you got a pulse and you are breathing You-you-you're just my type I think it's time that we get leaving You-you-you're just my type"
In conclusion, if you haven't heard this song or really listened to the meaning behind it, I suggest you take another listen. Listen for how much figurative language and other poetic devices they throw into this song; listen for the humor this clever tactics provide, and get down with your bad self to that groovin' rhythm. Until next time.