Monday 21 February 2011

Song: Misery -- Maroon 5

Image from buzznet
Image from Wikipedia
One of my latest favourite song is Misery by Maroon 5, a boy-band that has begun rocking since 1992 till now that all members have become man-band. They only get more and more famous with age. Maybe this is what people call "mandom".

Image from Wikipedia
Anyway, back to the song, Misery was released in Maroon 5's third studio album called Hands All Over, with a name kind of match the actions in the MTV of this song. The MTV only featured lead vocalist Adam Levine rather than all members of Maroon 5, but the reason may well lie on the fact that female star in the MTV is his 24-year-old Russian supermodel girlfriend in real life, Anne Vyalitsyna. You wouldn't want your girlfriend to make MTV with someone else, would you?

As for the song, I like the upbeat melody and then simple metaphors used for supposedly a not-so-high-morale song.

Adam explains the meaning of the song himself as follows,

Frontman Adam Levine told MTV News: "'Misery' is about the desperation of wanting someone really badly in your life but having it be very difficult. Kind of what all the songs I write are about. I'm not treading on new ground, but I think a lot of people - including myself - deal with that all the time. Relationships are difficult, and it's good therapy to write about them."


Hope you like it!

Vocabulary:
mandom -- (n) [U] the noun for adjective "man"
lead vocalist -- (n) [C] the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song
morale -- (n) [U] the amount of confidence felt by a person or group of people, especially when in a dangerous or difficult situation
tread -- (vb)   [I or T usually + adverb or preposition]  mainly UK to put your foot on something or to press something down with your foot

Lyrics:

Misery
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
So scared of breaking it
But you won't let it bend
And I wrote two hundred letters
I won't ever send
Somehow it is cut so much
Deeper then they seem
You'd rather cover up
I'd rather let them be
So let me be
And I'll set you free

[CHORUS]
I am in misery
There ain't no other
Who can comfort me
Why won't you answer me?
Your silence is slowly killing me
Girl you really got me bad
You really got me bad
I'm gonna get you back
Gonna get you back

Your salty skin and how
It mixes in with mine
The way it feels to be
Completely intertwined
It's not that I didn't care
It's that I didn't know
It's not what I didn't feel,
It's what I didn't show
So let me be
And I'll set you free


[CHORUS]
I am in misery
There ain't no other
Who can comfort me
Why won't you answer me?
Your silence is slowly killing me
Girl you really got me bad
You really got me bad
I'm gonna get you back
Gonna get you back

Say your faith is shaken
You may be mistaken
You keep me wide awake and
Waiting for the sun
I'm desperate and confused
So far away from you
I'm getting here
Don't care where I have to go

Why do you do what you do to me, yeah
Why won't you answer me, answer me yeah
Why do you do what you do to me yeah
Why won't you answer me, answer me yeah

[CHORUS]
I am in misery
There ain't no other
Who can comfort me
Why won't you answer me?
Your silence is slowly killing me
Girl you really got me bad
You really got me bad
I'm gonna get you back
Gonna get you back


Homework:
Try to pick out the metaphors used in this song.


Resources:

Misery @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misery_(Maroon_5_song)

Hands All Over @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hands_All_Over_(album)

Misery Lyrics @ Direct Lyrics
http://www.directlyrics.com/maroon-5-misery-lyrics.html

Adam Levine @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Levine

Anne Vyalitsyna @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Vyalitsyna

Misery @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g6g2mvItp4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_vocalist
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/morale