Explain It To Me

Album: Exile In Guyville (1993)
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  • Head underwater
    Keeps getting harder
    Give 'em your medicine
    Fame injection

    Tell him to jump higher
    Tell him to run farther
    Make him measure up
    Decades longer than you

    Piece it together
    It's like weather
    Watch him travel
    Kiss the gravel

    Tell him to jump higher
    Tell him to run farther
    Make him measure up
    Ten times longer than you ever should
    You never could explain them to me
    Explain them to me Writer/s: LIZ PHAIR
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 3

  • Theresa from Murfreesboro, TnThis song always makes me think, Liz is the queen of indie rock.
  • Nicole from Woonsocket, RiI took a completely different interpretation of this song. I interpreted it as a critique of how fathers raise their sons with high standards pushing them to ?measure up? by being successful in sports and/or academics, and basically to become something great ? perhaps to accomplish things the father never got around to accomplishing. Girls, on the other hand, are less often encouraged to be competitive and successful achievers. Expectations for them tend to be lower. See the last few lines of this song:

    Tell him to jump higher
    Tell him to run farther
    Make him measure up
    Ten times longer than you
    Ever should, you never could
    Explain them to me, explain them to me

    I interpret that as saying young girls are not given the same encouragement as boys are to get out there and be something. This uprbringing shapes girls? views of their worth and their roles in life. I think the theme transitions perfectly into the following song, ?Canary.? In this song, the first verse illustrates the upbringing of a young girl:

    I learn my name
    I write with a number two pencil
    I work up to my potential
    I earn my name
    I come when called
    I jump when you circle the cherry
    I sing like a good canary
    I come when called
    I come, that's all

    And this upbringing transcends into adulthood in which she plays a similarly passive role in her marriage:

    I clean the house
    I put all your books in an order
    I make up a colorful border

    Any thoughts?
  • Jessie Ann from Purchase, Nysuch a good song. perfect for the movie.
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