Wise Up

We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us.

"Wise Up" by Aimee Mann from Music from the motion picture Magnolia 



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTI8ZiopycQ

That is the theme from the movie Magnolia, that we may be through with the past, but the past is not through with us. If you have not seen this movie you need to. It is one of my favorite movies. The soundtrack includes nine songs from singer/songwriter Aimee Mann. One of them, "Save Me" was nominated for the Acadamy Award for Best Original Song, only to lose to the Phil Collins song "You'll Be In My Heart" from Tarzan. (Also nominated that year was "Blame Canada" from South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.)

Director Paul Thomas Anderson is known to have been listening to Aimee Mann's music a lot during the writng of the script for Magnolia and even borrowing character ideas and lyrics as lines of dialouge.He also made it a point to integrate the music with the movie. The video posted above is not the music video for the song, well I guess it is, but it also takes place in the movie. Magnolia is pretty overtly split up into three acts, with this song as the closer to the second act. As you can tell, the characters of the ensemble cast are out of sorts just before the third act happens and all hell breaks loose.

The lyrics start out "It's not what you thought when you first began it." The easy interperetation is that "it" is life, but I think the smarter interperetation is 'situation as life.' By this I mean that none of us have any real expectations for life until we have something to lose, or gain. By playing the pronoun game Mann draws us into the song because we automatically transfer our situation onto the the character of the song. This is a case where when the singer says "you" she truly means the listener.

"You got what you want, but you can hardly stand it." Ain't that the rub. Things, outside influences, accomplishments, wants, needs, none of it makes one happier.  "But now you know it's not going to stop. No it's not going to stop until you wise up." A friend of mine is fond of saying that the definition of insanity is doing something the same way multiple times and expecting different results. We run the same behavior patterns over and over again and expect ing us deeper and to be happy, but "it" keeps piling ontop of us, buriying us deeper and deeper, but it's not going to stop.

"You're sure there's a cure," The real solution is always the hardest path. We search so hard to find any way we can to fix the problem, mask the problem, ignore the problem. The problemis ourselves. "You think one drink will sshrink you'till you're underground and living down." Shrink ourselves until we are hidden. Hide the problem, "but it's not gong to stop till you wise up."

After two Verse/Chorus combinations we come to a short bridge that transistions seemlessly into the final chorus. The bridge is an acknowledgement that the path ahead is rough. "Prepare a list of what you need before you sign away the deed, 'cause it's not going to stop 'til you wise up."

Finally we are left with the most important line of the song. Often I write of songs that leave the protaganist lost and wandering, with no solution and their problems ever worsening. This song however gives you the answer. "It's not going to stop, so just give up." It's as simple as that. It's not going to stop, so maybe you should. Just give up. It's pointless. Why play the game if you can't win. Give up. Leave the show. Why not, it's not like it's going to stop.

As always I encourage comments, criticisms, and suggestions either here, or at suicidesongs@communistdaycarecenter.net