Nobody ever seems to believe me when I tell them that "Cheeseburger in Paradise" is actually a somewhat depressing song about existential longing. Look, the character in the song wants a cheeseburger. But he can't have it! He's stuck out on the ocean living off of sunflower seeds and carrot juice. And the song ends not with him actually reaching port and eating a cheeseburger, but with him crying out to God asking which way to steer, recalling nothing less than Christ on the cross demanding to know why his father has abandoned him. It's a song about how these things we wish for--heaven, salvation, cheeseburgers--are always just out of reach.Dagwood relating so literally to the character and turning to the song as a form of wish-fulfillment is also somewhat depressing, so Blondie and Jimmy Buffet have that in common.
Something else they have in common, of course, is how much they suck. Which, for the record, is a lot.
No comments:
Post a Comment