Referential Analysis (& Emergency)

To continue on my journey through analysis, I thought I would do something with more electronic influences. Starting off with Joni Mitchell and moving to Goth rock and shoegazer with the Cocteau Twins worked for me, but now I want to jump to something a little bit different. I chose the song "A&E" by Goldfrapp because of its immediacy: as soon as I heard it, I loved it--even though I had no idea what the song was about.

What is instantly intriguing about this song is its title. According to nhs.uk, A&E (a British colloquialism for Accident & Emergency) is a department in a major hospital sometimes referred to as a 'casualty department'. A&E departments treat and assess those who are in immediate need of treatment due to serious injury or illness. People that visit these facilities are in life-threatening condition. I think this is probably similar to the American "ER".

That said, take a look at the lyrics:

Verse:
It's a blue, bright blue Saturday, hey, hey
And the pain is starting to slip away, hey, hey
I'm in a backless dress on a pastel ward that's shining
Think I want you still but it may be pills at work

Pre-Chorus:
Do you really wanna know how I was dancing on the floor?
I was trying to phone you when I'm crawling out the door
I'm amazed at you, the things you say that you don't do
Why don't you ring?

Chorus:
I was feeling lonely, feeling blue
Feeling like i needed you
Like i've woken up surrounded by me
A&E

Verse:
It's a blue, bright blue Saturday, hey, hey
And the pain is starting to slip away, hey, hey
I'm in a backless dress on a pastel ward that's shining
Think I want you still but it may be pills at work

Bridge:
How did I get to accident emergency?
All I wanted was you to take me out high

Chorus:
I was feeling lonely, feeling blue
Feeling like i needed you
Like I hoped you'd call and hoped you'd see me
A&E


Several readings of the lyrics bring me to question of if Alison Goldfrapp is in fact IN the accident and emergency ward or if she is singing about a metaphorical state. If it is a metaphorical state, the song continues in the trend of confessional pop pioneered in the early 1990s. The ambiguity of the lyrics affords the listener the ability to decide if that notion is true or not; the pills still could be metaphorical like the A&E ward. The only reference that seems to be certain is that Goldfrapp wants to return to her lost relationship. And, her want (and maybe even need) to return to a relationship that has been recently terminated is a feeling one can easily identify regardless of the era of one's existence.

But what if this A&E isn't a hypothetical situation? Given the fact that the song was released in January 2008, situations do exist in our society where admission into the A&E ward is almost commonplace. Medical TV shows take place in hospitals, so the accident and emergency department is becoming more mainstream; the media jokes: Have you taken your once in a lifetime trip to the ER? What this song possibly could be referencing on a more concrete level is a pill overdose due to the end of a relationship. The drug culture has had such a profound effect on modern society that this premise is believable; everyone seems to have their "drug of choice" as Huxley references in Brave New World.

Generally, the song is wistful, luxe, trippy, and bittersweet; the music and lyrics fit quite gracefully. There's a yearning throughout the piece for closeness or intimacy as the lyrics point out, but there also seems to be a "drugged" satisfaction in the music, possibly framed by the lyrics' overt pill reference. When the taken together, music allows the lyrics to feel like a natural thought process or an almost completely organic speech pattern. The repetition and slight changes over the piece's slow build feel like one could extract the lyrics from the song and have an introspective "self-conversation."

Because of the ambiguity of the song, I'm having issues not bridging between phenomenology, historical and referential analysis. As a general thought, this was probably the most difficult analysis for me to do. I just want to keep talking about the piece. There's so many things I want to write about (chordal structure, tonality, etc.), but I do not believe a pure referential analysis affords me the ability to do that. I think my attachment to the piece entices me to continue to delve into Goldfrapp's world. I want to ask more questions and find things to think about in conjunction with "A&E".

Here's the official music video from YouTube. Quite beautiful.