I spy the worst place in the world
In the whole wide world
Oh, you didn't do bad
You made it out
I'm still stuck here, oh, but I'll get out
Oh yeah, I'll get out
Around you seeing through your petty lives?
Do you think I do these things for real?
I do these things just so I survive
And you know I will survive
It may look to the untrained eye
I'm sitting on my arse all day
I'm biding time until I take you all on
My Lords and Ladies
I will prevail
I cannot fail
Cos I spy
Taken notes
I know the ways your minds work
I've studied
And your minds are just the same as mine
Except that you are clever swines
You never let mask slip
You never admit to it
You're never hurried
Oh no no no
And every night I hone my plan
How I will get my satisfaction
How I will blow your paradise away, away, away
Cos I spy
I used to compose my own critical notices in my head
"The crowd gasp at Cocker's masterful control of the bicycle,
Skilfully avoiding the dog turd next to the corner shop."
Imagining a blue plaque
Above the place I first ever touched a girl's chest
But hold on
You've got to wait for the best
You see you should take me seriously
Very seriously indeed
Cause I've been sleeping with your wife
For the past sixteen weeks
Smoking your cigarettes
Drinking your brandy
Messing up the bed that you chose together
And in all that time I just wanted you to come home
Unexpectedly one afternoon
And catch us at it in the front room
You see I spy for a living
And I specialise in revenge
On taking the things I know will cause you pain
I can't help it
I was dragged up
My favourite parks are car parks
Grass is something you smoke
Birds are something you shag
Take your "Year in Provence"
And shove it up your arse
With roach burns in designer dresses
Skin stretched tight over high cheek-bones
And thousands of tiny dryness lines
Beating a path to the corners of your eyes
And every night I hatch my plan
It's not a case of woman v man
It's more a case of haves against haven'ts
And I just happen to have got what you need
Just exactly what you need, yeah
In the midnight hour
La la la la la la la la la la
I will come to you
I will take you from this sickness
Dinner parties and champagne
I'll hold your body and make it sing again
Come on - sing again
Let's sing again, oh yeah
Cos I spy
Yes
I spy
I spy a boy, and I spy a girl
I spy the chance
To change the world
To change your world
It seemed to me to be about a girl he knew from when he was younger. Living in the lower classes, but she "made it out" and he's "still stuck here". He is now spying on the person, and the others now in the upper class "lords and ladies" he's going to take them on. These ideas of "different class" are shown in the homonyms parks, grass, birds. In his world these things mean different things. The describing her as having Ladbroke Grove looks is puzzling. Perhaps he is talking about her in the past before she found her elevated status, he was turned on by her grimey look before. Instead of "sing" I think it's saying "sink", - "let's sink again" go back to our lower class status, to "take her from this sickness, dinner parties and champagne" -both relics of upperclass wealth. The "sleeping with your wife" bit, he is talking to the girls husband I think. Great song.
How could anybody pass by the fact that Jarvis mentions himself in the verse "The crowd gasp at Cocker's masterful control of the bicycle", etc.?
I'm not sure about the "class war" interpretation. From my point of view, this song deals with the profession of being a song-writter. And most of the times, Jarvis seems to be closer to the figure of a plain, proper writter, a true author: songs such as this are almost like a novel!
Spying is what artist do. They're observers, spectators. And all the songs in "Different Class" are a celebration, an invitation to peep into other people's private lives, into their intimacy. Jarvis is a voyeur. Check out "Live Bed Show", "Underwear", etcetera. Can't be any clearer!
An artist duty is to shake us from our lethargy, taking us "from this sickness" and making our bodies "sing again".
On the other hand, though, they are underestimated quite often. "To the untrained eye", artists seem to be sitting on their "arse all day", when what they actually do is trying to reveal other aspects, deeper aspects and meanings out of ordinary reality. Jarvis lyrics always aim to that effect. He gets -metaphorically- between our sheets ("I've been sleeping with your wife... messing up the bed that you chose together") just in order to describe the way we live, and thus waking us up, making us open up our eyes. We are, after all, the "clever swines" who "never let mask slip", who "never admit to it", who're "never hurried", lost inside our own "petty lives". He spies in order to change our world.
That's it, yeah.
This is how I interpret it, good job.
This is how I interpret it, good job.
What's the flag for?!
What's the flag for?!
@TheAlternativeRoute you "flag" a comment if you think it is offensive or abusive or inappropriate. Use the arrows if you dislike or like a comment though.
@TheAlternativeRoute you "flag" a comment if you think it is offensive or abusive or inappropriate. Use the arrows if you dislike or like a comment though.
This song is about a man of a lower class taking revenge on a man of higher class by corrputing his wife.
I agree with raiseyourvoice... the sexiest line ever! It's both perverse and teasing... that final part is fantastic, everything going on full tilt as Jarvis conjures images of desperation and heavy decadence...
I will come to you I will come to you I will take you from this sickness Dinner parties and champagne I'll hold your body and make it sing again Come on - sing again Let's sing again, oh yeah Cos I spy
The imagery is really strong... I can see him leaving a high-class party with a decadent rich woman, to assault her sexually on some low-rent motel.
Another part I love is everytime he starts with "And every night..."... it sounds even vampiresque!
The whole song is worth noticing though... Quite a well thought minor-chords crescendo... The whole sound is what makes Pulp a great band....
And I agree with the class war theory, at least there are overtones of it everywhere in the song... And that spoken word part is brilliant, he does sound like a wacko!
Class war! nouveaux riche, middle class idiots, who've forgotten what it is to be passionate any more.
It's about jealousy/revenge upon the british middle classes. A woman from a similar background as himself and of he now knows of 'intimately', is married into middleclass respectability. A man with a chip on his shoulder, who watches/spies upon this couple, imagining that he is more intelligent/clever than his target. Possibly pyschotic, he loves the thought of making love to a middle ageing (30's) woman with the 'Ladbroke Grove Look'. He wants to shatter their world, their happiness coz he's bad, jealous and just to prove he can...
Great song. I particularly like the "composing my own critical notices in my head" part. For non-Englishmen like me: "blue plaque" seems to be a special kind of sign put on places where important events took place (see wikipedia).
La LAa La la laaa la laaa la la la ! In The MidNight Hour!"
cause I spy. It is about class war - He's fantasising about seducing a middle class woman, taking from a middle class man that he is jealous of. He wants to bring everyone down to his level. The results and possibly the views of every lowerclass person who see's "i spy" middle class people goign about thier day and wanting revenge and wanting thier lives! Though he's too stupid to carry out his plans "every night i hatch my plans.. how i will get my satisfaction" he never actually does it. "it may look to the untrained eye, i'm sitting on my arse all day" He's a giant - he knows more than everyone around him. though he doesnt "minds are just the same as mine except you're clever swines" - he's a star 'crowed gasp'. Possibly the crazed thoughts of a lower class stalker. <-- that jarvis is.
jarvis gets his revenge on a guy by sleeping with his wife. he knows its wrong but finds the fact that he has been doing this girl in his bed and drinking his brandy while her husband was away for a year quite funny and is kind of proud and feels realy big for doing it.jarvis tries to hide his guilt by saying birds are something you shag youve been away for a year what do you expect.
two words. Bloody amazing! Definatly their best. Very Suede-ish.