Divine Comedy - Gin Soaked Boy #acnotes

They say, what you listen to in your teens up to 20s and maybe stretch it a little up to 30s is what makes the playlist for the rest of your life. Sometimes, I beg to differ, but with this song, I do concur. It has seldom left my playlist and it's one of the go-to songs I resort to for the sheer joy of knowing how poetry and music could complement each other while not sounding too odd. Curious to know how? Read on...

One of the songs that made me contemplate so much over the years, "Gin soaked boy" is a fine example of bringing together polarities in the same verse, while some shows a connection between unrelated contrasts, or to say the least, a sense of relativity between stark opposites. Then, there are verses that depict relatable scenarios and some quite unfathomable. Few display, an irony. Some are complementary in a pleasant way. Altogether, it would make the listener wonder why didn't I think of this.

Without copy + pasting the lyrics as it is, I'll try to list down some of my most liked lines to float my theory:

- darkness in the light

- leftness in the right

- rightness in the wrong

- shortness in the long

- saneness in the mad

- ghost in the machine

- genius in the gene

- beauty in the beast

- sunset in the east

- Trojan horse in Troy

- mystery's final page

- stranger's lonely glance

- Christmas morning toy

- world you'll never see

- slave you'll never free

- truth you'll never know

- place you'll never go

- half truth in the lie

- why not in the why

- last roll of the dice

And the most unexpected end-

I'm Jeff Goldblum in "The Fly"

Well, who am I?

This is when you realise he's been reciting a riddle all along. A riddle that makes you want to listen to the song again, but not necessarily to find the answer to it. Like that journey to a distant place where the journey is the reward and not reaching the destination.

Another take is the circularity of the lines or the way it sounds. As you listen, the song is taking the listener on a ride - round and round, and round. Not a coincidence there. A Horse Gin is referred to as "A method of harnessing the power of a horse for milling or driving other machinery. One or more horses or donkeys walking round a circular track and harnessed so as to turn a large toothed wheel, either in the same plane or above, which turnes smaller wheels to operate machinery."

The genius in the lyrics reflects impeccably in the video. For once, I will digress a little into the video because this song is about duality. And so is the video that's directed by Toby Tobias in sheer black and white.

Now, wondering what's the answer to the riddle? Well, you might find that easily when you search for one of Neil Hannon. You needn't have read till here to get that answer. And if you're still continuing to read to get an answer then you're looking for the yin in the yang. Perhaps, a testimony of Divine Comedy.

https://lynkify.in/song/gin-soaked-boy/rUa21awr

#acnotes