The Australian indie pop band, Middle Kids, released their debut album, Lost Friends, in May 2018. The most prominent track to come out of the album, by far, is "Edge of Town". "Edge of Town" is a story about being lost in the struggle of trying to gain control of one’s life. At first the speaker is dissatisfied with the lack of agency. The speaker's opinion evolves throughout the course of the song and they eventually find freedom in the unpredictability of life. Middle Kids use various poetic devices, including personification and symbolism, in order to further the message of the song.
The first verse employs personification to illustrate the unrest the speaker feels in their life. For example,
When the streets are talking, yeah, they call my name
When the speaker says the streets "call my name", it shows the listener that the speaker want to leave wherever they are. The streets call to the speaker, making them want to go on a journey to find some type of answer to a problem they are having with the life they are living currently. During the chorus of the song the speaker loses control completely.
I got all muddled up and journeyed to the edge of town
And then the road cracked open, sucked me in, and I went down
Now standing face to face with the king of the underground
The speaker is talking about the journey they are taking to get to the edge of town when the "road cracked open". The breaking apart of the street symbolizes any semblance of control the speaker used to have dissolving; the speaker "went down" and succumbed to the lack of control. The speaker does not try to fight the fall, but merely accepts being in the "underground".
Your analysis is great!
ReplyDeleteI think you did a really great job of proving that with the use of these poetic devices, this song is poetry. Your analysis made sense and connected very well.
ReplyDeleteAwesome job, Lily! I'm encouraged to listen to the whole song myself!
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