Rhythm, Regina, Rhyme, Rhetoric

On the Radio - Regina Spektor


This is how it works
It feels a little worse
Than when we drove our hearse
Right through that screaming crowd
While laughing up a storm
Until we were just bone
Until it got so warm
That none of us could sleep
And all the styrofoam
Began to melt away
We tried to find some worms
To aid in the decay
But none of them were home
Inside their catacomb
A million ancient bees
Began to sting our knees
While we were on our knees
Praying that disease
Would leave the ones we love
And never come again

On the radio
We heard November Rain
That solo's really long
But it's a pretty song
We listened to it twice
'Cause the DJ was asleep

This is how it works
You're young until you're not
You love until you don't
You try until you can't
You laugh until you cry
You cry until you laugh
And everyone must breathe
Until their dying breath

No, this is how it works
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took
And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some
Someone else's heart
Pumping someone else's blood
And walking arm in arm
You hope it don't get harmed
But even if it does
You'll just do it all again

And on the radio
You hear November Rain
That solo's awful long
But it's a good refrain
You listen to it twice
'Cause the DJ is asleep
On the radio
(oh oh oh)
On the radio
On the radio - uh oh
On the radio - uh oh
On the radio - uh oh
On the radio




First listen: catchy, is the first word that came to mind.
Second listen: Paying attention to the the piano. Starts of very abrupt and staccato- plays in strong. Voice also whispers a little playfully with the beat. 
Third listen: (if your wondering why I am listening so many times after another, it is because I have never heard this song by her before.) "This is how it works" - the first words are very powerful, authoritative. 
Fourth & so on.... : This song can really be interpreted in so many different ways. Unlike every other song which makes you feel a certain way, this song leaves you feeling the way you came in listening, but enhances it. To me it's about not having any regrets, about being satisfied with the way you've lived and the way you've loved. It's about coming to terms with what has happened in the past and learning to move on. I'm not exactly sure of the emotion I came in listening with, but this song really cheers me up and encourages me to make the best of my time on earth. Also has me appreciating the things I do have.


"this is how it works
you're young until you're not
you love until you don't
you try until you can't
you laugh until you cry
you cry until you laugh
and everyone must breathe
until their dying breath"

That part makes me think and feel a lot. It's like - things are, the way they are. It is what it is. 

 Sometimes, you don't have control over things. You can only do so much.That message is kind of repeated when she talks about the song being on the radio twice in a row because the DJ fell asleep. All you can do is listen to it over again, I mean, unless you have the undying nerve to troop your butt all the way to the radio station and change it yourself' but really, who has the time or patients or determination or OCD for that matter to do so. Just live and let live.   


Through one huge extended metaphor really, Regina is able to make you see, and hear, and feel, and appreciate.