Interpretations:Spoiled Milk From A Pampered Cow

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Criticism of American capitalism

Every joke in this song is a criticism of modern capitalist American society, and the message of the song is very anti-capitalist.

The first joke about the Baa-Baa shop is about a sheep going to a barber shop to get a haircut. However, the barber shop being called the "Baa-Baa shop" implies that this is a barber shop for sheep. Why can't the sheep go to the usual barber shop? It can't afford the prices that come from a human barber shop. It's no coincidence that "sheep" rhymes with "cheap." The Johns are using this sheep as a metaphor for the disenfranchised poverty-stricken Americans, who can't even afford to get a good haircut without having to go to a budget shop.

The second joke is more direct, and is a criticism of the greed in the average American man. The man puts his money in the refrigerator because h wants "cold, hard cash". The phrase "cold hard cash" is a slang term for money that can be spent directly, usually in the form of banknotes and coinage. What does the average American want more than life itself? That's right, money. Cold hard cash.

The third joke is about a deer with no eyes. This deer, much like the sheep, is a metaphor for poverty-stricken Americans, but primarily those with physical and mental disabilities; in this case, blindness. Why is the deer blind? Why doesn't it have any sort of accessibility apparatus? Clearly, it can't afford the medical care it needs. This is a clear criticism of the poor handling of medical aid in America, and the lack of socialized care.

Finally, the joke about spoiled milk from a pampered cow. Unlike the deer and the sheep, this cow is a metaphor for the rich upper class of America. The word "cow" is used derogatorily for overweight, "fat" people. The Johns are using this to refer to the greed and gluttony of the rich of America. Additionally, the only way a cow could be pampered is if it was very wealthy, and could afford to have someone to pamper it. However, as things become more mass produced, as products from companies owned by the wealthy often do, their quality declines. This is what the pampered cow's milk being spoiled is referring to. Eventually, as companies begin to try and save more money for their own pampering and such, by using mass-production, child labor, wage slavery, and other inhumane business choices, the quality of their products decline, much like how the cow's milk becomes spoiled.

The repetition of "you get spoiled milk from a pampered cow" line is being done to say that if consumers and employees don't fight back against the big companies, this cycle will continue forever more. However, the song still ends. The Johns, who represent the working class, put an end to what would otherwise be an endless cycle of getting crummy products from cruel corporations by ending the song.

Finally, just to put one last nail in the coffin, by putting these lyrics to a Beatles tune, it serves of a final criticism of the music business, and how the creative juices are sapped from artists when their record label commoditizes them, much as the Beatles faced in the 1960s. 44nifty (talk) 13:43, 4 October 2024 (EDT)