Difference between revisions of "Interpretations:I Like Fun (Song)"

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(Feeling Controlled vs Feeling Understood)
 
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A shockwave of woe continues through 2019 to spread through America from the prescription drug epidemic & opioid crisis.  The video may be gruesome but reality has outstripped it by over a thousand times.  It's a new plague for our new Dark Ages.  Bring out your dead.  --[[User:Nehushtan|Nehushtan]] ([[User talk:Nehushtan|talk]]) 01:31, 13 September 2019 (EDT)
 
A shockwave of woe continues through 2019 to spread through America from the prescription drug epidemic & opioid crisis.  The video may be gruesome but reality has outstripped it by over a thousand times.  It's a new plague for our new Dark Ages.  Bring out your dead.  --[[User:Nehushtan|Nehushtan]] ([[User talk:Nehushtan|talk]]) 01:31, 13 September 2019 (EDT)
 
Uh oh this man just predicted coronavirus and 2020 how dare you
 
Uh oh this man just predicted coronavirus and 2020 how dare you
 
== Feeling Controlled vs Feeling Understood ==
 
 
As is quite common in TMBG songs, I think the speaker is a semi-fictionalised/exaggerated Flans. He has been prescribed meds, but is hesitant about taking them as he believes his mental illness/disorder is "fun" and he likes having it around as a part of him. It's a refreshingly rare and realistic perspective to see, considering a lot of people can feel this way when seeking help.
 
 
The "you" Flans floats away with could be Linnell. Linnell is his longtime creative partner who seems to perfectly understand Flans' style of musical creation, despite it often being labelled as strange by others. Flans just has a nice time creating music with Linnell and perhaps using their "fun" (experiences with mental illness/struggles) to sometimes produce song ideas. Thus the pair "float away" together, away from expectation and convention.
 
 
Or perhaps the "you" is us: the listeners, the fans who resonate with TMBG and have been listening to the musical fruits of Flans' tormented thoughts and "fun" alike for decades. I don't think this makes it an accusatory line, but one of appreciation and acknowledgement. We all like fun here! -LapinPuff
 

Latest revision as of 13:26, 27 February 2024


About Flansburgh?[edit]

The lyrics include "at the age of 58", which I suppose is a reference to JF's age. So is the song about him? The first verse talks about getting prescription drugs—does anyone know if JF is on anything? :S

"My excellence at parkour / Is not to be discounted", etc., might be a "I've been around awhile, but I've still got it" metaphor. MarkingDaff (talk) 01:52, 2 November 2017 (EDT)

Parkour enthusiasts are known for their great leaps and jumps: defying gravity. It's another reference to the protagonist losing reality ("float away") when he's not on his pills.

Actually, they touched on this in the Google Talk. John Flansburgh wrote the song, but he is a year younger than John Linnell, who is 58 years old at the time of I Like Fun's release. Linnell jokingly says something along the lines of "did you write the song about me?", but I can't recall what else occured in the conversation. My guess is that Flans wrote 58 instead of 57 because 57 has more syllables. User:RoseQuartz__ 13:49, 25 January 2018 (EDT)

What The Heck!?![edit]

That video was WEIRD! And I've seen weird TMBG videos before. Anyway, the video seems to be indicating that, based on the end, that he did not get his medication soon enough, and he went into some kind of coma. MidoFS

It feels wrong to get better[edit]

I think this song is about medical interventions for mental health issues. You know you need to get better, and when you take the medicine, your mood improves but it feels wrong. This is a common hazard of treating mental illness and why a lot of people go off their meds.

We start out at the pharmacy getting a new drug. "extra gravity to control me"

But his fun is being ruined. Looking at things through mental illness can feel very right to the person that's unwell. Obsessive thoughts might drive you to do great things but they often start to harm you. Something like that might be "his fun".

Since he needs extra gravity to control him, he's really good at parkour. He can do things other people can't again, maybe obsessive thoughts mean going over and over something until it's absolutely flawless.

And so do you. We like his obsessive nature because he makes it just perfect and we benefit from it.

--Emmett

Oxycontin, Brown Heroin, Fentanyl, Carfentanil[edit]

A shockwave of woe continues through 2019 to spread through America from the prescription drug epidemic & opioid crisis. The video may be gruesome but reality has outstripped it by over a thousand times. It's a new plague for our new Dark Ages. Bring out your dead. --Nehushtan (talk) 01:31, 13 September 2019 (EDT) Uh oh this man just predicted coronavirus and 2020 how dare you