pam-mentations.com

I’ve played the following two songs back to back often enough to bother me about what can be said by comparison: I’ve Never Been to Me, Charlene; and, The Ballad of Lucy Jordan, Marriane Faithful. I’ll link each at the end of this post, but if they don’t work for some reason you can search the titles yourself. I recommend listening in the order I’ve listed.

I’m not posting these songs to make a feminist statement, although that’s certainly one thread of analysis. There are so many. Mental health. The “geographic cure”. The grass is always greener. Luck. Perspective. Or on a philosophical bent, cf John Stuart Mill, has the state failed to provide Lucy Jordan with the necessities required for her to try out different experiences (experiments in living) to see which she prefers?

As for myself, I wonder if the juxtaposition of these two songs bothers me because I’m stepping high into my senior years and, looking back, I have no clear answers. I’m still the knock-kneed student on the first day of my Intro Philosophy class where I was warned, You will leave this class knowing less than you did coming in. And before long I’ll cease to wonder! On this note, my husband insists that the unexamined life IS worth living.

Charlene— I’ve Never Been To Me (1977/1982), YouTube, posted by 1hit1ders, 5 Sept 2011

https://youtu.be/SZgIk2b68gQ?si=v1IPWoF5pcS_3a9M

Marianne Faithful — The Ballad of Lucy Jordan HD, YouTube, posted by Walter “Club Dj 80s” mogentale, 6 April 2011:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0NxhFn0szc&list=RDd0NxhFn0szc&start_radio=1