Do people change? Do all people change?
When it comes to indie music, the jury is very much still out, it seems.
Yep. Spotify served up a bit of a potential argument amongst bands yesterday as Tame Impala’s Yes I’m Changing was immediately followed by Future Islands’ Seasons (Waiting On You).
[Aside: Remember this? Wow. Yes.]
See, Tame Impala are very much of the impression that people do change, even going so far as to vehemently refute any other possible scenario:
They say people never change, but that’s bullshit, they do
Pretty comprehensively coming down on one side of the fence there. And why wouldn’t they, given the title of the song?
Future Islands are less convinced though, taking a more pragmatic approach. Sure, people changing is a thing, but do all people really change? Well, no. Not according to them:
People change, even though some people never do
And even then, if people do change, is there any net difference once that process has taken place? Sam Herring says not:
You know when people change
They gain a piece but they lose one too
This is basically the First Law of Thermodynamics applied to personality. And that tells us pretty much that nothing ever changes, which certainly sticks a metaphorical finger up at Tame Impala, doesn’t it?
If it came down to straight fist fight though, Tame Impala would surely win.
So what do we learn from this? Maybe that there are clearly diverse opinions on the ability of individuals to metamorphosize change, or maybe that I should just accept that there’s probably very little value in analysing song lyrics quite so deeply, even when there are consecutive, apparently contradictory opinions expressed therein.
My Spotify playlist featuring both these songs, plus a vast array of others full of words postulating upon life, love and most other stuff (including, in one case, Pink Robots), is available here.
