Lyrical Analysis

Disco does not lend itself to in-depth lyrical analysis like some other musical genres.

"Get down. Get down. Jungle boogie!" means precisely what it says whereas "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is an appreciation of LSD by the Beatles.

"It's raining men, hallelujah!" is a simple analogy while "Ring around the rosie" actually refers to the symptoms of the Bubonic Plague.

"Burn, baby, burn. That disco inferno" is just a metaphor, but the words to a certain ancient Mayan chant mean that the world is coming to an end in 2012.

Imagine my surprise when I found deep and inexplicable meaning in the lyrics to "Stayin' Alive". Viewing the DVD of the movie "Airplane!" with subtitles on (an unfortunate consequence of my advanced years), I read those lyrics for the first time during the scene where the fighting girl scouts crash into the jukebox and the Bee Gee's classic comes forth.

"Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk.
I'm a woman's man. No time for talk, etc.

And now it's alright. It's OK
And you can look the other way.
We can try to understand
The New York Times effect on man."

The New York Times effect on man? What does that mean? Stop with the fancy disco steps there, Mr Travolta. We've got a deep metaphysical question to resolve. Must we strive for "all the news that's fit to print" or should we settle for "all the news that fits we print"?

In the spirit of "Airplane!", I ask, "Surely, the answer is in the collected writings of the Brothers Gibb."

"Yes, it is. And stop calling me Shirley."