Taylor Portanova
Block A POS
November 20, 2012
Comparative Analysis
Although both of the songs “Margaritaville” and “Knee Deep” both address the fantasy of being in a relaxing paradise in desire to escape the world, in “Margaritaville” the reason for the escape is due to the speakers need for isolation whereas in the song “Knee Deep” the desire for isolation is caused by the loss of love with a woman.
The songs are very similar in a sense of they both want to wash away their troubles. For Jimmy Buffet says that he is “Wastin’ away again in Margaritaville” and the speaker in “Knee Deep” states that “The sunshine’s gonna wash my blues away”. These songs both have a meaning of losing their troubles by relaxing in a paradise. In these songs paradise is used as a symbol to represent their troubles fading away.
The songs are also very different too. For instance, in the song “Margaritaville” the speaker knows that his troubles in life are “(his) own damn fault” even though “some people claim that there’s a woman to blame”. The speaker is stating that he is the reason for all of the troubles in his life. However, in the song “Knee Deep” the reasoning for the desire to be in paradise is the very opposite. The speaker says “had sweet love but I lost it…now I’m lost in the world tryin to find me a better way” The speaker is clearly stating that the reason he wants to be in paradise is because he has lost his love with a woman.
Though both songs are very alike, for they have the same subject matter of being in paradise, they are also very different for the root of the speakers reasoning for being in their own paradise away from the world are very different.
