No one is to blame

I have always liked this song and always felt guilty about liking it. I remember the very first time I heard it and I liked a lot that first time and that is rare for me.




There is a lot to like, particularly the piano figure we hear for the first time from 0.33 to 0.41, which is one of those things that sounds too simple until you try and come up with something like it yourself. Writing about teaching practices today, part of my paying work, I realized why I feel a little guilty about liking it.

The problem comes when you ask yourself what it's about because it really isn't about anything. It just evokes an emotion without that emotion being attached to any actual facts or moral principles. The lyrics are lyrical in the purest possible sense of the word.

Anyone listening to it could work up a self-righteous sense of aggrievement—and I mean anyone including a rapist driving home from his crime.