Re: "Who is she/I'll rape it..."

["Mark R. Leaman" <mleaman@sccoast.net>]

> While I would not normally be one to argue against Pete being an
> excellent writer, I feel that the lyric "What is it, I'll take it/Who
> is she, I'll rape it" is a far cry from his usual fine work.

YL:

When I say excellent writer in regard to this particular line, I mean he
captures accurately the state of mind of someone who has just been
ditched and is drunk out of his skull. Is it offensive? Yes. And it's
meant to be. It's a "going as far as one can go." Jimmy's angry, and
playing to an audience which isn't really there.
In the case of a relationship, the rape of someone who dumped you is
desirable on two fronts: A) it is a violent, hurtful thing to
do...returning the hurt he received, & B) the sexual element, which is
where he wants the relationship to be. Which is not to say it's
acceptable behavior, but here we have the lyrics reflecting what Jimmy
is thinking at that particular moment...not necessarily something he'd
actually do.
So you see, it IS brilliant writing! Maybe you've been fortunate enough
not to have been dumped, and you aren't a man, so it's possible you just
can't relate.

> that others take it literally but do NOT find it
> offensive (the man sitting behind me at the 11/1/96 Quad show was
> gleefully shouting "Rape!  Rape!" throughout "Dr. Jimmy")

I really doubt anyone takes it literally. I HOPE not. I'd say the
reaction you heard was similar to what probably happened when Roger
sang: "Getting high/You can't beat it." Right? Did everyone cheer? Yet
according to research the vast majority of people don't get high, and
actually think it's a bad thing.

> but it is hard for me to
> overlook the deviation from the song's rhyme scheme.  Since there are
> any number of words that rhyme with "take", and several that rhyme
> with "rape", I can only assume that Pete was being lazy when he wrote
> this line.  It is certainly not his best work.

Again, representing Jimmy drunk and pilled up, how grammatically correct
does one expect him to be? Perhaps you haven't been drunk, either.

> An interesting question, but I don't think Keith Moon in the 1990's
> would be the same Keith Moon we are familiar with.

Like others that have left us, we can't help but see them suspended in
stasis as they were when they went. And, too, most people have pretty
much formed their lifestyle by the end of college, so...

-- 

            Cheers                ML