Deconstructing rock’n'roll love June 28, 2007 ~ 9:32 am
Posted by Julie in : Random Insanity, Shorty , trackbackWhen I was in college, I thought “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton was the most romantic song ever. It’s on the radio right now, and what I apparently didn’t take into account? Is that the romantic effusion of the song comes from Eric being drunk. At the end of the song he’s got a hangover and his woman puts him to bed and he tells her how wonderful she was.
So basically the song is the three phases of male drunkenness: buzzed (”Yeah, honey, you look wonderful! Let’s have sex!”), drunk (”Baby, everyone looks wonderful through my beer goggles! But you’d get pissed if I hit on them, so let’s have sex!”), and “I’m gonna puke, can I puke in your purse?” (”You are the best girlfriend in the world. I luuuuuuuurve you. Yerrrr wonderfulllll. Let’s have sex!” *passes out*)
Not so romantic when you look at it that way, huh?
Comments
A very incisive and humorous analysis. Are you a dramaturg or something?
I’ve, too, taken new lenses (goggles?) to this song and was struck by the fact that it more or less took the lustful stares of others at a party for him to realize that he was lucky to have a woman who was his arm candy and then later realized he was fortunate to have someone tuck his drunk sorry self into the sack. Que romantica.
Damn. I think you may have just ruined one of my favorite songs.
Thanks for ruining one of my favoritest drunken lullabies! You ruiner!!!!
Lois~Dude, Kendra was onto it too!
Katey~Glad to help.
Kendra~Claro que si! It takes a drunken rock star to write a song like this and then convince us that it’s romance. I mean, that’s talent.
Nope not so much. No.
Hope all is groovy with you and yours!
Actually, I think the first verse is just Eric getting all hot and bothered watching his woman get dressed. I know when I hear that song, I can relate to the first verse. Not so much the next two.
Of course, I covered the song in one of my bands so I played the snot out of it. But I got to play the lead lines and didn’t have to sing, so I guess that’s ok.
Yes, but oh so true, isnt it?
Well it was acutally very timely at the time of the time it came out. See? We were all wasted back then.
I think that every time I hear that song. That poor woman has to deal with her drunk man. You put it very well in this post, ha!
I’m a big Clapton fan, but that song never did it for me. Apparently he wrote it getting impatient waiting for his woman to get ready for a party. The song was basically inspired by a “no, you don’t look fat in that outfit” situation.