Jarod George

Existential Song Lyric Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPXWt2ESxVY

It’s interesting to see that 20^th century literature has similar themes to modern day written works. Albert Camus’ The Stranger almost seems to be a prequel to the modern existential art seen by The Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize”. Camus’ work has explicit emphasis on the subject Meursault who seems completely detached from emotional response and everyday meaning. His view on essential components of life such as: death, love, and the pursuit of happiness; makes him indifferent. It is only when his life is drastically changed and he faces the eventuality of death, that he discovers several existential revelations within himself. Camus’ magnifies this process throughout the novel by juxtaposing Meursault against a range of normal people and their reactions to life. One of these people is Marie, a love interest and former co-worker of Meursault. She is defined by her passion of love for Meursault, while he is entirely focused on the physical passions of the relationship. Although Albert Camus’ The Stranger and The Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize” are separated by decades, they have the same existential revelations due to their focus of physical passions, absurdity, and the importance of death

Meursault only finds meaning in the physical aspects of passions that interest him just as The Flaming Lips maintain focus on the physical realm. On an emotional level Meursault seems completely unattached to Marie, only because emotions do not interest Meursault and form no personal meaning for him. Instead he focuses on Marie’s physical aspects even in extremely emotional scenes, like when Marie visits him in prison he notices that she was “smiling her best smile for me. I thought she looked very beautiful […] (Camus 74). He is not interested in what she has to say about his imprisonment, just that she brought herself to see him. This is very similar to the line “Do You Realize- That you have the most beautiful face” (The Flaming Lips). In a song about realizations of the eventuality of death and the absurdity of life the importance of physical passions still remains a focus in the song. In both instances Meursault and The Flaming Lips are defined by their inherent interest in physical properties because it supplies personal meaning. This parallel focus on physical passion is one of the many existential connections between the two works.

In both The Stranger and “Do You Realize” the sense of absurdity is relevant in similar forms. In Meursault’s life he has not been able to accrue any meaning to his life and comes to realize that the occurrences in his life did not matter. Once Meursault is imprisoned he realizes that “Nothing, nothing mattered […]” over his whole life he “had lived [his] life one way and [he] could just as well have lived it another. Every decision that Meursault had made in his life was meaningless, even the decision that allowed him to be arrested. The Flaming Lips display this similar concept with the line “Do you realize that life goes fast it’s hard to make the good things last”. Life goes so fast that there is no way that meaning can be gathered, time just goes by until one’s life is over. Everything that a person enjoys in their life essentially doesn’t matter because they come and go quickly, leaving a person the same. Meursault encounters this in prison where he is “tormented by [his] desires for women” and his “freedom” (Camus 77). Everything that Meursault had centered his life around and thought gave him meaning was stripped of him so quickly. In that state after being stripped of his freedoms, everything he had done in his life had become meaningless; he was just another person. This condition is seen in even greater effect once Meursault must face the eventuality of his death.

In both works there is a definite focus on death and its importance as the absolute end. Meursault after being imprisoned is sentenced to death and must come to grips with what is left of his life.  Meursault realized that “Since we’re all going to die, it’s obvious that when and how don’t matter” (Camus 114). He comes to peace with death in a way. Death is universal, and with a meaningless life what is there to be afraid of. The Flaming Lips also focus on the eventuality of death in the line “Do you realize – that everyone you know someday will die”. Similar to Meursault, The Flaming Lips understand that death is an eventuality for everyone. The deliverance from The Flaming Lips seems calm and casual as if this revelation is not seen in terror, but in comfort. There is no need to fear you own death if everyone will reach death eventually, and the “when” is unimportant. Meursault comes to a little bitterer conclusion of “Well, so I’m going to die [….] But everyone knows life isn’t worth living” (Camus 114). Only when he is faced with the absolute end of his life is he able to reflect on his life, and realize that it was not worth living. He had no meaning in his life. In the end, an individual’s reflection might be different, but the effect that death makes you sees you for who you truly are still remains the same.

Overall, Albert Camus’ The Stranger and The Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize” share the same existential themes due to their attention to the physical realm, absurdity, and the focus on death. The trials of Meursault from the novel and the repeating lines of the song made several obvious parallels. One of first instances was both works showed focus on physical passions in the midst of serious subjects. The second instance occurred with the sense of absurdity surrounding Meursault in his imprisonment and in the message the song was trying to send. Lastly, the focus on death appeared in both works, it was the concluding resolution that death is an eventuality for everyone.  There are many existential revelations that people find within themselves, even today, its one’s hope that a person doesn’t need to be sentenced to death to realize them.