My fourth passion blog post will be delving into a song from Mitski’s 2nd album: Retired from Sad, New Career in Business. This song yet again utilises figurative language to evoke emotions and tell a story in a powerful way. This song is Because Dreaming Costs Money, My Dear. The lyrics are posted below: 

 

Lyrics

 

(Verse 1)

I can still smell the fire

Even though it’s long died out

The smoke still hangs in my hair

And on some quiet evenings it burns my eyes

(Chorus)

So darling, play your violin

I know it’s what you live for

Darling, play your violin

We will manage somehow

(Verse 2)

I once lived in the sea

Bring me to your ear, you can hear

The tide where I used to be

Though now I’m but a shell

Oh babe

Don’t say sorry

Darling, play your violin

I know it’s what you live for

Darling, play your violin

We will manage somehow

Don’t dare regret anything

Remember what you’re here for, you

Just play your violin

And we will manage somehow

 

Mitski describes a fire at the beginning of the song, a fire that died out long ago but still lingers all around her. The fire could be interpreted in two ways: as a passionate fire, a dream, a drive, a longing, an ambitious flame within her, or, as something negative, something traumatic, something painful. Even from the start of the piece we can see how the metaphors can be taken differently by each listener. 

 

If this is a positive fire, a dream and drive to follow it, then the way the fire burns her is due to a loss, as the fire is long dead. She had her dream, she had ambition to reach her goals and strive for what she truly wants, but this fire is gone, though it sometimes burns her as she still longs for the dream she once had. 

 

If this is a negative fire, though the event or feeling has passed and is now a distant memory, it still comes back to haunt her, following her and sticking around, burning her despite it’s flame or immediate violence being gone. 

 

In the chorus Mitski speaks as if she is repeating the words one spoke to her (though of course that is only one interpretation): “Darling play your violin”. This could be interpreted to be a reference to the saying of one “playing the world’s smallest violin”, a phrase mocking someone for being filled with self-pity (especially over something unimportant). Mitski is being told to play her violin as the person speaking to her “knows it’s what she lives for” and that despite her sorrow “she will manage somehow”. It all sounds very mocking, like someone is dismissing her problems, or she is dismissing her own by reminding herself that all she does is wallow in sadness. It also serves as a reminder to forget about her dream or whatever her “fire” may be, as she can’t wallow forever and must get on with life. 

 

The second verse returns us to the idea of the first verse: she once had something, and now it’s gone, though it still stays with her at some level, and if you listen close enough, or search hard enough, you can find it within her. She is a shell, in two ways: one, she is like a conch shell as when you listen you can find the “sea” within her, and two, she is a shell of what she used to be. 

 

I can tell from these lyrics what this song may mean to Mitski. The title itself, Because Dreaming Costs Money, my Dear, expressed that someone is telling her no, or to stop dreaming, because it costs money and is not realistic. To Mitski, the fire is her passion, the sea is the way she used to go for her dream, presumably becoming a musician. Her parents are telling her to stop dreaming because it is not feasible, and that she should stop throwing herself a pity party and get on with life. She accepts this message and reminds herself that “we will manage somehow”, and at the end provides a brighter ending, as she reminds herself to “not dare regret anything” and “remember what she’s here for” and carries on with dreaming which we can tell works out as she has become a very successful musician. 

 

For someone else, though, this could be an entirely different song that means something very different for them. They could be experiencing loss or pain, reliving trauma that they try to forget (the fire) but they can’t help but wallow in, and are wallowing even more in the fact that all they live for and all they do is wallow in their pain and continue the cycle. 

 

For someone else, the reference to a violin might not be related at all to the saying of “playing the world’s smallest violin”, and instead is about an actual violin. 

 

That is the beauty of this kind of music. Her words describe a feeling that is universal but varies from person to person, and also can describe many different feelings and emotions. And don’t even get me started on the interpretations and artistry of the instrumentals…