![]() Her life is ruled by a rigid regime of going about business in a robot like state. ‘At five I must have left, there’s no exception to the rule/ A matter of routine, I’ve done it ever since I finished school.’ The part of her life that desires freedom and release said been concealed for so long, she doesn’t even notice it herself. ‘I must have kept on dragging through the business of the day/ And without really knowing anything, I hid a part of me away.’ Only in death has she now found purpose and understanding. Her existence is unhappy and melancholy as a result. She has become so accustomed to her life being very mundane that it has become the norm for her. ‘I must have lit my seventh cigarette at half past two/ And at the time I never even noticed I was blue.’ The rain is an ominous warning of something sad and mournful to come, in my opinion her death and this being a hazy recollection of her last day on Earth. ‘And still on top of this, I’m pretty sure it must have rained/ The day before you came.’ The protagonist is someone locked in a cage of time as the places she frequents are the same again and again. The presence of the word usual continues the routine in a dragging fashion. ‘I must have gone to lunch at half past twelve or so/ The usual place, the usual bunch.’ The papers on her desk reference her dull office job which appears to have been monotonous. Once again there is hesitancy to her delivery, with her not being quite sure about her time of arrival. ‘I must have made my desk, around a quarter after nine/ With letters to be read, and heaps of papers waiting to be signed.’ The fact that she frowns also gives us the feeling that she is unhappy with something, probably the routine of her life. Her narration of her actions begins to detail the most minute thing, hinting at the fact that her life was very mundane and uneventful. ‘I must have read the morning paper going into town/ And having gotten through the editorial no doubt I must have frowned.’ Yet there is a hesitancy to her remembrance with phrases like ‘I must’ and ‘I’m certain’ that feed into the idea that the woman is recounting her last day alive before her death. These opening lyrics begin by conveying the protagonist’s daily activities, beginning with the morning. ‘I must have left my house at eight because I always do/ My train I’m certain left the station just when it was due.’ Rather than being about a lover, I consider the ‘you’ in the song as being death and that the woman is talking about her existence before she died. While I know many think the song is about a woman talking of how her mundane life is changed by a lover, I have always thought there was something darker to it. The Day Before You Came was one of their last songs before splitting and for my money, it’s a song that needs more recognition. Today I’m going with an underrated song from super group ABBA. So I’m going to begin lyrical analysis of songs I’m fond of as a new topic to expand my blog. While I’ve heard people say that musical hooks make a song great, for me it is the lyrics that always get my attention. Music is another of my passions, aside from movies and photography. ![]()
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