i’m relistening to burn pygmalion and i particularly noticed the line “there’s no more community gardens so i guess i have to settle for you”
and i want to dig into that, so let’s dig into that
in these lyrics it’s detailed the pov character has noticed that when people’s hearts have been planted in community gardens they are less likely to be in despair. community gardens are a group project where everyone willing plants seeds into one big garden and it all grows together. if i’d analyze this symbolically i’d interpret it as a community, specifically your own. in simpler terms, a friend group, the relationships that you have. if you plant your heart together with them everyone helps manage it, everyone grows around everyone and everyone helps each other grow. when people have other people around them they’re usually less sad. that’s logical.
that’s why this line really interests me, because how would this be interpreted in that case?
both of the times this community garden theme is brought up it’s also brought up in relation to [the pov characters] years there (presumably meaning in life). in the first mention it’s an observation, in the second mention it’s an admission. if we are going with the community gardens being a personal community then i’d assume the pov character is talking about their own loneliness. because it’s very explicitly mentioned that they themselves don’t seem to do it themselves, it’s just an observation.
at the end they finally admit to the truth, they’re tired of this, the years they spent alone have put them in despair. there are no more community gardens, there are no more communities for them to be in, so they have to settle for [the person they’re speaking to]. they have nowhere else to turn to.
i know burn pygmalion is a concept album with its own story but i felt like analyzing these part of the song in a vacuum from that, mostly because i don’t fully know to interpret this from the perspective of the jeannie and sylvia story. this might be completely off from what the scary jokes intended but this is how i see it at least, thanks for having me 👋
full disclosure, i am a monster, a creature of despair, not that that should be a cause for concern. If theres one thing i've learned in all my years here its that despair is less abundant in those who understand how to plant their hearts in community gardens