By now, I think you should know who Zee Avi is. If you don't, she's a Sarawakian singer/songwriter who gained fame by signing with Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records, slowly establishing herself in the American market. Her music can be described as a melange of acoustic, jazz & folk but what intrigues me is her lyrics. Her first single, Bitter Heart, is basically about a housewife worried that her husband is out fooling around with another woman.
I've decided to analyze another innocent looking song on her debut album, Honey Bee. My interpretation on the song is that its a quintessential non-conforming rebel/protest song which in a way blends in with my personality (the first song that defined me was Green Day's Minority). So without further a due, here's my verse-by-verse take on her ballad of fighting against the establishment.
I am a honey bee / Shunned off from the colony / And they won’t let me in. The bee has been made an outcast of her own group & banished forever from the hive. The thing is, why? A bee in a colony was born to do its specific job i.e. mainly to serve the queen but being kicked out shows that she has a problem with the hierarchy, possibly insubordination.
So I left the hive / They took away all my stripes / And broke off both my wings. She must did something serious on par with treason to the extent that the other bees made sure the identity of this rebel is stripped off and disassociated as far away from their colony.
So I’ll find another tree / And make the wind my friend / I’ll just sing with the birds /They’ll tell me secrets of the world. Now she is set on revenge; by being "friends" with the birds, she'll gather enough knowledge and connections to build a strong opposition with the other animals in the habitat.
But my other honey bee / Stuck where he doesn’t wanna be / Oh my darling honey bee / I’ll come save you / Even if it means I’ll have to face the queen. Now we have a new character in the frame: the bee's lover. It could have been a case of forbidden love whereby he should be mating with the queen but instead fell for the her. This could be the reason she was booted out: their liaison was uncovered by the other bees.
So I’ll come prepared / My new friends say they would help me / Get my loved one back. By now, this rebel has gathered enough friends to launch an assault on the hive in order to rescue her lover. Such a daring and risky act, but bold nonetheless.
They say it isn’t right / The bees have control of your mind / But I choose not to believe that. Apparently, the rebellion managed to rescue the lover but the birds had reported that he did not want to leave its community and they feared that it had been mind-controlled by its peers. However, the resolute rebel still has hope in its heart to somehow be together with her lover again.
So we’ll meet in the darkness of the night / And I’ll promise I will be there on time / We’ll be guided by my new friends the butterflies / Bring us back to our own little hive. I'm not too sure about these verses since it seems that he might not be brainwashed anymore (the power of love; a kiss to break the spell?). However, they secretly met each other (the lover was drugged by the butterflies perhaps?) and both were brought to their new hive which she made.
Oh my other honey bee / No longer stuck where he doesn’t wanna be / Oh my darling honey bee / I have saved you / And now that you’re with me / We can make our own honey. A happy ending as the bee is finally reunited with its lover who was being opressed under the colony's regime by mind-numbingly serving the queen. To rub salt on wound, this radical bunch of minority bees decided to start their own colony, hoping one day they could bring down the "evil establishment."
Now, do you get what I mean? It's romantic in a way that it kinda reminds me of the "love conquers all" theme but I was pretty much amused that this song is pretty much serious about fighting against the establishment portrayed by the all-powerful queen bee. Was the bee's actions justified in order to find her own happiness or should she be executed for committing such a heinous crime against her fellow bees?
It is a question for us to ponder.
I've decided to analyze another innocent looking song on her debut album, Honey Bee. My interpretation on the song is that its a quintessential non-conforming rebel/protest song which in a way blends in with my personality (the first song that defined me was Green Day's Minority). So without further a due, here's my verse-by-verse take on her ballad of fighting against the establishment.
I am a honey bee / Shunned off from the colony / And they won’t let me in. The bee has been made an outcast of her own group & banished forever from the hive. The thing is, why? A bee in a colony was born to do its specific job i.e. mainly to serve the queen but being kicked out shows that she has a problem with the hierarchy, possibly insubordination.
So I left the hive / They took away all my stripes / And broke off both my wings. She must did something serious on par with treason to the extent that the other bees made sure the identity of this rebel is stripped off and disassociated as far away from their colony.
So I’ll find another tree / And make the wind my friend / I’ll just sing with the birds /They’ll tell me secrets of the world. Now she is set on revenge; by being "friends" with the birds, she'll gather enough knowledge and connections to build a strong opposition with the other animals in the habitat.
But my other honey bee / Stuck where he doesn’t wanna be / Oh my darling honey bee / I’ll come save you / Even if it means I’ll have to face the queen. Now we have a new character in the frame: the bee's lover. It could have been a case of forbidden love whereby he should be mating with the queen but instead fell for the her. This could be the reason she was booted out: their liaison was uncovered by the other bees.
So I’ll come prepared / My new friends say they would help me / Get my loved one back. By now, this rebel has gathered enough friends to launch an assault on the hive in order to rescue her lover. Such a daring and risky act, but bold nonetheless.
They say it isn’t right / The bees have control of your mind / But I choose not to believe that. Apparently, the rebellion managed to rescue the lover but the birds had reported that he did not want to leave its community and they feared that it had been mind-controlled by its peers. However, the resolute rebel still has hope in its heart to somehow be together with her lover again.
So we’ll meet in the darkness of the night / And I’ll promise I will be there on time / We’ll be guided by my new friends the butterflies / Bring us back to our own little hive. I'm not too sure about these verses since it seems that he might not be brainwashed anymore (the power of love; a kiss to break the spell?). However, they secretly met each other (the lover was drugged by the butterflies perhaps?) and both were brought to their new hive which she made.
Oh my other honey bee / No longer stuck where he doesn’t wanna be / Oh my darling honey bee / I have saved you / And now that you’re with me / We can make our own honey. A happy ending as the bee is finally reunited with its lover who was being opressed under the colony's regime by mind-numbingly serving the queen. To rub salt on wound, this radical bunch of minority bees decided to start their own colony, hoping one day they could bring down the "evil establishment."
Now, do you get what I mean? It's romantic in a way that it kinda reminds me of the "love conquers all" theme but I was pretty much amused that this song is pretty much serious about fighting against the establishment portrayed by the all-powerful queen bee. Was the bee's actions justified in order to find her own happiness or should she be executed for committing such a heinous crime against her fellow bees?
It is a question for us to ponder.
