This speaker of this song is a teenager, most likely a teenage
girl.
The song is from the soundtrack of the 1986 movie Pretty in Pink, considered one of the "Brat Pack" movies of writer-director John Hughes, along with The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and Some Kind of Wonderful. His other hits include Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Mr. Mom, Weird Science, Home Alone, Planes Trains & Automobiles, and the National Lampoon Vacation series.
Back to the song-- the film is about a disadvantaged young woman who must choose between her equally poor, longtime sweetheart and a new, wealthy-but-sensitive suitor.
The song is about that common adolescent (or, more fairly, human) plaint: not fitting in. It is unclear whether the teen was unusual, and therefore rejected... or the reverse-- she was simply marginalized by her peers for some arbitrary reason, alike them as she was. In any case, she seem to have embraced her marginalized, maverick status.
She declares this standpoint to be "left of center... in the outskirts, in the fringes" of the social circle. She dwells there, and make no attempt to make inroads into the popular group. However, she is not in accessible, in her remote outpost. In fact, the song opens with an invitation, if a begrudging one, to visit: "If you want me/ You can find me" there.
While marginalized, she also keeps tabs on the in-group, a surveillance which they sometimes notice: "They know that/ I'm looking at them." When they do, they challenge her: "What are you looking at?" Naturally, she becomes defensive, and attacks in retaliation: "Nothing much."
She concludes that they presume her to be "out of touch." In fact, she is very aware of the machinations of the in-group. She simply chooses not to participate in them.
She is interested, however, in an individual. The "you" is no longer "you, or any given person listening" but "you, a specific person I mean." As she puts it: “If you want me/ You can find me/ Left of center/ Wondering about you.”
Why does this person pique her interest? She sees that (presumably, but not necessarily) he is a kindred spirit: “We must be similar/ If not the same.”
Even an outsider sometimes feels the need to share the outside with someone. “So I continue/ To be wanting you/ Left of center/ Against the grain.”
The song is from the soundtrack of the 1986 movie Pretty in Pink, considered one of the "Brat Pack" movies of writer-director John Hughes, along with The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and Some Kind of Wonderful. His other hits include Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Mr. Mom, Weird Science, Home Alone, Planes Trains & Automobiles, and the National Lampoon Vacation series.
Back to the song-- the film is about a disadvantaged young woman who must choose between her equally poor, longtime sweetheart and a new, wealthy-but-sensitive suitor.
The song is about that common adolescent (or, more fairly, human) plaint: not fitting in. It is unclear whether the teen was unusual, and therefore rejected... or the reverse-- she was simply marginalized by her peers for some arbitrary reason, alike them as she was. In any case, she seem to have embraced her marginalized, maverick status.
She declares this standpoint to be "left of center... in the outskirts, in the fringes" of the social circle. She dwells there, and make no attempt to make inroads into the popular group. However, she is not in accessible, in her remote outpost. In fact, the song opens with an invitation, if a begrudging one, to visit: "If you want me/ You can find me" there.
While marginalized, she also keeps tabs on the in-group, a surveillance which they sometimes notice: "They know that/ I'm looking at them." When they do, they challenge her: "What are you looking at?" Naturally, she becomes defensive, and attacks in retaliation: "Nothing much."
She concludes that they presume her to be "out of touch." In fact, she is very aware of the machinations of the in-group. She simply chooses not to participate in them.
She is interested, however, in an individual. The "you" is no longer "you, or any given person listening" but "you, a specific person I mean." As she puts it: “If you want me/ You can find me/ Left of center/ Wondering about you.”
Why does this person pique her interest? She sees that (presumably, but not necessarily) he is a kindred spirit: “We must be similar/ If not the same.”
Even an outsider sometimes feels the need to share the outside with someone. “So I continue/ To be wanting you/ Left of center/ Against the grain.”
It does get lonely, out there in the outskirts. So it's nice to find someone you have something in common with, even if that something is simply being... uncommon.
IMPACT: The song reached #32 on the UK Singles chart, but did not chart in the US.
Next Song: Tom's Diner
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