☝️ Key Points
- The protagonist lives in the night and seems to consider the day as irrelevant.
- The text contains metaphors for possible dependencies or unhealthy relationships where she loses self-control.
- She is trapped in a nocturnal cycle where she ignores her days and gives up on a 'new morning'.
- The song suggests an escape from reality where she doesn't confront her problems.
- The song 'Self Control' illustrates an internal conflict where the protagonist loses her self-control and is torn between reality and her nocturnal world.
Interpretation
The song 'Self Control' by
Laura Branigan is primarily about a person who lives in the night and has lost their self-control towards someone or something.
At the beginning, the night is presented to us as their 'world', in the city where the girls look like they're painted. The day seems irrelevant to them, as they say: 'In the day nothing matters'. They are drawn to the night, where they lose control and drift into a different reality.
The chorus 'You take my self, you take my self control' explains how someone or something takes away their self-control and only allows them to live for the night. This could be a metaphor for a dependency or an unhealthy relationship where they lose themselves and give up their identity.
In the verses 'Another night, another day goes by, I never stop myself to wonder why, You help me to forget to play my role', they seem to ignore their days and wonder why they are trapped in this nightly cycle. They have lost the will to fight against a 'new morning' and surrender to the illusion that 'this night' will never end. This could indicate an escape from reality, where they prefer to live in the 'night' rather than face their problems.
Overall, the song 'Self Control' seems to portray a deep internal conflict where the protagonist is torn between reality and their nighttime world, losing their self-control.