Tame Impala: "’Cause I’m a Man"
“What have I done?” Tame Impala‘s Kevin Parker knows he’s made a mistake. He’s not disclosing what’s happened—just that he lost control and seems to be pretty torn up in the aftermath. He knows his apologies feel thin, he calls himself “pathetic,” and he’s generally lingering in the self-loathing portion of the fight. When asked why he did it, he chalks his actions up to human nature—being a “man” who doesn’t always think things through. It’s not a very strong way to explain why you fucked up, but it beats saying “I don’t know.”
“‘Cause I’m a Man” hovers in that space just after tempers flare and just before cooler heads (hypothetically) prevail. It’s a narrative that Tame Impala navigate beautifully. The song doesn’t stomp like Lonerism‘s “Apocalypse Dreams”; this time, everything’s smooth. True to their reputation, it’s stuffed with little details—finger snaps and gentle moans are prominent percussive elements. It’s probably the closest they’ve come to writing an R&B ballad.
At the chorus, Parker repeats the phrase “I’m a man, woman,” which could be construed as problematic. Reading those words out of context, it looks like he’s using gender as a catch-all archetype. But as he sings in his tender, featherlight falsetto, he’s not boasting about his masculinity—he’s attempting to acknowledge that sometimes, he messes up just like anybody else. The song’s story is about as universal as they come: pretty much everybody knows what it’s like to be in an emotionally stilted holding pattern after a big blow-up. It’s a vulnerable song—one with regret, sure, but also affection. “I’ll never be as strong as you,” he sings.
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