Song Details
- Album Release Date: 2012
- Genre: folk
Song Meaning of “Television” by You Won’t
The song ‘Television’ by You Won’t takes an approach to critique the media, and how it has taken over our lives in a sense. The song’s title and lyrics represent an overall idea that television has become an ultimately dominating force in our lives, controlling what we do, how we think, and even how we feel. The main chorus of the song “Spin the wheel/forget what’s real” is a good example of this idea, which is echoed by the concurrent message of the verses that suggest a sort of trance or numbness that is comes with watching television; “contentment casting out the sadness”.
The message of the song is that we have become so entranced and reliant on what we see on television that we have rather than disregarding the common sense and knowledge that were previously embedded in the culture. Through the use of abstract lyrics such as “singing song of truths and lies” the song seems to explain that while television may seem to be providing us with a reliable source of information it is ultimately a distorted and dangerous tool of control. Furthermore, the outro of the song exemplifies this idea with the chant “it’s everywhere, it’s everywhere”. This is a reflection of the notion that since television is so powerful it has become impossible to escape or even avoid it.
Ultimately, this song acts as a call to action for us to use our minds and come to our own conclusions about what is real and what is not, rather than relying on the seductive, often false information provided by television. It is an undeniable fact that television has shaped and sculpted our world into what it is today, so it is necessary for us to be aware of this power and to think twice before succumbing to its whims.