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Adele: "Easy on Me"

 Like most of the world, I'm so fond of Adele, and I can't stop revisiting YouTube.


I love that Adele has dismantled her own life every few years, and I love her willingness to pick at the wounds.

"Easy on Me" sounds so simple, which suggests that hard work was involved.

Oddly, Adele imagines herself as a miner: "There ain't no gold in this river...."

Water--baptism--cleansing. "I can't bring myself to swim when I'm drowning in this silence."

The chorus seems to be Adele arguing with herself (among other things). "Go easy on me....I was just a child, had no time to feel the world around me...." This is a divided self, someone trying to live with guilt, trying to view past mistakes in a charitable way.

I love that there is something unresolved in the song; the sadness creeps along from the start to the finish.

This is a tricky endeavor! I'm such a fan....

P.S. Adele underlines the discomfort of her situation with some deliberately awkward phrasing. "I had no time to choose what I chose to do." How can that make sense? But the discomfort comes through--loud and clear.
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