Song Explication- Start Wearing Purple

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UFvzWEfD64&feature=related

Start Wearing Purple by Gogol Bordello

Within Gogol Bordello’s "Start Wearing Purple", the musicians combine their somewhat harsh-sounding Ukrainian singing voices and the accordion with simplistic lyrics in order to portray an equally simple message; going crazy is inevitable. The song begins by reiterating the title with a demand to “start wearing purple, start wearing purple”, the first of many repetitive patterns. The singer proceeds to warn the listener that they will eventually, and inevitably, lose their wits and sanity. The unsettling message is ironically presented with calming tone and diction when the singer says, “I promise”. As previously mentioned, repetition is the most utilized literary device in the song. Not only is the title repeated several times, but the first stanza, which is also the refrain, is repeated as well. This repetition echoes the insanity the singer is discussing. By repeating himself over and over again, he makes it sound that he himself is crazy as well. That is ironic because although it seems he has lost his sanity, he is the wise one that is giving warning in the situation. The music itself also mirrors the idea of someone losing their mind; it gives a somewhat dizzying effect to the listener. After the first stanza is repeated, the singer briefly utilizes flashback and recalls meeting someone at a young age. He proceeds to say, “but thought that some years from now a purple little little lady will be perfect for dirty old and useless clown.” This seems like a brief romantic flashback of a woman he met that he thought he could spend the rest of his life with, but realized she would eventually go crazy too. He refers to her as “purple little little lady” which could be symbolic of the tradition many elderly women have to wear purple when they start to become senile because of the calming effect of the color on the mind. Although there seems to be no real rhyming scheme or meter, repetition proves again to be an effective tool. The refrain is repeated yet another time to insinuate the idea of losing one’s mind. In the next stanza, the singer admits his role as the knowledgeable and wise one by singing, “I know it all from Diogenis to Foucault” which is simply a claim that the singer knows everything there is to know in the world. Again, this is an ironic statement because while the singer is supposed to insane, people who lose their minds do not usually comprehend that they have lost their mind. Ironically, the singer seems to fully grasp the concept that going insane is just an inevitable part of life. The next two lines, translated from Russian, mean: “And I swear, having pissed on two fingers, that the music originated in Zvuki Mu." This is an allusion being made to a former Russian rock band called Zvuki Mu, which has greatly influenced Gogol Bordello. The first part of the Russian segment is a Russian proverb that reaffirms someone’s promise. This is again, the singer promising to the listener that they will, just like everyone, lose their mind. For the remainder of the song, the singer slips in and out of Russian and English to portray the image of progressively losing his senses. In the next Russian segment, he refers to “his lady” as “Violetta” and tells her to “get ready her coach, we will go to nowhere.” Violetta is obviously symbolic of the shade of purple, violet. When referring to the coach, the color purple could be symbolic of royalty. The first stanza is repeated again at the end of the song for the same use of repetition every other time in the song. The last statement the singer makes before repeating the refrain one last time is “we will go to nowhere”. Nowhere could be anywhere; it is a place someone goes when they are lost and have no where else to go, when they have lost their mind and will be lost eternally as a result. Perhaps the concept itself of accepting that everyone will become crazy is crazy in itself. However, Gogol Bordello demands us to come to grips with the inevitable fact of life through "Start Wearing Purple". The command to start wearing purple is simply Gogol telling us to recognize it and adapt to it, just like the old women who wear purple to comfort their minds.

LYRICS:
Start wearing purple wearing purple
Start wearing purple for me now
All your sanity and wits they will all vanish
I promise, it's just a matter of time...
So yeah, ha
Start wearing purple wearing purple (da da da da da)
Start wearing purple for me now
All your sanity and wits they will all vanish
I promise, it's just a matter of time...
I've known you since you were a twenty,
and I was twenty,and thought that some years from now
a purple little little lady will be perfect
for dirty old and useless clown...
So yeah, ha
Start wearing purple wearing purple (da da da da da)
Start wearing purple for me now
All your sanity and wits they will all vanish
I promise, it's just a matter of time...
So yeah, I know it all from Diogenes to the Foucault
from Lozgechkin to Passepartout
I ja kljanus obossav dva paltza
- chto ty!shto muzyka poshla ot "zvukov moo"
Start wearing purple wearing purple (da da da da da)
Start wearing purple for me now
Start wearing purple for me now!
All your sanity and wits they will all vanish
I promise, it's just a matter of time...
So Vio-Vio-Violetta! Etta! Va-va-va-vaja dama ti moja!
Eh podayte nam karetu, vot etu, i mi poedem k ebenjam!
So yeah, ah start wearing purple wearing purple
Start wearing purple for me now
All your sanity and wits, they will all vanish
I promise, it's just a matter of time!...