Musics’ different reference frames.

The Secret life of Walter Mitty

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was produced in 2013 by Ben Siller, Stuart Cornfeld, Samuel Goldwyn Jr. and John Goldwyn. The movie was also directed by the main actor himself Ben Stiller. The movie was based on the short story by James Thurber written in 1939.

Background

Ben Stiller plays the role of Walter Mitty in this fun and adventurous film. Walter Mitty works for the company Life developing photo negatives. His life is autonomous and the only adventures he seems to have are in his daydreams. He lives his life day to day doing his standard tasks taking care of his mother and sister. One day a cover is needed for Lifes’ magazine and a specific negative is asked of him but he cannot find it in the list they have. He eventually goes to find the photographer that took the photo, Sean O’Connell, to see if he still has the photo with him. So this ordinary person with a normal life embarks on a trip of a lifetime full of adventure. He travels to Greenland, Iceland and many other beautiful places around the world before finding Sean. I could write a long background of what happens throughout the movie but I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it. The movie is really good and if anyone reading this hasn’t seen it I would highly recommend it. The entire film has what I think is perfect song choices. I’m fairly certain that I have nearly every song in the movie. But the most influential song to me was the song Dirty Paws by Of Monsters and Men.

Context

Walter at this point in the movie has gone to Greenland on the look for Sean and has found himself a little out of his element. After landing in Greenland he learns that Sean is on a fishing vessel on the open ocean and decides to catch a ride with a slightly intoxicated helicopter pilot to the ship. After having to jump into the frigid ocean and getting aboard the fishing vessel he learns that Sean had already left to go to Iceland. The next morning the ship docks in Iceland and one of the crew members explains quickly that there is a single community bike ashore but he will have to race to it because the crew is “a bunch of horny Chileans” that want to take it themselves. He quickly sprints for the bike and barely gets there before the rest of the crew. As soon as he gets it the song Dirty Paws starts playing by Of Monsters and Men. Unfortunately, the scene only plays a part of the song from the beginning to about 40 seconds. So I will leave the whole version below. One thing I love about this scene in addition to the music and the photography would be how the music matches the place they play it. For example, this song dirty paws from Of Monsters and Men is from Iceland.

Lyrics

The lyrics for Dirty paws from this scene are very limited and are in majority just la la la la la la – hey but I will analyze the full version below.

Rhythm

The rhythm of Dirty Paws is what makes the song for me, it drives home the want to get the listener up and move. Not only does this piece make the listener want to get up and dance but it encourages the listener to sing along with.

Dynamics

The dynamics of the Secret Life of Walter Mitty come in abruptly and loudly they shift of the dynamics shift from high to low with the keys of the singers. The dynamics of the song for me make me want to take an epic hike somewhere. (Especially during this time of quarantine.)

The larger meaning portrayed by the movie.

The movie’s overall theme and meaning is to get out go outside and go explore. Don’t live life in a box and get numb in the monotony of repetition. This song, especially to me, has the sound of adventure. It also helps character development and helps the story along. All the places he had been before he didn’t have much of a choice, but at this point in the story he could have stayed with the ship. Instead of staying, he ran full strength into the unknown. It was this song that played and look at the beautiful things he found and got to see.

My opinion

The movie the secret life of Walter Mitty was one movie my mother and sister said that I had to watch and to be honest I wasn’t excited about it. The title and the beginning was not my type of movie but in the end I was very impressed. This is probably one of my favorite movies now especially because of the song list. I remember once the movie was over going back and rewinding and finding the songs I liked. I remember playing Dirty Paws for the first time without the context of the movie. I was lost and thought I had the wrong song because it was so different but after a few more times the sound grew on me. Because of this movie and little part of a song I discovered my most favorite band Of Monsters and Men.

The whole song

Meaning and analysis of the lyrics.

Dirty paws was wrote by Ragnar Þórhallsson and Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and produced in 2012.

Lyrics

Before going into the meanings of the lyrics of Dirty Paws read them below for yourself and guess what they mean.

Jumping up and down the floor,
My head is an animal.
And once there was an animal,
It had a son that mowed the lawn.
The son was an OK guy,
They had a pet dragonfly.
The dragonfly, it ran away,
But it came back with a story to say.

Her dirty paws and furry coat,
She ran down the forest slopes.
The forest of talking trees,
They used to sing about the birds and the bees.
The bees had declared a war,
The sky wasn’t big enough for them all.
The birds, they got help from below,
From dirty paws and the creatures of snow.

So for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes.
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines.
But she and her furry friends
Took down the queen bee and her men.
And that’s how the story goes,
The story of the beast with those four dirty paws.

My interpretation

For the longest time, I figured that the lyrics of the song were just pieced together by there sound and didn’t have much for lyrical meaning at all. I would not be surprised if you thought so as well. But Monsters and Men are very good at writing with symbolism and this is my interpretation of the lyrics. The very first couple of lines of the song go through a confusing loop of people and animals but the main thing I think that happening is they are trying to portray a family tree. A son went somewhere and when he came back had a story to tell. He tells a story of talking trees that used to sing about the birds and the bees. “The bees had declared a war the sky wasn’t big enough for them all the birds, they got help from below from dirty paws and the creatures of snow.” Wow a lot to break down here, the trees talked about the bees declaring a war. The trees can talk and they inhabit every land so I think that trees are ordinary people in this context. The war they are fighting is only a guess but the one makes sense is World War II. The bees being the axis powers probably Nazi Germany and Italy. “The birds got help from below” my guess would be the birds to be Great Britain and the creatures of snow would be the Soviet Union. “For a while things were cold they were scared down in their holes” probably refers to the winter of 1941 when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union and both sides endured a brutal winter. “The forest that once was green was covered black by those killing machines.” It is most likely a reference of the civilians lost to this horrible conflict. The lives that were turned from once peaceful land of growth to a land full of chaos and destruction. The next line talks about how the creatures take down the bees and say “and that’s how the story goes. The story of the beast with the four dirty paws.” The bees being defeated is the fall of the axis powers. But who was the beast with four dirty paws referenced throughout the song? The one thing I have come to believe is the beast is The United States of America. Why you ask? Because at this point in time the USA had gone through four main conflicts the Revolutionary, Civil, WW I and WW II. Because of these wars, the authors gave the title of the USA as the beast with four dirty paws. This is just my interpretation of the song and I may be incorrect but this is the closest I have come to get an understanding of the song.

Comparison

Although the lyrics of the movie version are not much on anything at all its overall meaning that one can assume from the dynamics and the rhythm it is about getting up and going somewhere. I like thinking about going into the unknown and trying something that has never been done before. Both the movies and the normal version of the song portray this even though when the lyrics are analyzed portray something completely different. Ever since I signed up for this class I knew I would do an analysis of this song. In my personal opinion is one of the greatest songs I have ever heard dynamically, with excellent vocals and hidden lyrical meaning. I hope that this analysis showed you the deeper meaning of the song or introduced you to it if you have never heard it.

Source Cited

“Of Monsters and Men – Dirty Paws Lyrics Meaning.” Lyric Interpretations, http://www.lyricinterpretations.com/of-monsters-and-men/dirty-paws.

https://www.lyricinterpretations.com/of-monsters-and-men/dirty-paws

“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” IMDb, IMDb.com, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0359950/plotsummary.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0359950/plotsummary