“I Can Make You Feel Young Again” by Copeland, Sunday, August 21, 2022

 Copeland’s “I Can Make You Feel Young Again” seems like a straight-forward love song. The beautiful lyrics describe love, growing old together, and death in an original, poetic way. The pre-chorus makes the listener feel small in the vastness of time, contrasting the light from stars billions of light years away and the ancient ground, which will “drag us under.” But to Aaron Marsh, this isn’t a straight forward love song.

WHEN I FEEL LIKE I’M DEAD, YOU’RE REVIVING ME. The music video (see below) makes Marsh’s vision for “I Can Make You Feel Young Again” clear. Marsh confirms the meaning of the song on an episode of Labeled podcast. The idea of the song is a man is promised youth by a siren, but the siren drowns him. Of course reading the lyrics over and over you won’t be able to get that story from the text alone. But if we place this extra-textual interpretation onto the song, it makes sense that its the song of the siren, promising the fisherman that she can make feel young again if he only takes a swim with her. Throughout literature there’s been much speculation out of what the siren’s song sounds like as most never live to tell the tale. Just this year we’ve talked about the siren’s song. In Taeyeon’s track “Siren,” she is tempted by the siren which represents an unhealthy relationship. In Lana Del Rey’s “Dark Paradise,” the siren beckons her to join her dead lover and be eternally happy together with him in a dark paradise. 

THIS PIECE OF MY SOUL YOUR CONTROLLING. Copeland’s mermaid makes a promise similar to the legend that fellow Floridian Ponce de Leon sought, a fountain of youth that would keep him forever young. The siren makes no such promise; she merely promises to make the fisherman feel young “before [the ground] drags us under.” Does the man feel youth as he gives in to the siren’s song? Is the promise unfulfilled?  Or is the man oblivious until the final moments? And more importantly, does this correct interpretation hinder a more straightforward interpretation or even the enjoyment of the song? The promises of a new lover making his or her case to spend time together, the siren-like fixation chemistry creates when two lovers are just in to each other—isn’t that what this song is about at it’s core? And yet, like I’ve talked about in prior posts, Copeland cannot write a love song without tension. Even in today’s song, when the listener’s guard is down, the listener must stay especially vigilant. The danger in the song, though is just missing the depth, as there is nothing deadly about missing the point.   


Read the lyrics on Genius.

Twin version:

Twin and original version mixed:
Music video:

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