Monday 2 May 2011

Love and Marriage

I know that 'Royal Wedding' fever has been trumped by 'Osama is Dead' fever but I've always been a fashionably late sort of person. And what has got me thinking about it again is that just yesterday my girlfriend started humming 'Love and Marriage' by Frank Sinatra.

For those who are unfamiliar with the song, each verse begins with the lyric:

"Love and marriage, love and marriage, they go together like a horse and carriage"


Now I started thinking about what this simile means. I'm assuming that in the analogy, love is the horse, and marriage is the carriage, because love carries the marriage along, not the other way around. What struck me, though, is that a horse and carriage is actually quite a perverse juxtaposition of nature with man-made, and frankly, the horse gets nothing out of the arrangement; and infact would be far happier were it not burdened with the additional weight.

I think Frank's analogy begins to really break down when you consider that some carriages require more than one horse... so perhaps this equates to a man having a mistress on the side. And also if the horse dies, the carriage is still perfectly usable with another horse; whilst if the love dies, a marriage falls flat on its backside.
Similarly, if a wheel falls off a carriage, there is no need to shoot the horse.

So, maybe it was a crappy comparison in the first place, or maybe I have destroyed the foundations of the institution of marriage. What do you think?

55 comments:

  1. Lol. You might've taken the analogy a little too far and Love and Marriage reminds me of Married with Childern. You might have destroyed the institution of marriage.

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  2. Great analysis of the song

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  3. The Horse and Buggy will be forever trumped by the teleporter.

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  4. When I think about marriage, I think about the good things that come after, and try to forget the bad ones :D

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  5. You're thinking too hard about it.. LOL

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  6. I think it's the perfect analogy for marriage. It's always fun to be in one, but the ride can sometimes be a little bumpy.

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  7. i like how much youve broken this down, one learns more by looking deeper into life! followed!

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  8. @mysterious the married with children theme song was playing in my head when i saw the picture

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  9. I admire your spirit and the fact that you haven't jumped on the Osama bandwagon, refreshing to read something a little different today, as for what you're saying... Like the others, I'm going to echo them and say that maybe you're thinking about it a little too much :p

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  10. @baka1236
    I was thinking the same thing.

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  11. Very insightful thinking. Now I can never enjoy that song again. :)

    Also, America, F Yeah.

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  12. Ahaha i love sp3nnys comment, offtopic and brilliant!
    I'm happy to read something not about Osama, very interesting peice about similies, great read! :)

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  13. Never really thought of it like that. I do enjoy the song, a lot. Though it does stir up thoughts of "Married... with Children"

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  14. I dont see the big deal about the royal wedding tbh

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  15. Thought a little to far into it lol but you do have a point!

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  16. Marriage is an obsolete institution. Now it's just to show all your friends and relatives that you're going to stay together. :/
    In Croatia, when you have a child, paperwork is much easier if you're married.

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  17. Uhhh wow, that marriage was a real stretch.

    I believe a wedding and marriage are almost necessary to celebrate what is a very happy occasion, and to many women the happiest of their lives.

    Give them their day, and they will hold it very dear.

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  18. EDIT: Marriage 'analogy' I had meant

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  19. When I hear the first steps of this song I instantly see Al Bundy in my mind :D
    This got me really affected hehe

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  20. How much do you think they spent on the royal wedding?

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  21. No, no I think it's a great analagy mate and the foundations of the institution of marriage are still indeed intact.

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  22. Always wanted to have a personal horse and carriage, slow going though.

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  23. not interrested in the royal

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  24. @Iasewen I think it was like 70 million, and up to like 32 million to tax payers or something. Anyways, great writeup.

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  25. I love this post! Keep it up =D

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  26. Personal horse, it sounds good :)

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  27. I think he never thought about it like that

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  28. Never thought about that, but on the other hand i dont really get the big deal about the weadding in the first place.

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  29. Yeah weeding is a nice thing ! love love love !

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  30. meh... the paparazzi will probably get her killed too.

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  31. We see that you are very interested in this issue. You are scaring me a little bit. Don't want to think about marriage now i'am still so young ...

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  32. The second I saw the title I started singing the "Married with children" theme :D

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  33. interesting analysis. It's true that marriage isn't always as fairy tale like as people portray it. I like the way you think!

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  34. I think they're trying to say that a marriage (carriage) can't function at all without a horse (love). Also, I thought metaphors were the ones that use the word "like"?

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  35. bytheway, thanks alot, because of you the song is stuck in my head :D

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  36. Tbh royals don't really do much these days, don't have much sway.

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  37. Marriage for love is crap anyway. It was accepted just recently no longer than 500yrs ago.

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  38. oh wow, mind kinda blown away

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  39. haha, that caption is funny :D

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  40. You've made a brilliant point there, Nom. The way you flip things into a whole new perspective is really crazy... I would've never have thought of it like that. While we're on the topic of marriage, I would like to raise the question, why does love seem to not have enough legitimacy until marriage hits, well, at least under society's standards. Can't two people just love each other for the rest of their lives without it? Nontraditional, yes. Unethical? I highly disagree. Just something that came across my mind.

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  41. Over-analysis, lol.
    Now... Which one is the horse, the man or the woman?

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  42. makes me think of married with children, i have been watching that show on late night lately

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