Father John Misty’s "Pure Comedy" Song Review

I believe Father John Misty’s song “Pure Comedy” is a protest against gender inequality, religion, war, politics, corruption, ignorance, and entertainment. In Father John Misty’s first three verses, he complains about gender inequality and how humans rely on others for survival. In his first verse he says how humans are born ‘stupid’ and rely on their parents to teach, feed and protect them. His lyrics, “So somebody’s got to go kill something while I look after the kids, I’d do it myself, but what, are you going to get this thing its milk?” is an example of how women usually stay home and look after the children while the men would go out and hunt for food. In today's society ‘hunting’ is just going to work to make money to pay for food and bills, like electricity, water, internet, and cell phones.

These lyrics and the verse show gender inequality as women are stereotyped to be stay at home moms while men have a career. I think society may be pushing women to stay home by making child care so expensive and women's wages lower than men's at the same job. I believe verse three supports my idea when he says, “They’re at the center of everything, And some all-powerful being endowed this horror show with meaning,” as men are viewed as higher than women in the class structure, especially in the past and in the bible. Verse four is about religion and its followers, and its corruption. In the first line Father John Misty sarcastically says, “Oh, their religions are the best” and continues singing about how people who believe in religion see themselves as better than non believers, and how they get very offended when people go against their sacred texts (eg. The Bible). I believe religion is used to help control us and set guidelines for how to live our lives; as The Bible has the ten commandments and the belief of heaven and hell.

People must follow the Bible and do what they are told so they can go to heaven when they die; I believe this is supported in his sixth verse when he sings, “And how’s this for irony, their idea of being free is a prison of beliefs, That they never ever have to leave.” I agree with religion in the sense it is comforting to think that there is a higher power and that when we die we go somewhere peaceful, but I also believe religion is a big starter of wars, when it is supposed to be about spreading love and peace. Another cause of war is politics; most wars are started from the government trying to own a place or change the way a place rules. Father John Misty talks about corruption in politics in the fifth verse when he says, “They build fortunes poisoning their offspring”. I believe he is talking about unhealthy foods and possibly ADHD, ADD, and antidepressant medications and cigarettes. Everyone knows junk food and cigarettes will contribute to poor health and most likely our death, but we still produce and consume them.

Companies make tons of money off these two addictions. ADHD, ADD medications and antidepressants are fed to kids and adults like candy, and because of this the pharmaceutical companies make a lot of money. Instead of helping excitable or suffering children and people, people go to the doctors so they can prescribe pills to make them “better”. This is also supported in the final verse, “The only thing that seems to make them feel alive is the struggle to survive, But the only thing they request is something to numb the pain with, Until there’s nothing human left.” I believe the government is corrupt and I agree with him when he asks, “Where did they find these goons they elected to rule them? What makes these clowns they idolize so remarkable?” In the music video President Donald Trump is shown multiple times during the verse about politics. In the song, almost every verse begins with “Oh comedy” and I think he uses that repetition to voice his complaints and how he thinks somethings, like our government, religion, etc, are a joke.