9/15
You Don’t go to Parties Anymore
I went to a 5 Seconds of Summer concert this past weekend. Best night of my life. But they happened to play one of my favorite songs off their new album and while I should have been having a brain break I couldn’t help but think of how it related to The Great Gatsby. The song, “You Don’t go to Parties,” is about someone who throws parties but doesn’t enjoy them because there is one person who isn’t there, and they don’t go to parties anymore anyway. The first thing that brought my attention to the novel is a line that says “I got the last five years running out my mouth,” the same amount of time that Gatsby draws attention to between Daisy and his first interaction at the meeting at Nick’s house. The speaker says that “It’s 5:00 am. Clinging to my couch/ and everyone I ever knew is standing in my house/ oh I wonder who I’m looking for/ cause you don’t go to parties anymore.” This can be seen as a direct relation to Gatsby and how all of his parties in his house were hectic but it’s all for not. Gatsby knows the one person he wishes was there won’t be.
The speaker, who could be seen as Gatsby, says “lost my limit cause I’m dumb and I’m passionate/ took my foot off of the brake, it’s not an accident.” This verse could be seen as Gatsby admitting that his parties were incredibly ambitious, limitless, and purposeful because Daisy was his single priority. He used his parties as an excuse to try to allure her in and close to him. Gatsby knows how extravagant his parties get and he can’t stop his flaunting until he finally finds Daisy in the mess he’s created.
There’s a verse in the song that says “I’m still here in the darkness/ back where we started/ you make me a heartless monster/ I’m caught up in distractions/ fatal attractions/ I’m starting to come undone.” I think this can be interpreted as Gatsby living in the past, believing he can recreate the past when he and Daisy first met. However, Gatsby was left behind by Daisy and lives in delusion, and without the delusion he is met with darkness. When Daisy chose Tom, Gatsby was left to turn to illegal means of making his fortune, effectively making him a criminal, a monster. To describe Gatsby’s feelings towards Daisy as a fatal attraction wouldn’t be too far off; especially because his need to protect Daisy ultimately leads to his downfall, emotionally and physically.
