A Psycho-Jargonese Blues

This song is about 'psychobabble' and I wrote it in August 1977. Each verse is based upon the language game (to use a Wittgensteinian notion) of a particular therapeutic framework. So, for example, the second verse plays with the technical terms found within psychoanalytic theory:

Why don't you give to me
Your psychic energy
I'll help you sublimate your urge
Be careful of regression
and fixation at your anal stage
Lose your superego
And cathect a little id on me

There is another verse based upon learning theory and behaviour modification 'Why is there no response to all my stimulation? Have I picked the wrong reward...' One verse deals with self-actualisation and existential crises (echoes of Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, perhaps) and another with symbolic interactionism. The only misfit is a verse that utilises a computer programming metaphor.

Although I would never suggest that the song should be taken seriously, I did return to the topic of therapeutic discourse many years later when I was writing my book 'The Psychology of Food and Eating' (published by Palgrave, 2002). That was largely in connection with a chapter on eating disorders.

Be that as it may, musically the song is a straightforward blues (in C minor).

Back to Song Repertoire Page
Back to Lewis Music HomePage