Melancholy pop music is one of the greatest inventions of mankind.  It takes your frustration and sadness and turns it into transcendent joy.  Now that I have created the pressure to deliver something that justifies a statement like that, I bring you Dan Mangan’s “Robots.”

Mangan is a Canadian folk singer.  I can’t say that I am a fan.  I only like a few of his songs.  But, one of those songs is the latest earworm implanted in the right side of my brain.  Below is a fan video that I like better than the official video.

As usual for music I like, the song is written in a minor key, in this case Bminor.  The chorus uses one of my favorite chord progressions which in this key manifests as D, A, Bminor, G.  It is hard to write a song with this progression that doesn’t resonate at least a little bit with me.  But, it is harder to write one that actually provides the arrangement and lyrics that make a chord progression I have heard and played hundreds of times feel full of so much spirit.

The arrangement is slightly unusual in that the only lead-in is playing the opening chord for two measures and then plowing into an opening line verse that speak a world weariness and sense of lost purpose.

I don't know what you've been told
But I don't get out much these days
Waking young and feeling old
The days are no longer my own
To piss away the waking hours

As we shift to a two part chorus (below), the backing rhythm drops away into a pleading to oneself to not let life pass by.  The narrator feels he has spirit left but that it is fading.  The change to the pronoun “your” in the last line seems to create a contrast to others who may have already lost their spirit to become robots.  However, the bleeding heart speaks to an ambiguity as to whether the person is losing all feeling or is still grasping for it.

But don't, don't, don't
Don't let them go
Don't, don't, don't, don't
Don't let them go to waste
The fire in my eye
Is fleeting now
Your robot heart is bleeding

As we head into the second verse, the narrator describes his attempt to succeed in the robot world.  The halting vocal describes an almost staggering sadness.  His sense of still being a boy can be seen both as a failure in the robot world and as a hope that retaining some child-like desire for a freer life can rally him and others to something better.  But, the end of the verse and a repeat of the chorus seem to say that it will not be.

Tried to be the robot king
And settled for a robot boy
Ring the bells that still can ring
And sing your stupid head off to
The ones who are not listening

But don't, don't, don't
Don't let them go
Don't, don't, don't, don't
Don't let them go to waste
The fire in my eye
Is fleeting now
Your robot heart is bleeding out

Next the chorus chord structure of D, A, Bm, G chord becomes the ongoing base of the song and the lyrics shift to almost total despair.  Always waiting for something.  Nothing works and it is intended that nothing should work.

And I've spent half of my life
In the customer service line
Flaws in the design
A sign of the times

But, (we needed this but), something deep within still holds out hope.  Those bleeding robot hearts are in fact bleeding for something.  They want to be loved.

And that little voice
In the back of your mind
Just wants you to know
Just hopes you know

Robots need love too
They want to be loved by you
They want to be loved by you
They want to be loved by

Robots need love too
They want to be loved by you
They want to be loved by you
They want to be loved by

And, with the sing-along, the song makes any interesting pivot.  The listener can view themselves as the metaphorical robot that has nearly died inside and needs to be loved.  They can also see themselves as the “you” that is challenged to love the robot.

I think the simple interpretation is that we are all the robots who need love and the “you’s” who should love.  Thus, everyone is singing together and the song ends joyously.

While I said up above that I like the fan video better than the official video, that was a bit misleading.  The official video is a little odd in its beginning but once the real theme comes through, I think it substantiates the song interpretation I offer here.