"Funny the Way It Is"

            Along with the use of oxymoronic situations in “Funny the Way It Is,” Dave Matthews Band utilizes conflicting imagery, depressing irony and paradox, and a wishful tone to show how much is wrong with the world when you “remember how it used to be.”

Throughout the song, Dave Matthews Band uses a lot of imagery to help convey the point they want to get across. There are many descriptions of happy and beautiful scenes. The beginning of the song goes, “Lying in the park on a beautiful day, sunshine in the grass, and the children play.” This paints a picture of a wonderful day where everything is cheerful and bright. A second example of happy imagery is, “Like a pretty bird on a breeze or water to a fish.” This also creates a picture of a lovely situation. On the contrary, there are also lines in the song that convey images of disastrous or depressing scenes. The line right after the previously mentioned one is, “A bomb blast brings a building crashing to the floor.” This is by far the opposite of the beautiful scenes that Dave Matthews Band also uses throughout the song. This contradiction of situations helps to prove the narrator’s point that the world has changed. The differentiation of the examples of imagery in the song set up ironic situations that help to determine the universal idea in “Funny the Way It Is.”

There are many examples of irony and paradox that are expressed throughout the song to show conflicting events that happen in the world. A line in the song that shows irony is when Matthews says, “On a soldier’s last breath his baby’s being born.” This shows irony because as a man is dying, his son is being born. No one ever expects this sad event to happen. If anything, people would be happy to wait for the time when the man comes home so he can meet his newborn child. In another instance, this example could also be argued. Since the man is fighting in a war, there is always the chance that he could be killed. One cannot expect a soldier to come home safely because they face the ever present threat of never being able to go home again. Another example of irony is in the line, “Someone’s house is burning down on a” beautiful day. If the weather is great and the day is beautiful, no one expects a fire to ruin everything. A paradox in the song is when a “war song is playing, ‘why can’t we be friends?’” War is a theme that goes hand in hand with enemies. In war there is death and suffering, things that are not involved with friendship. The line is a comparison of two situations that are opposite of each other. The use of irony and paradox in the song are used to show the different things that are going on in the world that contradict each other.

The wishful tone that is present in “Funny the Way It Is” conveys the feeling that the narrator has for the happenings in the world. Dave Matthews says, “It must’ve been much harder when there was no bridge just water.” He means that life now is much easier than it was back when. If there was no bridge, it would be very difficult to get across the water unlike now, when it is very easy to cross the bridge. Also, he says, “Now the world is small, remember how it used to be.” The oxymoron of the world being small shows the wish that the narrator has to have everything back to how it was; back to normal. The line, “Funny the way it is, not right or wrong” means that the contradictions in the world are ironic, but they do not make everything in the world wrong or bad. By saying that it is not right says that the narrator wishes that the world did not change how it did. No matter what goes on throughout the world, the things that happen are the things that make the world what it is. If there were no bad situations, then there would be no good situations. If there was nothing sad, there would be nothing happy. The wishful tone given by Dave Matthews Band helps to explain the reasoning for all the happenings, good or bad, in the world.

When you remember how everything “used to be,” you can see just how “funny the way it is.” As happy events are taking place in one part of the world, depressing scenes are being played out in another. The change that the whole world has been through may not be pleasing to everyone, but it must be accepted by everyone. This is shown in “Funny the Way It is” through Dave Matthews Band’s use of conflicting imagery, depressing irony and paradox, and wishful tone.