PICTURE POSTCARDS FROM L.A. (JOSHUA KADISON)

Answers to Talking Points



1. Describe the two main characters of the song !
Ad 1. The first person narrator is the piano player at Eddy's bar. He has an affair with Rachel (she "shares his pillow"), but he is not jealous when she talks about leaving town and going to L.A. He is diplomatic: He does not tell her, that she is not pretty and gifted enough to "make it big someday" in Hollywood.
Rachel is the waitress at Eddy's bar. She wants to be a star, a singer in L.A. She keeps talking about going away to California, she even bought a ticket once, but something always makes her stay. So it is no more than a dream, an illusion.
2. Analyze the structure of the song !
Ad 2. 5 stanzas, chorus. Rhyme scheme: AABB, exception: stanza 4
It is a ballad in that it tells a kind of story.
3.1. Describe Rachel's plans !
Ad 3.1. Rachel wants to be a star, she swears she is gonna make it big someday, i.e. she will become successful, rich, and famous. She wants to become a singer in L.A., plans to have a performance in a late show. She thinks she is pretty, but she cannot be too sure of it herself, because she keeps asking the piano player if he finds her pretty.
3.2. How does the piano player judge her plans ?
Ad 3.2. He must feel that her plans are nothing but "dreams", that it is all make belief, abut because it is fun and they all feel better with their daydreams of a better future, he and the other spectators "pretend that (they) believe".
3.3. Why dosn't she make her dreams come true ? Why do her friends pretend to believe in her future ? Wouldn't it be better to be realistic ?
Ad 3.3. Deep inside her she knows that she is not good enough for a great career in L.A. Secondly she is not self-confident enough to leave her comparative safety in this small town.
4. Rachel's dream is typical of "the American dream". Explain !
Ad 4. Part of the American dream is the chance to come from rags to riches in the land of unlimited opportunities, where a dishwasher can end up as a millionaire.
5. Do you know other works of art where people have their illusions ?
Ad 5. In John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men", the two main characters share an unrealistic dream of their great future.