W o r d J u n k

Literary Analysis of “Shut Up Woman Get On My Horse”

The symbolism and literary devices present in “Get On My Horse”  may not be readily apparent.  Indeed they are veiled by a thick slab of innuendo - however upon closer examination one will see that this “innuendo” is actually a powerful message of an oppressive, male-dominated society.

Firstly if you haven’t watched the video…please do so now:

(prob NSFW) http://www.getonmyhorse.com/

We shall dissect this piece line at a time (heh…that rhymed) starting with “Look at my horse - my horse is amazing.  Give it a lick.  Mmm, it tastes just like raisins!”  The fellows horse obviously represents male virility in its most purest form.  Performance, strength, endurance, the spirit to forge ahead and win.  The declaration that this horse is “amazing” shows man’s arrogance of the world he has created - while at the same time his horse is depicted as something demented and vile.  The irony here illustrates a crookedness in mans thought and a discordance between his different cultures and mores.  For instance man may believe his achievements are great - but they fall short in comparison to its failures (i.e. slavery, oppression of women, holocaust, etc.).  When the girl replies that it tastes just like raisins - it reaffirms this analysis as raisins represent a sort of dried out, sour attitude and nature.  The horse (or mankind) may taste amazing and sweet to the man - but to the woman it is sour and shriveled. 

“With a stroke of it’s mane it turns into a plane, and it turns back again when you tug on it’s winky.”   The stroking of the mane and transformation into a plane represents mans desire to industrialize and innovate at the expense of the natural world - he is looking out only for his own good and self benefit.  It mirrors the capitalist society which is so tied to a machoness and self-determined greed.  It’s transformation back in exchange for masturbation relates to mans easily sold-out nature and his weakness of seduction - not only to women - but to power.  When the girl replies “Ew that’s dirty!”  she is crying out against the disgusting, self-absorbed attitude of man.  The man on the horse retorts: “Do you think so?  Well I better not tell you where the lemonade is made!  Mm, sweet lemonade…”   This is enigmatic - but the sexual reference is clear.  The man on the horse defeats the woman’s desire to break away from dependence on man with his assertion that man-kinds seed must be passed on.  This implies that women are merely tools, or objects, to reproduce and bring man sons to continue the cycle of society of men have forged. 

When the man commands the woman to get on his horse and “take [her] ‘round the universe and all the other places too,”  He is referring to the curiosity of man and his desire to break into new frontiers - the final of course being space (according to James T. Kirk).  This of course shows the male tendency to expand outward and conquer others (namely here the woman) with his influence - without any intention of bending his own opinions but rather coerce his own ideals onto others.  Rather than exploring his inner-space and bettering himself, he sees the world as something to be changed in his perception of “better” — this of course is product of his own arrogance as referenced earlier.  The girl refutes this with the fact that “you’ll find that the universe pretty much covers everything.”  She is remarking on the futility of man to change everything to his image for there are things that transcend man and each man has his own vision.  Thus there will always be someone to take his place as king and he will never be truly fulfilled until he realizes the final frontier lies in his own phobias and psyche. 

Finally, and however, the piece ends in a rather pessimistic and even ominous tone, with mans dense and redundant attitude exemplified through the final phrase “shut up women get on my horse!” which I think pretty much speaks for itself.