"F--k You!"- An Ode to the Listener (A Lyrical Analysis)

Good news: I finally found a version of "F--k You!" I can enjoy.


It's the one by the clucking chickens in The Muppets.

Seriously though, I can just tell that song is going to be one of  those songs that stays in the back of everybody's minds, though strictly based on what I consider its memetic potential.

I really can't understand how Cee Lo Green has a career; then again, as this post's title may suggest, I'm a Smashing Pumpkins fan, so I suppose I don't have a lot of room to complain about other signers' voices (but I will anyway). Admittedly, his singing has gotten slightly less annoying to me lately; it's gone from "unbearable" to "ignorable," mostly thanks to the rise of the far more annoying Adele (who sings every note like she's drowning, but I digress).
His voice aside, the fact that it is a neo-funk song that charted as high as it did (#2 on the Hot 100) is impressive in its own right; I for one haven't heard about any other hit songs in that style in the year-plus since its debut. Once I was able to listen to it beyond Cee Lo's voice, I was able to appreciate how unique it was/is for its time.

That being said, the lyrics are absolutely nothing special, and if it had just been titled and written as "Forget You" or "Screw You" (or anything else non-profane, for that matter), I highly doubt it would've been considered for a single release. It's a break-up song, pure and simple (and poorly-written).

I see you driving ’round town
With the girl I love and I’m like,
F--k you!
I guess the change in my pocket
Wasn’t enough, I’m like,
F--k you!

The singer's ex is apparently a gold digger, leaving him because didn't have enough moolah to fulfill her whims. That, or they've been living together for a while, he's been out of work for some time, too lazy or otherwise unable to find a job, and she couldn't take it anymore. There's no context given for the situation, so it could be shallow or it could be completely justified; so far, I don't have a reason to care.

I said, if I was richer, I’d still be with ya
Ha, now ain’t that some s--t? (ain’t that some s--t?)
And although there’s pain in my chest
I still wish you the best with a…
F--k you!

Again, on the surface, it looks like the woman's just being shallow, but without context, who's to say?
One point that people often cite when I ask about the appeal of this song is the sarcasm; the line "I still wish you the best with a f--k you!" is the only part I can find that uses legitimate sarcasm, through the verbal irony of claiming to "wish [her] the best" with an obscene tell-off.

Yeah I’m sorry I can’t afford a Ferrari,
But that don’t mean I can’t get you there.
I guess he’s an Xbox and I’m more Atari,
But the way you play your game ain’t fair.

 This is definitely the cleverest stanza, the Xbox/Atari comparison specifically. The plea of the first couplet is honest and touching -- assuming, of course, that the speaker has a good personality that he feels should overrule his empty pockets.

I pity the fool that falls in love with you
(Oh s--t she’s a gold digger)
Well
(Just thought you should know ni--a)

The first line implies that the singer feels that the woman had taken advantage of him during their time together, emphasized by the background line "she's a gold digger". The second background line seems to be addressing the woman's new lover, flippantly warning him about her ways.

I’ve got some news for you
Yeah go run and tell your little boyfriend

The second line is obviously directed at the woman, but it's unknown what she is supposed or going to tell her boyfriend. The first line is unclear about who it's directed to, or what exactly the "news" is; it could be telling the man that the woman is a leech, but then the second line and its sudden shift in direction are made even more confusing.

I see you driving ’round town
With the girl I love and I’m like,
F--k you!
I guess the change in my pocket
Wasn’t enough, I’m like,
F--k you!
I said, if I was richer, I’d still be with ya
Ha, now ain’t that some s--t? (ain’t that some s--t?)
And although there’s pain in my chest
I still wish you the best with a…
F--k you!

Back to the chorus, and another shift of direction. It would be forgivable if, at some point, the speaker dedicated a verse to his disdain for the man (hereby referred to as "Joe", to avoid potentially confusing pronouns), but they all focus on his ex, while every "f--k you" is directed at Joe, aside from the occasional "And f--k her too." What does he have against Joe himself? Is he just jealous that Joe can afford to be with the woman? Did the woman specifically leave the speaker because she knew that Joe actually had money? Why are all the verses focusing on why he hates the woman, if most of his anger in the choruses is directed at Joe? Why does the speaker care that she left him anyway, if he knows that she's a gold digger? When OK Go wrote a guy who was unfazed by his constantly cheating woman, at least he offered the excuse that she was "so damn hot"; Cee Lo's character doesn't even give a reason why he's superficially attracted to the woman. If he's so quick to accuse her of being a gold digger and send her off in the way he does, why does he still claim to "love" her?

Now I know, that I had to borrow;
Beg and steal and lie and cheat
Trying to keep ya, trying to please ya.
'Cause being in love with yo' ass ain't cheap.

And this has to do with... what? He never mentions any consequences for these actions or regret for committing them. Granted, they tell the listener how far he went to keep the woman happy and imply how much it took to make her happy, but with all the time he spends singing about how she sucked him dry, he never once stops to think, "Wait a second... I don't need to borrow, beg, steal, lie and cheat anymore! I never have to spend a cent on her again!"

I pity the fool that falls in love with you
(oh s--t she’s a gold digger)
Well
(just thought you should know ni--a)
Ooooooh
I’ve got some news for you
I really hate yo' ass right now

The repetition of this stanza adds nothing (save clarification of what the "news" is); the same can be said for the chorus.

Now baby, baby, baby, why d'you wanna wanna hurt me so bad?
(So bad, so bad, so bad)
I tried to tell my mamma but she told me
"This is one for your dad"
(your dad, your dad, your dad)
Uh! Why? Uh! Why? Uh!
Why lady? Oh! I love you oh!
I still love you. Oooh!

"Why?" That's what I've wanted to know for the last three minutes. Why do you keep insisting you love her? Why exactly did she leave you? Why do you constantly switch from speaking to her to speaking to Joe? Why did you think for a second that briefly mentioning what your mother had to say about the situation would add anything to the song? Why hasn't this song faded away from mainstream attention yet?


OK, so I'm slightly overreacting; it's not like the song is still sitting in the Top 40 or something. But still, the only reason I can imagine that this song became as massive as it did is that the American listening public largely found the idea of an obscenely-titled break-up song to have some legitimate value (artistic or camp, I'm not sure, though I fall into the latter). Certainly not helping matters was the cover version by Gwenyth Paltrow on Glee (and the less I say about that show, the better) and her duet with Green at the 2010 Grammys, both of which helped propel the clean version into the Top 10, meaning that song had found success without glaring empty spaces where the obscenity normally lay. Because, of course, nothing should keep this absolute gem from the airwaves.