Played for laughs

摘要

THE SONG begins in typical power-ballad fashion, with plaintive piano chords and rumbling strings. Soon, though, the lyrics go awry. The lead singer reflects on his good fortune-a successful career on television, a passionate marriage, a "thousand-dollar haircut"-but laments that he is tormented day and night by a single question. Such soft-rock numbers usually dwell on a former lover or missed opportunity; what preoccupies this man is a prehistoric monument in south-west England. "What's the deal with Stonehenge?" he cries, his white shirt billowing in the wind. Is it "a giant granite birthday cake, or a prison far too easy to escape"?