"The World is a Very Scary Place" is the third track on The Tragic Treasury. It is performed by The Gothic Archies. It coincides with the book The Wide Window.
Lyrics[]
- The world is a very scary place, my dear
- It's hurled and it's twirled
- Through outer space, I fear
- So many ways to lose your skin in it
- The number of ways to die is infinite
- The world is a very scary thing, I find
- It curled all my toes and it’s curling my mind
- When I was young, my study was candies
- But they attract tarantulas and bees
- Some people act as if there were nothing wrong
- Due to the fact they haven't heard this song
- The world is a very scary place to go
- It's whorled and it’s swirled
- With death like glaze, you know
- You may have found my views unorthodox
- But now the wolf is at the door - it knocks...
References in the Song[]
- The world is a very scary place, my dear
- The entirety of the song's paranoia is a reference to Josephine Anwhistle and her numerous amount of fears which prevent her from being a fully capable guardian to the Baudelaires.
- When I was young, my study was candies
But they attract tarantulas and bees- A lowkey reference to the famous Baudelaire peppermint allergy. The Baudelaires utilize this allergy by eating peppermints during dinner with Arthur Poe and Captain Sham (Count Olaf) in order to feign illness and return to Josephine Anwhistle's house to research her "demise."
- The line referencing bees may refer to Violet and Sunny's specific reaction to the peppermints, causing them to break out in hives.
- It's whorled and it’s swirled
With death like glaze, you know- Because of Aunt Josephine’s belief in this sentiment, she thinks of all aspects of people’s lives and the world in the context of death. Her constant mental reminders of her own death are intensified by her living on a cliff overlooking the site of her husband's–and soon, her–death.[1]
- But now the wolf is at the door, it knocks
- Referencing one of Aesop's Fables, The Boy Who Cried Wolf. In it, a boy alerts villagers of an incoming wolf many times, despite there never actually being a wolf. He inconveniences the townspeople and causes them not to trust him. So, when a wolf actually does come to attack and the boy cries for help, nobody comes to his aid and all his sheep are gobbled up.
- Likewise, Josephine is consumed by her many irrational perceived threats, so when she is approached by perhaps the greatest threat to anyone, Count Olaf/Captain Sham, she doesn’t seem to notice because she is so preoccupied with all the other things in the world she doesn’t trust. Count Olaf is the wolf, and because of him, Josephine is gobbled up.[1]
Gallery[]
The World Is a Very Scary Place-0
The Gothic Archies - The World Is A Very Scary Place
Fan-made music video by Hex97
Sources[]
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