"I Want it That Way"

BACKSTREET BOYS LYRICS"I Want It That Way"
Yeah

You are my fire
The one desire
Believe when I say
I want it that way

But we are two worlds apart
Can't reach to your heart
When you say
That I want it that way

[Chorus:]
Tell me why
Ain't nothin' but a heartache
Tell me why
Ain't nothin' but a mistake
Tell me why
I never wanna hear you say
I want it that way

Am I your fireYour one desire
Yes I know it's too late
But I want it that way

[Chorus]

Now I can see that we're falling apart
From the way that it used to be, yeah
No matter the distanceI want you to know
That deep down inside of me...

You are my fire
The one desire
You are
You are, you are, you are

Don't wanna hear you say
Ain't nothin' but a heartache
Ain't nothin' but a mistake
(Don't wanna hear you say)
I never wanna hear you say
I want it that way

Tell me why
Ain't nothin' but a heartache
Tell me why
Ain't nothin but a mistake
Tell me whyI never wanna hear you say
(Don't wanna hear you say it)
I want it that way
I want it that way

Honestly, I never really thought about the words to the song, i have just had the lyrics to almost every backstreet boys song memorized since third grade. But now that i look over the lyrics, i notice that they are more sad then i thought they were. Saying things like "its too late" makes it seem like theyre breaking up but i always thought that it was a happier song about love just because of how upbeat the music seems to me. The song has always been a favorite of mine, along with each of the backstreet boys themselves so i was just happy listening to it and not really digging deeper into the meaning.

The Backstreet Boys

Does your chosen musical artist (for the CD project) represent the values of your generation?

I think the backstreet boys represent the values of many generations, not just mine, especially because of how most if not all of their lyrics are focused around women. The heritage artists that i featured in my CD project also sang about women and i think being with someone is usually a topic of lyrics, especially for a boy band. How the Backstreet Boys differ from earlier bands, however, is that how they describe women is in much more detail and is much more sexual. For instance, the Monkees say, "I saw her face, now I'm a believer" but the backstreet boys talk about how her body moved and things much more specific. They also represent the open-ness that there is about sexuality among my generation because of how they talk about cheating on their girlfriend by going to the appartment of some girl that they just met in the song "The Call". The Jackson 5 would only say something like "i did you wrong", never in the detail that bands like the backstreet boys do today.

Its a good thing Britney Spears wasn't around in the 50's

vs.

After watching the documentary, Elvis clearly was a controversial celebrity of his time because of the way he shook his hips. But he also opened up the door for other people to express their sexuality in their music, some more than others. Elvis was banned from some cities because they thought he wasn't something that was appropriate for people of the time. But look at us now, stars like Britney spears choose to wear virtually nothing in front of millions of people. And while some mothers try to prevent their children from seeing this, there is no way that she can be banned from entire cities. While Britney Spears is an extreme case, considering her most recent episodes, we cant necessarily say that she would be the same in terms of what music she produces and the clothes she wears if it weren't for elvis presely. Sure its probably true that someone else would have come along eventually but the differences between then and now in terms of what is appropriate clearly are pretty shocking.