Debentures in this context?
SO REMEMBER THOSE WHO WIN THE GAME
LOSE THE LOVE THEY SOUGHT TO GAIN
IN DEBENTURES OF QUALITY AND DUBIOUS INTEGRITY
THEIR SMALL-TOWN EYES WILL GAPE AT YOU
IN DULL SURPRISE WHEN PAYMENT DUE
EXCEEDS ACCOUNTS RECEIVED AT SEVENTEEN
These are lyrics from a Janis Ian song "at seventeen"; could you please help me understand what's in bold?
PS: shouldn't it be "when payment'S due"?
Top answer
Hello, I think here the 'small- town eyes' is the metaphoric value for the public opinion, and they grant you a sort of bond for recognition of their debt(metaphoric value for respect)in form of 'quality and dubious integrity,or simply, they sheepishly respect you, but with some doubts in their minds. Cheers
- Hello, I think here the 'small- town eyes' is the metaphoric value for the public opinion, and they grant you a sort of bond for recognition of their debt(metaphoric value for respect)in form of 'quality and dubious integrity,or simply, they sheepishly respect you, but with some doubts in their minds.
- Cheers
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I think here the 'small- town eyes' is the metaphoric value for the public opinion, and they grant you a sort of bond for recognition of their debt(metaphoric value for respect)in form of 'quality and dubious integrity,or simply, they sheepishly respect you, but with some doubts in their minds.
Cheers
0What is a/- "debentures" ?
I'm not a calculating/money person...
00If a debenture = 'a bond backed by the general credit of the issuer rather than a specific lien on particular assets':
Then these 'debentures' are 'bonds backed by the issuer's quality and integrity', where the issuer = 'those who win the game', and 'bonds' = 'an obligation made binding by a forfeit', i.e.
1. 'obligations backed by the qual
0Since there is no punctuation, the interpretations could be different.
0I think you're right. Mine is only one alternative. I didn't mean to imply that yours was wrong!
MrP
0
Maybe the context will be clearer with the complete lyric
0
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