Good Enough for Me
The classic Cookie Monster song, "C is for Cookie", runs as follows:
A friend, on the other hand, introduced me tonight to the idea that it was merely the cookie that was good enough for Cookie Monster, and that the subtext of the song is that one should be satisfied with what one has. Or, as he put it: "These kids have to understand how anomalous, from the view of history, things are for them. They should wake up every morning and thank God that they live in this country, in this era, with this cookie."
So which is it? I continue to think my initial understanding is more likely. First off, it's a more natural reading of the text, which seems pretty clearly to set off the statement "C is for cookie" as a unitary concept to which "that" then refers. Second, the final line of the song, "Cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C", seems to underscore the idea that the purpose of the song is to celebrate the symbolic value of the letter C, rather than to simply reiterate the Cookie Monster's well-known predilection for cookies. That said, I'm open to the other position, if anyone can provide a suitable argument for it.
C is for cookie, that's good enough for me.The question is: what precisely is it that's "good enough" for the Cookie Monster? I'd always presumed that it was the fact that the letter C "was for" cookie, that the Monster was rejoicing in the letter's symbolic value that enabled him to, in a sense, be with his true love (cookies) even when was not actually present so long as he had the letter C, which, since letters are abstractions, would always be with him.
C is for cookie, that's good enough for me.
C is for cookie, that's good enough for me.
Oh! Cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C.
A friend, on the other hand, introduced me tonight to the idea that it was merely the cookie that was good enough for Cookie Monster, and that the subtext of the song is that one should be satisfied with what one has. Or, as he put it: "These kids have to understand how anomalous, from the view of history, things are for them. They should wake up every morning and thank God that they live in this country, in this era, with this cookie."
So which is it? I continue to think my initial understanding is more likely. First off, it's a more natural reading of the text, which seems pretty clearly to set off the statement "C is for cookie" as a unitary concept to which "that" then refers. Second, the final line of the song, "Cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C", seems to underscore the idea that the purpose of the song is to celebrate the symbolic value of the letter C, rather than to simply reiterate the Cookie Monster's well-known predilection for cookies. That said, I'm open to the other position, if anyone can provide a suitable argument for it.
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