A brief psychoanalytic criticism of the lyrics “Another Day In Paradise”, by Phil

Collins

The lyrics tells the story, from a third-person perspective, of a woman who
lives on the streets and asks a man for help. The man is crossing the street and
ignore the woman. We can realize classism when the man keep walking and doesn’t
look back. It seems like he doesn’t care about that woman. “He pretends can’t hear
her.” It’s a typical behavior from bourgeoisie who doesn’t care about the poor.

The man passes giving no importance for the woman’s situation. He tries
pretend the poverty doesn’t exist in that case. “Seems embarrassed to be there”. So,
We can see a kind of avoidance. Like he was poor in the past and doesn’t want to
remember this time.

It’s also possible the man believes so much in the American dream and he
thinks if the woman is in this bad situation is because she doesn’t worked enough to
be in a better situation. He disregards all difficulties that the woman could have
passed through during her life to arrive in that bad situation.

Another day in paradise does a criticism about the amount of the homeless
people and the lack of care about them, although the story is happening in a big city.
That is why the sarcasm used in the title of the song.