"The A Team" Analysis by Sam

The A Team

Everyone who has ever read a story or listened to a song can personally interpret it differently than the person they are sitting next to. It’s a natural tendency in which the lyrics or plot connects with us and our feelings. Following this point everyone is entitled to their own opinion. For example I think the song “The ‘A’ Team” by Ed Sheeran is about a young girl living the life of a prostitute.

          The evidence that helps me lead to this conclusion is when Sheeran sings of “Long nights, strange men / or sells love to another man” (6 and 20). The definition of a prostitute is someone who sells their body for money through the act of sex, which is what I think, is being suggested in the lines above. Another example that led me to believe of prostitution are lines (5 and 10) which say “Struggling to pay rent / been this way since 18”.  I can’t say I know how a prostitute lives or even that what we see on the television is completely true, but usually turning tricks isn’t a lifestyle individuals choose for no reason, especially at the age of 18.

          When I first heard this song I did not hear verses that signaled prostitution. My thoughts were that this song was about a young girl who was sick. “White lips, pale face / been this way since 18 / but lately her face seems / slowly sinking, wasting / crumbling like pastries /” (1, 10-13), all influenced me to come to this conclusion, and due to the fact that those are descriptions we sometimes give when someone is really ill. I believe that the way Sheeran sings these lines also played a part because they stuck out to me the most. Although those phrases are also spots where one could argue a different meaning is present.

          In support of that statement you could put “White lips, pale face, / burnt lungs, sour taste, / crumbling like pastries, / and go mad for a couple grams / and in a pipe she flies to the motherland” (1, 3, 13, 17, 19) together and get the results of possible drug use. The motherland and pipe that is being mentioned here I think is the tool and place where her mind goes during the high to find happiness or relief in her darkest times.  It makes sense with the previous lines mentioned that this may be what is going on. Like I said before I don’t know the details but I do connect drugs and prostitution under the same lifestyle choice.

          At some point in every piece of literature the story changes. Midway through the song Sheeran sings “Call girl, no phone / an angel will die, / covered in white, / closed eye, / and hoping for a better life / and in a pipe we fly to the motherland” (29, 46-48, 64), here is where I think the girl finally has had enough and ends up dying. Unlike before I assume that pipe and motherland is describing the transportation type and place the girl is now at which may mean heaven. This is where things get fuzzy; I have yet to really figure it out how certain phrases mentioned even relate to this topic. In the chorus temperature and angels are sang of. All I can think about for relation is that Ed Sheeran’s song “The ‘A’ Team” is telling the story of a girl and her choices, which whom he is in love with. Herself loss causes Sheeran to die too so he could be with her, and to finally show her love and affection she didn’t find during her life on earth….