There Are Those

Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a stark picture of social stratification, drawing a clear line between the "demanding" elite and a "lower strata" where rules don't apply. Mrs. Duke emphasizes the constant public scrutiny faced by the upper class, while Aunt Mary contrasts this with those for whom position is "natural," suggesting an inherited, effortless grace that money can't buy. This creates an immediate tension between performative status and inherent class, a subtle jab at the "nouveau riche" who might try to emulate true breeding. The core conflict emerges in the spoken exchanges, where Aunt Mary playfully misunderstands Mrs. Duke's references to "the blue book" and "pages of history." Aunt Mary's quips, like equating the blue book with the "New York Telephone Directory," subtly undermine Mrs. Duke's perceived authority and the exclusivity she champions. This back-and-forth highlights the absurdity of social gatekeeping when faced with genuine, perhaps more grounded, perspectives. The repeated phrase "There are those" acts as a structural anchor, but its meaning shifts with each speaker. Mrs. Duke uses it to delineate the privileged and the overlooked, while Aunt Mary employs it to categorize those with innate class versus the merely wealthy. The contrast between "flaunt posterity" and "flaunt austerity" further complicates the definition of status, suggesting different ways of projecting influence or restraint, all while John Lawless's food orders provide a comedic, grounding counterpoint to the high-society chatter. Ultimately, the lyrics land with a sharp, ironic wit. The effectiveness lies in how the dialogue exposes the arbitrary nature of social hierarchies. Aunt Mary's gentle mockery and Mrs. Duke's increasingly flustered responses reveal that the "class" Mrs. Duke so fiercely guards might be more of a performance than a genuine condition, making the repeated "There are those" feel less like a statement of fact and more like a resigned, or perhaps amused, observation of human folly.