O Dear Minny, What Shall I Do?

O Dear Minny, What Shall I Do? - meaning Summary

Caught by Impossible Standards

This short lyric presents a speaker’s playful, rueful complaint about being trapped by contradictory expectations. Addressing “minny,” the narrator repeats a helpless refrain and lists impossible options—black, fair, lordly—each supposedly ruling out love or worth. The tone mixes self-mockery and frustration, suggesting social pressures and the futility of pleasing others. Repetition underscores the speaker’s circular worry and lack of agency, turning a personal lament into a comic shortcoming of social judgment.