Another Perfect Pop Song?

You, Dear Reader, know very well how YDS loves a good pop song. There is one in particular on YDS's iPod that quite frequently has me reaching to replay it, sometimes over and over, frighteningly like a teenager.

But I can't help it. It has everything a great pop song should have: sex, longing, loneliness, angst, devotion to a lost cause, oh, and a good beat. And it doesn't hurt that both singers for The Veronicas have mastered that baleful sort of nasal tone that I'm doing a horrible job of describing but when you hear it sounds like instant longing.

Or maybe its just a road tramp song...

Anyway, here are the lyrics and the video for The Veronicas, This Love. I hope you enjoy.

This Love
The Veronicas
Hook Me Up

I can see it in your eyes
taste it in our first kiss
stranger in this lonely town
save me from my emptiness

You took my hand
you told me it would be ok
I trusted you to hold my heart
now fate is pulling me away, from you

Even if I leave you now
and it breaks my heart
even if I'm not around
I won't give in
I can't give up
on this love

You've become a piece of me
makes me sick to even think
of mornings waking up alone
searching for you in my sheets
don't fade
away

Even if I leave you now
and it breaks my heart
even if I'm not around
I won't give in
I can't give up
on this love

I can't just close the door
(on this love)
I never felt anything like this before
(like this love)
tell me the truth no matter what we're going through
will you hold on too 'cause
even if I leave you now
and it breaks my heart
even if I'm not around
I won't give in
I can't give up
on this love

Even if I leave you now
and it breaks my heart
even if I'm not around
I won't give in
I can't give up
on this love

Go On and Kiss the Girl

Another softening of a story hit me as particularly disturbing yesterday. As you know, faithful reader, I have a weakness for pop music and Colbie Callait and Ashley Tisdale both rerecorded "Kiss the Girl" from Disney's The Little Mermaid. It's a good song, and both versions are fun and made their way onto my iPod. But as I was listening to the Colbie Callait version, it struck me how far from Hans Christen Anderson's original the Disney story had strayed.



Never mind that Ariel can walk without feeling like swords were stabbing her, like in the original, but if the mermaid can't get her true love to reciprocate by kissing her (or marrying her), then not only will she have sacrificed her 300 year long mer-life, but also any chance at an immortal soul.



So, when Colbie and Ashley sing:

Sha la la la la la ain't that sad
Ain't it a shame, too bad
He gonna miss the girl

They're really underplaying the stakes for Ariel.



I mean, jeez, she's about to end up as sea foam! Shouldn't there be more urgency than "ain't it a shame?"

Or maybe, again, it's just a pop song.

Oh, and don't get me started on what a mistake Ashley Tisdale made "fixing" her nose....

A little something for you, dear reader

You've probably gathered that music is pretty important to me. You may have even figured out that iTunes has revitalized my love affair with music, especially new music. So I managed to figure out how to add an RSS feed at the bottom of my blog that shows some of my latest iTunes purchases for your amazement and ridicule. Enjoy.

Or don't ... whatever.

Chieftains at the Kennedy Center Last Night.

'Nuf said.
.
Well, except that Cara Butler was there too. That was good.
.
Oh, and Alyth McCormack. She was amazing.
.
And the bagpipes were cool.
.
So, thanks Pete!!!

Wm. Shakespeare v. Taylor Swift

If you know me, and I know you do dear reader, you know that I have an unreasoning weakness for a well-crafted pop song. And true to my caddish male nature, that goes double for one sung by a cute girl. So, for better or worse, I was bound to be a sucker for "Love Story" by Taylor Swift.



The song is interesting though, because for 85% of it, it's a pretty faithful retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, including Juliet's moment of doubt towards the end. Taylor sings:

I got tired of waiting,
Wondering if you were ever coming around
My faith in you was fading,

But instead of the tragic ending Shakespeare wrote, Juliet's forbidden love arrives:

When I met you on the outskirts of town, and I said

Romeo save me, I've been feeling so alone
I keep waiting for you but you never come
Is this in my head, I don't know what to think
He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said

Marry me Juliet, you'll never have to be alone
I love you and that's all I really know
I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress
It's a love story, baby, just say yes

Nice enough, sure. But this rewrite of the story leads me to wonder, "Does a pop song have to have a happy ending?" And if Taylor Swift wanted a song with a happy ending, why pick Romeo and Juliet at all? Maybe it's a statement that even the most famous of star-crossed lovers deserve a happy ending, suggesting that Taylor believes that Shakespeare treated his most famous characters poorly.

Or maybe ... it's just a pop song.

Old School v. Gangsta

I've blogged previously about my varied musical taste and so it won't come as a surprise to you faithful reader when I tell you that back in the day, I used to listen to Public Enemy quite a lot. Well, that music was on cassette so it's been a while since I listened to PE, but that changed a few weeks ago when I downloaded a couple of tracks off of "It Takes a Nation to Millions to Hold Us Down" on iTunes.

I started thinking about how amazing the music and lyrics were and wondered how the genre of rap got from Chuck D, to the hardcore gangster rap that predominates the charts now. Akon, to take an easy example, made up a criminal history to lend credibility to his album Konvicted. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0416081akon1.html?link=rssfeed

Chuck D, back when he was writing absolutely groundbreaking rap in 1995, complained in his lyrics that he was being unfairly painted as a criminal in "Don't Believe the Hype."

They claim that I'm a criminal.
By now I wonder how
Some people never know
The Enemy could be their friend.
Guardian, I'm not a hooligan.
I rock the party and
Clear all the madness.
I'm not a racist.
Preach to teach to all
'Cause some they never had this.
Number one, not born to run.
About the gun...
I wasn't licensed to have one.
The minute they see me, fear me.
I'm the epitome - a public enemy
Used, abused without clues.
I refused to blow a fuse.
They even had it on the news.
Don't believe the hype.

Why is it the perception of toughness or even being an outlaw, that is important now, rather than the respect as a human being that Chuck D said that he sought through his lyrics? And then this guy, http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/sports/football/Giant-Pain-Pierce-Spoke-to-NFL-Security-About-Burress-Team-Says.html?corder=&pg=1 is just an idiot. He claims he was carrying the gun to protect himself, but the NFL would have provided him with security if he believed he was really in danger. He was carrying the gun to meet the image created a perpetuated by artists like Akon. And ended up shooting himself in the leg and ending his NFL career because of it.

Is that an image worth striving for?

Pop Music and the F word

I know. I'm late to the Seether bandwagon, but the two songs I just got, Remedy and Fake It are just rocking songs. I love the lyrics of Fake It and the Seattle grunge feel to Remedy takes me back. Not sure why I resisted with Seether, maybe it's because I was annoyed that the band has the same name as just an awesome song from Veruca Salt from 1994. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AI95BVkiW0

Anyway, at the same time I got the two from Seether, I got Buckcherry's Crazy Bitch. I don't like Buckcherry much as a rule, but I love the song Crazy Bitch. I don't know if it's the riff, or the lyrics, or what, but I just love the song.

Now, Fake It has fscking in it, but Crazy Bitch, well, that song is chock full of fsck.

I ordinarily buy the explicit version of songs almost as much because it annoys me to hear the actual lyrics edited out as any thought that the artists ought to be able to be heard in their original voice. I don't curse much myself, but I don't begrudge an artist their impulse to use colorful language in their lyrics. That being said, there is a lot of fsck in that song Crazy Bitch. But I think it's okay, like I think its okay that there is a bunch of shut in Gwen Stefani's song Hollaback Girl. It's not the pop music that was out when I was a kid and one thing is for sure ...

I'm not letting my son use my iPod.

You're Only as Old as You ... Listen?

I was talking with a colleague of mine today and somehow we got on the topic of music and I described an artist as emo (I forget now who it was) and despite the fact that she is at least ten years younger than me (perhaps fifteen), she said "What's emo?" Well, I named a few emo bands (none of which she had heard of) and ultimately said "Well, its sort of post-grunge." And she said "Grunge?"

She then told me that that was how she knew she had gotten old. She no longer listened to or cared about new music. In her view, there was nothing on the radio worth hearing and she spends most of her time listening to music she already owns. Is that a definition of old? I guess...

By that count, I am certainly not old. I'm always listening for new music, and quite frequently really liking what I hear..But, I do admit to feeling somewhat creepy (and definitely old) when I think about the age of some of the artists that I like. I felt that way about Avril Lavigne's first album and feel that way again about Paramore. But I can't help it, even though Haley Williams is not yet 20, that band frikkin' rocks.

Really, though, what does it matter? If someone thinks that my age (44 btw) makes me old, the fact that I listen to Paramore isn't going to change their mind. Old is just a label that I can put on myself (like my colleague has) or that other people can put on me. It doesn't affect who I am, or how I feel, or how I live my life.

Or what music is on my iPod.

Uh, What?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080905/lf_nm_life/britain_music_dc_1

Again, what does this say about me? Sounds like a poorly designed study to me. Wealthy people like opera? Well, did they control for socioeconomic factors before drawing that conclusion. Heavy metal listeners are gentle, while indie lovers aren't? Really? What about emo indie?

Meh, I've already wasted too much cyber-breath on this dumb study.

RSSs and My Music

I'm still not really sure what an RSS is or how it works exactly, but I like the one that I picked up from iTunes that lets you all see what songs I've bought there lately. I think a person's taste in music says a lot about them, but I'm not really sure what my crazy eclectic taste says about me. That I'm crazy? That I'm eclectic? Who knows?

Speaking of taste in music, I make no secrets about the fact that I am older than most around the imvu ranch, but check this out. Not once, but twice, I've bought music from iTunes only to have it be a featured free download the next week. The first time was with Toy Shiny Guns last year and the second time was just this week with Black Kids. You ought to give this track a listen and this band a try. They really are very good. Sort of lounge meets Depeche Mode updated.... Anyway. What have you got to lose? It's free. But am I one step ahead of iTunes and thus really hip? Or am I just anticipating the next corporate push to mold us into one unvarying consumer? I know which one I want to believe....

Yo! MTV Raps!

Just had to mention that I was up way to late the other night and Yo! MTV Raps came on MTV2 (or was it MTVJams?). I had forgotten how great old school rap was. There are moments in rap in this decade, but they just can't compare to brilliant stuff that was being recorded in the late eighties early nineties before gangster gained such a stranglehold on the rap scene. The Fugees, Tribe Called Quest, classic Queen Latifah, just excellent music and amazing words paired beautifully. There were videos from all three on the episode of Yo! that I was watching. Can't forget DeLaSoul either. Three Feet High and Rising is one of the great rap albums of all time.

You kiddies out there, take a tip from one who knows and download some of this stuff. You'll never listen to today's rap the same again....