Lyrics
The church (Catholic, silly) once feared that the lyrical content of any hymn would be ignored in favor of the sounds coming from the instruments. Even to this day, musicians have the same complaint. Some of them choose to voice their concerns in their songs. Blues Traveler's Hook is one such song. Although I'm not a musician, I can understand why a musician would get upset about this. They often work as hard, if not harder on the lyrical content to a song than they do on the instrumental portion. Even worse is when a musician writes very personal lyrics and then later comes up with the instrumental support only to find that no one seems to appreciate the lyrics. It must drive some of them nuts.
I imagine it's usually not a big problem for most musicians though. Songs with sad lyrics usually sound sad too. Songs about sunshine and lollipops usually sound like sunshine and lollipops. However, there are occasions where the feel of a song and its lyrics don't match.
I started thinking about this as I listened to one of my favorite songs. Zero7's Somersault. Sia's talents as a singer certainly aren't wasted on the track. The song has a very strong feeling of love. You certainly believe she's in love. Unfortunately the lyrical content doesn't back it up. Feeding other people's parking meters and giving your significant other a jellybean doesn't exactly prove to anyone how awesome you are. A friend pointed out that Pearl Jam's Better Man is a song about a woman who won't leave an abusive relationship. The same friend also pointed out that people at the Pearl jam concert were dancing with their boy/girlfriends to this song. That's a little bit weird. There are plenty of examples of the lyrical content not matching the feel of the song. The 70's, country music, and 70's country music are filled with them, but my favorite example comes from the 80's. The Human League's Don't You Want Me? is a favorite dance song of many, but the thing is that it's an argument between the male and female singers! Just pretend for a minute that you were at their concert and there there was no musical accompaniment and they weren't arguing to a beat. It would be very awkward for you to be there to listen to this. You'd probably start thinking of an excuse to leave!
I'm not some sort of a lyrics snob. I enjoy my bubblegum pop as well as my serious stuff with a meaning, but sometimes the inconsistency between the lyrics and the feel of a song is really fascinating. I wonder if there's a formal name for it...
Shark Week!
I’ve always watched the Discovery channel. It was a much better teacher than school, and more importantly, I actually got to learn about things I was interested in. One of my great memories of the Discovery Channel was/is Shark Week. Shark Week used to be quite an event. There would be 2 months of ads always reminding you of Shark Week. It was like a national holiday in which you could celebrate the awesomeness of this group of sea dwellers. You’d see some pretty basic stuff. There was always the one show where a guy actually caught sharks with an overgrown fishing rod, and there was the ever-popular swimming with great whites from behind the safety of a shark cage. The most awesome thing about Shark Week: It was actually 2 weeks long! My little mind didn’t understand that it was because they didn’t have many programs to show, but it didn’t matter. There were motherfucking sharks on the motherfucking boat.
Shark Week these days isn’t as exciting. They don’t show that many shark-related programs during that week, and all of the excitement is gone. I can just imagine the talking heads at the Discovery Channel creaming their pants at the thought of Shark Week in the old days. They thought big. They were looking to hire that guy who does all those movie trailers. Shark Week was going to have better ratings than the moon landing. Truly, it would be the pinnacle of television programming, and the reason why aliens would visit Earth.
Shark Week is just a holdover from old times where you could actually learn something from the Discovery Channel. I’m sure that next year the only shark related programming will be a shark shaped motorcycle, and car. Gone are the youthful days of the discovery channel in which lofty idealism made young viewers such as myself believe in science and want to become scientists, and…err…other smart people. Now the Discovery Channel is a soulless wonder obsessed with making a buck right now. Now the channel encourages a generation of youth to build motorcycles and heavily modified cars. What has happened to you, Discovery Channel? You’ve sold out man, you used to be cool, but now it’s like I don’t even know you any more.
Da Funk
Not as much a complaint as a bit of advice. I went to Beverages and More today because I needed a cork for my bottle of mead, and also because I’ve never been and I wanted to possibly get some sodas. I understand that Saturdays are a big party night. I also understand that liquor stores are not known for employing the most upstanding of citizens. However, I really think that smells that come off of a liquor store employee should be limited to booze and cigarettes. Thus if you smell like you haven’t showered for a week, you should really reconsider coming in for work. Also, I’d understand the funk coming off of you a little more if you had actually gone to that party you said happened last night. I wonder what you were doing. It certainly wasn’t anything like showering.
I did find my cork and I also bought some glasses, apple, and pear ciders. I keep trying to find drinks I enjoy, but aside from the Mint Julep, I’ve been unsuccessful. My problem is that I’m very, very sensitive to the taste of alcohol. Maybe it’s just me, but I think apple cider tastes a bit like beer…
An Overactive Imagination
So I once had the idea that I would convince my friend’s family that he was a cross dresser. This plan was brilliant and absolutely hilarious, Unfortunately it never came together for a couple of reasons that I won’t get in to because the person would immediately recognize that the plan was directed towards him. The problem is that this plan is so funny that just thinking about is makes me burst into laughter, often at inappropriate moments. My coworkers probably think I’m crazy now or something…
Terror at 20,000 Feet
Inspired by (Stolen from) Hueblur...
Gremlin on a plane!
There is a gremlin on this plane!
I want this motherfucking gremlin off this motherfucking plane!
