Bang Bang, Europe's Going to Weep...
Nov. 9th, 2004 12:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebness
In a previous entry, I threatened to keeeeel and maim ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
pandorasblog for skitting my current band obsession, Franz Ferdinand. Lookee, missus, I wished to point out, they're all cool and British and make jaunty rock and have smart lyrics and... and then I stopped myself, because the main reason I like them? Well, apart from Matinee, because dude. What a song-- Well. Ahem. Harrumph. It's because of their oh-my-gosh referencing of history.
Some little history nerd in me comes to life when a song, or a band, reference historical events or people-- doubly so if they can fit literature into the lyrics.
Hence, my favourite Kate Bush song? Wuthering Heights. My favourite Manics song? If You Tolerate This... My favourite bands, past and present? The Doors, The Boo Radleys, Franz Ferdinand, Savage Garden.
I don't know. Lyrics matter so much to me. A witty or knowing song just kills me. (Sorry for the turn of speech-- am currently re-reading Salinger.)
Which gets me thinking... I bet I would like, even love songs and bands whom I would normally like to set on fire if they would just add some substance or referencing to their lyrics rather than "til the end of time, babe," or whatever.
Take whimsical boyband Westlife for example, in their matching white suits. Let's pretend they're wearing them as an ode to...I dunno... Marcus Aurelius' purity of mind. Then have them spin off tiresome sugary ballad Mandy with re-vamped lyrics:
Oh, Caesar
You came and you saw and you conquered
Then got all stabbed...
See? I could deal with that. And Britney? Let's do away with her neo-trash look and soppier ballads and replace them with an ode to Louis XVIII during the 1830 revolution:
Oops, I did it again
I messed up the throne
And they’re baying for my blood
I’m not that decadent!
Oh, yes. I could dig that. And imagine the video! >:)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-11-09 12:42 am (UTC)I think attempts to be topical with vapid cultural references in equally vapid songs would just be even more annoying, so I don't think you're onto anything. :p That being said, the character Uriah Heep was mentioned in mediaeval lit the other day, don't ask me why as it had nothing to do with what we were discussing, and this 30-year-old guy goes, "Uriah Heep?! That was band in the 80s! I had no idea it was a Dickens character."
no subject
Date: 2004-11-09 12:45 am (UTC)The worst thing is that the first thing I think of when you mention Uriah Heap is indeed that band...lol.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-09 12:50 am (UTC)I think of Jasper Fforde and Thursday Next, because he was Uriah Hope before there was an accident with the mispeling vyrus...
no subject
Date: 2004-11-09 12:57 am (UTC)I can't believe you haven't heard the song properly! You have to... it's very melodramatic and literary. >:-D
no subject
Date: 2004-11-09 01:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-09 01:12 am (UTC)Look at this:
Out on the wily, windy moors
We'd roll and fall in green
You had a temper like my jealousy
Too hot; too greedy
How could you leave me
When I needed to possess you?
I hated you
Loved you too
Etc. Such fitting lyrics! Such perfect summing up of the intensity and obsession and their relationship.
Sung in such a screechy tone!
And that dress!
The mist!
It's an education.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-09 01:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-09 01:18 am (UTC)I can always slip in a copy of Babycakes before I wrap this funky box up, you know. >:
no subject
Date: 2004-11-09 01:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-09 01:25 am (UTC)*Strokes chin*
YES. Franz Ferdinand, Wuthering Heights, Babycakes... it will be one of the more eclectic CDs you'll ever own, anyway.
Okay. Onlineage... be right there. :p