Let's get Lyrical (part 9 billion and 2 minus 9 billion)

Okay, I'll just go ahead and say it. It might make it a bit easier. I have never seen Terminator 2: Judgement Day. No, I'm not kidding. I'm absolutely serious. I may as well keep confessing - when I started this blog I'd never actually tried calamari (I was a little hesitant to try it, har har). For the record, I tried it a couple of weeks ago and I loved it (wouldn't it be a little perverse if I despised it?), and right now I'm saving myself from a few extra embarrassing moments in my life by finally watching what is considered one of James Cameron's best moments as a film-maker. There always seems to be stuff that you are regarded as a lesser human for not experiencing, isn't there? The original Star Wars trilogy, seeing a band live, 'making love'. Sometimes very fulfilling, sometimes overrated experiences. If you happen to succumb to your peers/curiosity then I'm not going to stop you. Just don't do them all at once.

There is no witty caption this week because
every possible joke about this man has been
made. I'LL BE BACK with a clever caption next
week, don't you worry.

So yeah, like it or not I'm continuing my thoughts on lyrics in songs, just in case you happen to be a plonker that doesn't pay much attention to the actual blog title. And I suppose I'll discuss something a bit more hard-hitting than the surrealism I was talking about last week. How about political lyrics? Now although I'm not as well versed in politics as I should be, I get extremely excited when it comes to political debates in voting, and it irritates the shit out of me when people claim politics isn't important. If you have any brains then you'll know that the decisions made by politicians affect our life on just about every level possible. Those dull, late night debates made many miles away may limit or increase our freedom as human beings. And musicians love to be outspoken. Those two things combined together can sometimes produce interesting results. Bands in the original wave of punk in 1976 thought it would be a great idea to discuss political issues in their lyrics -
"Career opportunities are the ones that never knock
Every job they offer you is to keep you out the dock" 
moaned the Clash, as they grew frustrated about the lack of interesting employment that was in the UK. And of course, commentary on politics wasn't exactly a new thing, as Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On questioned the need for the war
"Father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate"

And I could go on. Outside of their lyrics musicians such as Kanye West and Bono continue their verbal assault on the folk in power. In interviews, however, the illusion is quite often shattered for me. When it comes to talking about specific subjects they tend to make vague, mumbling statements, about how Margaret Thatcher was evil, how 'the men in the suits are earning all the money', or that whatever war is going on was started purely to put money in the pockets of politicians. Now I'm not saying I agree or disagree with these things. I'm saying form your own opinion based on facts. Musicians can be good for provoking thought, but don't expect them to make the world a better place based on some words they probably wrote when they were stoned.

Terminator 2 was alright. I suppose that's what hype and a distracting blog does to you. May do another part if I'm feeling lazy  as though I need to discuss the subject of the importance or non importance of lyrics in music more. This was a tired blog so I'm not sure if it's decent. I'll soon find out. Thanks for reading!

Let's get Lyrical (part I)

Can you blame the aliens in War of the Worlds for biting the dust after catching a cold? It's fucking horrible. My tonsils feel as if they have been left to marinate in bear vomit. It didn't stop me from drinking heavily a couple of nights ago though. Few things do actually. I was watching the original Day of the Dead that night, and found myself admiring the attitude of the character that bore a striking resemblance to Rowan Atkinson. Every time he sees or hears something particularly disturbing he mutters "Jesus Mary and Joseph" and takes a strong swig of his brandy filled hip flask. Disturbing events are fairly commonplace due to the fact that the characters are in the middle of a zombie apocalypse situation. So at least he doesn't have doctors grumbling down his neck that he should maybe not drink strong spirits every 5 minutes or so. And besides, who cares about the state of your liver when there is constant risk of it getting pulled out of your body and shoved into the mouth of a walking corpse? Bring on the zombie apocalypse.

Upon hearing the lyrics from the latest Bruno Mars' song -
"JESUS MARY AND JOSEPH" *swig*

If you are reading this, then you are probably alive. And if you are alive you have probably heard music. And if you have heard music then you probably know that music often contains vocals, which will contain lyrics or some nonsensical babble (admittedly there can be a fine line between the two things). So yeah, love em or hate um, lyrical content is pretty commonplace. I've already discussed how irritating generic lyrics about love and heartbreak are, especially when your more infuriating facebook pals insist on spamming them everywhere in the hope that some idiot will comfort them with poor grammar. But then again, I have to be wary myself. I'm pretty guilty of thinking that a particular lyric is very witty and clever. Then I'll see it written it down and it may just look like stupidity. And there are bands like Mogwai that manage fine with very little in the way of lyrics. On Radiohead's Kid A, Thom Yorke's lyrics received critical acclaim. The singer later revealed that he'd pulled words and phrases out of a hat at random to come up with the words. Not that I'm slagging that sort of thing. Abstract stuff really floats my boat. If you look at the works of Van Gogh, much of his work was based on emotion and expression rather than simply creating a realistic image. I can really understand if you are rolling your eyes and muttering darkly about how shit modern art is. But I have a wild imagination and surreal nonsense grabs me. I think it's interesting to see how different people interpret different lyrics.


"I was a Jugular vein in a juggler's girl
I was supposedly leaking the most interesting colors
While half of my fingers are dipped in the sand
You progress in letters, but you're used to cooking broccoli
The other side of take out is mildew on rice"


Is it about childlike innocence? Is it about an acid trip? It may be nonsense, but I could care less. The feeling of wonder and experimentation is clearly shown in the lyrics, which moves the melody onto a completely different level. It's a weird sort of vibe but I love the colourful images and emotions that play out in my head as the surreal little tale unfolds. Now lyrics don't necessarily make or break a song for me. But isn't it nice to hear  something that maybe isn't as quite as generic and obvious as "Girl I love you" or "I'm in the club, I'm on the floor"? I think so. 


That was a bit of a hipster-ey post, sorry if that isn't your thing. I didn't want to do this half arsed, so I'm going to make a part 2 on this. The lyrics are from Animal Collective's Peacebone by the way, I suggest you check it out. Thanks for reading!