I’ve been flipped off quite a lot lately. Yes, that’s right. People who I have probably never even met before are presenting me with their middle finger as I walk down my street, wait at my bus stop...even when I’m buying a Mighty Angus burger at the McDonalds in The Gap Village. At first, I thought it was harmless skylarking, or a case of mistaken identity, but after several random occurrences over the past three years, I’m starting to doubt it (though not enough to write a whole series of meditations about it). Just the other week I was sitting at the bus stop and on the opposite end of my street, as the bus slowly gathered momentum to drive away, there, in the corner of my eye, I saw a middle finger propped up against the glass – like the hand pressing up against the car window in that movie Titanic – looking directly at me. That middle finger was solely intended to be received by yours truly, and it stung like a wasp, penetrating my skin with its sharpened cold ovipositor. The boy in the flat baseball cap (I would like to point out at this time when the FUCK it was alright to have a straight flat brim on a baseball cap? When did that start being cool? I thought only females had flat brimmed caps. But no, gangsta looking kids with big fuck off silver chains start wearing them now. I saw this kid strut around the city asking me for a cigarette, trying to be all hard and shit, and I couldn’t refrain from laughing at him because of his flat brimmed cap. He also wore those huge t-shirt jersey things that have rappers names on them, like 50 Cent, or Eminem. You know, those things you pick up from a rip off clothing store merchant at the Forest Lake markets. But, I digress...) turned around and snickered to his friend and continued to look directly into my eyes. This was no mistaken identity, this was intended for me. So I did what any ordinary guy would do, raised his one by giving him the two finger salute. Except I didn’t. I just stood there helplessly, rotating my neck 90 degrees until the bus disappeared over the hill, out of sight.
My name is Matt Bate and I’m a musician. Well...I try to be. *sigh* Here’s the thing. I’m struggling to come up with lyrics for the songs I’ve written for this album I’m trying to release. Yeah, I know, it’s kind of silly. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t been trying. The true story I told you above was the dominant discourse behind my double CD concept album entitled; ‘Twilight: The Unofficial Soundtrack.’ Now you’d think that would be a whole album’s worth of inspiration right there. But I haven’t even got one measly song out of it (yet)! But I hear you say that with a title like that, I could make millions. That’s accurate, but the real truth is, I want to make music that I’m proud of and the music world is proud of. Oh why, oh why can’t I be as successful as some of the more popular, and critically acclaimed lyricists out there like Lady Gaga or The Millionaires. Fuck it, I’d even settle for Eamon or Frankee for that matter.
So, I’m in a rut. I need to find some sort of inspiration for my song writing other than my own personal experiences. I need to write songs that will appeal to the general public or at least stir up some controversy. So, I figure I may as well do what others do in need of inspiration – study and review other musician’s lyrics in an effort to draw some inspiration for myself, and eventually, steal their ideas, market them as my own and sell millions. Oh, and I’ll probably do a few covers of Wonderwall, Hallejula (Jeff Buckley’s version) or Iris too.
For the best inspiration, one needs to look at the most critically acclaimed of songwriters, Lady Gaga. Though she hasn’t been on the scene too long, Lady Gaga has had no trouble shooting straight to the top of the charts with her well crafted and feisty (Allmusic, 2008) Grammy Award Nominated album The Fame, resulting in a plethora of hit singles such as Poker Face, Just Dance, Eh, Eh and perhaps her most critically acclaimed offering yet, LoveGame. In fact, the song ‘LoveGame’ is so highly praised that it rightly deserves its arty two word fusion. But the art pop doesn’t stop right there. The innovation can clearly be seen when we dissect the truly moving and profound lyrics of LoveGame for ourselves. Already, it’s got reviewers licking their lips. Even my mate Ben ‘Normie’ Norman of About.com can’t get enough of her “assault” of “clever” lyrics (2009). But don’t take Normie’s word for it, the British Broadcasting Corporation also chipped in with their lavishing praise, commenting that “(LoveGame’s lyrics are)...deemed as brilliant as well as utterly cold.” I hear you guys asking now, what these well received lyrics are. Ok, brace yourselves ladies and gentlemen. The lyrics are;
Let’s have some fun,
This beat is sick,
I wanna take a ride on your disco stick.
Dammit! I wish I thought of that! Those are some of the most brutal lyrics I’ve ever heard. Excuse me while I put the pieces of my mind that blew out of my head back together, and destroy every single Bob Dylan album I have in my possession. After seeing those lyrics, I just had to listen to the whole song. And I wish I didn’t, because I can’t listen to any Beatles or Marvin Gaye albums anymore without feeling the need to smash my skull in with a hammer. Nothing in music satisfies anymore. The song is riddled with symbolism and hidden meanings that you can’t simply grasp and comprehend with one lesson. Examples of this symbolism include:
I got my ass squeezed by sexy cupid
At first I wasn’t sure who this cupid character was, so I did a couple of hours of research and found that Cupid was a mythological Roman God associated with erotic love and beauty. Often a symbol on valentine’s day.
My name is Matt Bate and I’m a musician. Well...I try to be. *sigh* Here’s the thing. I’m struggling to come up with lyrics for the songs I’ve written for this album I’m trying to release. Yeah, I know, it’s kind of silly. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t been trying. The true story I told you above was the dominant discourse behind my double CD concept album entitled; ‘Twilight: The Unofficial Soundtrack.’ Now you’d think that would be a whole album’s worth of inspiration right there. But I haven’t even got one measly song out of it (yet)! But I hear you say that with a title like that, I could make millions. That’s accurate, but the real truth is, I want to make music that I’m proud of and the music world is proud of. Oh why, oh why can’t I be as successful as some of the more popular, and critically acclaimed lyricists out there like Lady Gaga or The Millionaires. Fuck it, I’d even settle for Eamon or Frankee for that matter.
So, I’m in a rut. I need to find some sort of inspiration for my song writing other than my own personal experiences. I need to write songs that will appeal to the general public or at least stir up some controversy. So, I figure I may as well do what others do in need of inspiration – study and review other musician’s lyrics in an effort to draw some inspiration for myself, and eventually, steal their ideas, market them as my own and sell millions. Oh, and I’ll probably do a few covers of Wonderwall, Hallejula (Jeff Buckley’s version) or Iris too.
For the best inspiration, one needs to look at the most critically acclaimed of songwriters, Lady Gaga. Though she hasn’t been on the scene too long, Lady Gaga has had no trouble shooting straight to the top of the charts with her well crafted and feisty (Allmusic, 2008) Grammy Award Nominated album The Fame, resulting in a plethora of hit singles such as Poker Face, Just Dance, Eh, Eh and perhaps her most critically acclaimed offering yet, LoveGame. In fact, the song ‘LoveGame’ is so highly praised that it rightly deserves its arty two word fusion. But the art pop doesn’t stop right there. The innovation can clearly be seen when we dissect the truly moving and profound lyrics of LoveGame for ourselves. Already, it’s got reviewers licking their lips. Even my mate Ben ‘Normie’ Norman of About.com can’t get enough of her “assault” of “clever” lyrics (2009). But don’t take Normie’s word for it, the British Broadcasting Corporation also chipped in with their lavishing praise, commenting that “(LoveGame’s lyrics are)...deemed as brilliant as well as utterly cold.” I hear you guys asking now, what these well received lyrics are. Ok, brace yourselves ladies and gentlemen. The lyrics are;
Let’s have some fun,
This beat is sick,
I wanna take a ride on your disco stick.
Dammit! I wish I thought of that! Those are some of the most brutal lyrics I’ve ever heard. Excuse me while I put the pieces of my mind that blew out of my head back together, and destroy every single Bob Dylan album I have in my possession. After seeing those lyrics, I just had to listen to the whole song. And I wish I didn’t, because I can’t listen to any Beatles or Marvin Gaye albums anymore without feeling the need to smash my skull in with a hammer. Nothing in music satisfies anymore. The song is riddled with symbolism and hidden meanings that you can’t simply grasp and comprehend with one lesson. Examples of this symbolism include:
I got my ass squeezed by sexy cupid
At first I wasn’t sure who this cupid character was, so I did a couple of hours of research and found that Cupid was a mythological Roman God associated with erotic love and beauty. Often a symbol on valentine’s day.
Seeing as I’ve never received or given a valentine’s day gift (see Valentine’s Day blog for further information), I previously didn’t know this. But now, I can safely interpret these lyrics accordingly:
A male found Lady Gaga erotically attractive, and thus, instead of shooting her with an arrow to inspire love, he squeezed her buttocks instead.
Truly inspiring stuff. How many musicians do you know that use Roman Mythology in their lyrics huh? Let’s look at another one.
You've indicated your interest, I'm educated in sex
It seems from these lyrics that because this male has inspired love by squeezing the singer’s anus, like Cupid and his golden tipped arrows, she has realised his intentions and is simply stating that she is not only an attractive female, but she is well educated, especially in the art of sexual intercourse and thus, from further analysis of the chorus, would like to demonstrate her vast knowledge of this practice by letting him put his penis inside her vagina, for her enjoyment.
She also leaves us guessing with some lyrics too, which keeps us listening over and over to try and figure out what she is trying to say before she is rudely interrupted by being pleasured. See if you can guess what she’s trying to say here:
I can see you staring there from across the block
with a smile on your face and your hand on your c (huh!)
Yes, “huh?” Indeed. I am not one hundred per cent sure what she is trying to say here. Sometimes, sublime musicians keep things relatively cryptic for artistic merit. I personally think she’s about to say camera, but I can’t be too sure. Feel free to discuss what you think she says here.
So we’ve covered the music sensation that is Lady Gaga. One thing I’ve learned from analysing her lyrics is that, I need to use a lot of symbolism and historical referencing in my music.
The next group I focused my keen musical eye on are a MySpace phenomenon known as The Millionaires.
A male found Lady Gaga erotically attractive, and thus, instead of shooting her with an arrow to inspire love, he squeezed her buttocks instead.
Truly inspiring stuff. How many musicians do you know that use Roman Mythology in their lyrics huh? Let’s look at another one.
You've indicated your interest, I'm educated in sex
It seems from these lyrics that because this male has inspired love by squeezing the singer’s anus, like Cupid and his golden tipped arrows, she has realised his intentions and is simply stating that she is not only an attractive female, but she is well educated, especially in the art of sexual intercourse and thus, from further analysis of the chorus, would like to demonstrate her vast knowledge of this practice by letting him put his penis inside her vagina, for her enjoyment.
She also leaves us guessing with some lyrics too, which keeps us listening over and over to try and figure out what she is trying to say before she is rudely interrupted by being pleasured. See if you can guess what she’s trying to say here:
I can see you staring there from across the block
with a smile on your face and your hand on your c (huh!)
Yes, “huh?” Indeed. I am not one hundred per cent sure what she is trying to say here. Sometimes, sublime musicians keep things relatively cryptic for artistic merit. I personally think she’s about to say camera, but I can’t be too sure. Feel free to discuss what you think she says here.
So we’ve covered the music sensation that is Lady Gaga. One thing I’ve learned from analysing her lyrics is that, I need to use a lot of symbolism and historical referencing in my music.
The next group I focused my keen musical eye on are a MySpace phenomenon known as The Millionaires.
However, it’s their song Talk Shit, that coincidentally, has got everybody talking (no pun intended). But they aint talkin’ shit. Oh no. Others be talking shit about them. Now I’ve realised that a lot of popular bands like The Beatles, Queen and Led Zeppelin have been at one time or another criticised by music listeners for various reasons, but The Millionaires aren’t going to simply sit down and take it. Oh no, they’re going to stand up and show the world female empowerment, in all its pride – by dressing up like sluts, acting like sluts, and talking like sluts. God bless feminism. But don’t let me persuade you, just take a look at these wonderfully crafted lyrics and see for yourself.
Money, Diamonds, Gold, and Ice.
Yeah talk shit you'll pay the price.
Shut up cunt I'll cut your tongue.
Back down bitch you're fuckin' done.
The singers are upset because their music has been criticised. They retaliate by stating that they have a lot of expensive material possessions in the way of jewellery and thus, are more successful than the dissenter will ever be. They conclude the first verse by threatening the vagina-like abuser with physical violence in the form of cutting off their tongue if they do not back down from insulting them, thus putting an end to any further taunting.
Talk shit to us you fucking haters.
You're the ones who fuckin' made us.
Shut your mouth or I'll cut your tongue.
Back down bitch you're fuckin' done.
The singers are upset because the general public are questioning the credibility of their music, to which they retort that it was the general public that made them successful. Perhaps this was based on their controversy or appeal to the generic pop community. Like the first verse, they conclude by threatening physical violence if the insults continue.
You think this shit just comes easy.
Lets see you try you fuckin' beezy.
Make you're shit reach number one.
Back down bitch you're fuckin' done.
The singers are simply stating that a lot of hard work and effort went in to creating the music for their album and that they are eagerly awaiting their dissenters to try and create music that can reach the same plateau-like standard that they themselves have achieved.
This is to you moms and dads.
You hate our shit, what a drag.
I'm the one who fucks you're son.
Back down bitch you're fuckin' done.
The singers dedicate this particular verse to the mothers and fathers in the world who do not appreciate the level of quality their music reaches. They jokingly state sarcastically that they are upset by their views of their music, but retort that they have engaged in sexual intercourse with their children, because it is them, themselves, that have aided in the rise of popularity of their music, and to an extent, enjoy their frivolous and angsty music as much as life itself.
So, what I’ve learned from The Millionaires is that I need to be angsty, angry and merciless to my haters. In addition, I need to constantly use colourful language to express my views and present my attitudes, values and beliefs to listeners everywhere.
Because of sheer length, I have to split this note into two parts :( so next week: I’ll look at lyrics by the Grammy award winning artist Lil Wayne from his Grammy Award winning album ‘Tha Carter III.'
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