lördag 21 Nov 2009, 2:15
Umberto Eco:
"The list is the origin of culture. It's part of the history of art and literature. What does culture want? To make infinity comprehensible. It also wants to create order – not always, but often. And how, as a human being, does one face infinity? How does one attempt to grasp the incomprehensible? Through lists, through catalogs, through collections in museums and through encyclopedias and dictionaries. There is an allure to enumerating how many women Don Giovanni slept with: It was 2,063, at least according to Mozart's librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte. We also have completely practical lists – the shopping list, the will, the menu – that are also cultural achievements in their own right."
And you thought I was just making lists! Hell, no. This is a cultural achievement.
The Top Twelve Songs at 4:23
1) Bang a Gong (Get it On)–T. Rex
A genuine and unsentimental hippie love song with interesting lyrics that also rocks. Hard to pull all of that off. And also a list, which resonates with the theme and kind of broke a tie here. This is a pretty strong group, but none of these songs strikes me as really a #1; any of the top six could have gone here, but they all feel like #2s and #3s to me.
2) Bambi–Prince
Coming in second, Prince writes a T. Rex song, only hotter. This might have been a hit in the early 70s, if radio could have handled the overt sexuality.
3) Pilgrimage–R.E.M.
Emotional rather than sonic dynamics: downbeat, weary verses set free by a liberating, triumphant chorus that inspires instead of preaches. All the more amazing in that the “official” recording is a demo; in the early 80s, R.E.M. was blessed with a generational magic.
4) I Don't Wanna Be Called Yo Niga–Public Enemy
PE gets all Bill Cosby about the casual use of that word, in a direct rebuke to their fans and in particular to other black rappers. It is still a little shocking. I like that Flavor Flav brings a note of good-humored exasperation to it; Chuck D. would have sounded too Old Testament.
Two questions: first, does anyone know what the blues guitar sample is (because it rules)? Wikipedia lists it as Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle,” but I don’t know the song, so I can’t verify. Second, would it be possible for a white band to cover this song and be celebrated for it? If that happened, what would the cultural reaction say about the state of racial issues? I don't think this song has ever been covered, but I could be wrong.
5) Version City–The Clash
One of the most often overlooked songs on Sandinista!, this dub-flavored blues is one of my favorites on the album. When The Clash spread their wings, they weren’t just trying different genres out, they were actively creating new ones.
6) Nude as the News–Cat Power
Hypnotic, low-key menace, giving me the jim-jams under my skin but I can’t say why. The chords and song construction strongly remind me of Pavement, but I can't imagine Malkmus singing this.
7) Where is My Mind?–The Blue Ribbon Glee Club
Some might call this a capella choir rendition a novelty cover, but it is beautiful in its own right. Ambient conversations give rise to a tune, as if a musical broke out unexpectedly at a board meeting–or a party. Throughout, people keep talking, laughing, drawing attention to the frayed edges of the melody. Where does the “song” stop and the “background noise” begin?
(If you need this–and you already know, based on the description, if you do–I will be happy to send it on to you. I imagine it is hard to find.)
8) Word Up–Cameo
One of the most popular of P-Funk’s children, and also an example of how a long cooling-off period can reinvigorate a tired song. Back in the era of its ubiquity, I never worked up an actual hatred for it, but it signified “stupid party” to me. These of course were no stupider than the parties I liked to go to, but I didn’t know that then.
9) Civil War Correspondent–John Parish and Polly Jean Harvey
Like a choice wounded mood outtake from To Bring You My Love; it is strong praise to say that it would have improved that already strong album.
10) Twilight at Carbon Lake–Deerhunter
Doo-wop filtered through a dark David Lynchian glass, rising to a dense shoegazey climax.
11) I Thought You Were My Boyfriend–The Magnetic Fields
Tight pop craftsmanship with tension-building verses and an earworm chorus. Like so many other Stephin Merritt songs, the subtext undermines the literal sentiments; if he’s got nine other guys he would settle for, can this really be love? The bridge hints at the pleasures involved in either being unfaithful or not having a boyfriend at all; he seems more upset about his wounded pride. I think there is also a joke about the stereotype of hyper-promiscuous gay men; suffice to say that the song has many levels.
12) No Surprize–Aerosmith
Slick, highly-produced rock that retains its raggedness in a way entirely different from today’s slick, highly-produced post-grunge music. Just a souped-up Chuck Berry riff; outside of AC/DC, as raw a guitar sound as you could find at the time from a stadium band with pop aspirations. Yes, Aerosmith was soon to fully realize those pop aspirations, and at the same time begin to suck.
So…does this help at all, or is infinity still baffling to you? I will keep trying.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞