"Call Me" vs. "Call Me Maybe"

DiscoveredCall Me Maybe after that Kate Perry Youtube tribute thingie. Goes to show how sad I have become. lol Like the song a LOT but I'd pick Blondie. But I won't. Instead I prefer Tweet.

CMM isn't very good really is it. Yr all kidding yourselves.

I find the prospect of the citizens of 2042 all agreeing with my opinions to be quite a boring-seeming future which I would not want to come true.

― Tim F, Monday, June 25, 2012 6:57 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTM response to the pointless appealing-to-posterity argument.

Ah, imagine todays world where everyone is still talking about ELP and have forgotten the Sex Pistols.

i love the lyrics on call me maybe. i can barely remember anything from "call me" except "anyplace, anywhere any tiiiime".

for instance:

it's hard to look right
at you, baby

the way she pauses after "right" makes you think that's the end - "it's hard to look right". well, it fucking is, isn't it, especially when you've got a crush on somebody. it's practically impossible to look right, even when you've had 20 minutes to put together your outfit. but hang on - "at you baby" oof, in even deeper into this crush! it's not just "what do i look like" but "what do i look AT?" - such a simple line, but one which pulls the rug from under you halfway through, which is just such a perfect sort of RHYME for what it's talking about, that whole flustered feeling of just not feeling grounded, not knowing what to do around a crush.

before you came into my life
i missed you so bad

is this really what she says?? i mean, it's such a paradox i'm willing to believe i'm mishearing it, but come on people, that is genius.

I would just like to know if in Canada it is really considered crazy to give someone your phone number after you meet them and find them attractive. That's pretty normal dating behavior here in the States, but I am unfamiliar with your more circumspect northern courtship practices.

"Where you think you're going, baby?" is the genius line, some slight menace in it. Like, "baby" could have been replaced by "fuckface"...

tipsy that's the genius of call me maybe - it captures the ways that "normal dating behavior" feels reckless and exciting and a little nuts

Oh I guess. I just like imaging some Canadian boy being all like, "She gave me her NUMBER. What the hell? Where are the months of discreet, lightly perfumed letters followed by a formal interview with her father?"

Imagining

before you came into my life
i missed you so bad

is this really what she says?? i mean, it's such a paradox i'm willing to believe i'm mishearing it, but come on people, that is genius.

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Monday, June 25, 2012 6:51 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm, i love that line

I do think the lyrics to "Call Me Maybe" are great

still picking Blondie

^yeah

Ah, imagine todays world where everyone is still talking about ELP and have forgotten the Sex Pistols.

Neither band is forgotten, surely. ELP gets plenty of classic rock airplay.

Exactly.

Oft heard quote from 35 years ago "People will still be talking about ELP long after the Sex Pistols have been forgotten"

Whereas even the people who said that are glad that's not what happened.

While we're talking lyrics, "Call Me" was my introduction to the concept of "designer sheets." I didn't know what it meant, but it sounded sexy.

tipsy that's the genius of call me maybe - it captures the ways that "normal dating behavior" feels reckless and exciting and a little nuts

This + I think the narrator is not used to being the pursuer. The boys usually chase her.

(Cool, Mark G. I see what you're saying now.

I've heard an indie rock guy tell me that Peter Frampton is completely forgotten now!)

'Call Me'.

You CMM fans are coming up with some interesting readings of the song/lyrics, especially in regards to the singer being 26yo. But for me it ultimately comes down to the emotional/physical content of a song, how I react to it. And to these ears it simply doesn't have these complexities you all are ascribing to the lyrics and context. It's emotionally one-dimensional, something you hum while shopping at the mall (and not much more); hence the accusation that it is only aimed at tween girls.

Blondie's song isn't terribly layered either, especially compared to some of their other hits. But it has a (simultaneous) slick & grimy sleaze that appeals to me. Plus 70s/80s Debbie Harry was a master performer, making it all look so effortless.

Well the lyrics are def original & sophisticated; their complexity isn't merely 'ascribed' to them. But I feel like CMM just doesn't have the hooks, and Call Me just wrings so many hooks out of the sabbth-meets-moroder arrangemnt. The Rembrandts ripped off the big hook off their most successful (I think) non-sitcom-related single "Just the Way It is, Baby" from the pre-chorus. Plus, as others have pointed, Debbie's lyrics aint too shabby either.

Glad someone posted the Jimmy Fallon/Roots clip. I played that for three different classes today--love it.

it's so good.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

faith in ilx = restored

...for now

Pleasing numbers to anybody who likes math. Actually, "Call Me Maybe" didn't do too badly.

You CMM fans are coming up with some interesting readings of the song/lyrics, especially in regards to the singer being 26yo. But for me it ultimately comes down to the emotional/physical content of a song, how I react to it. And to these ears it simply doesn't have these complexities you all are ascribing to the lyrics and context. It's emotionally one-dimensional, something you hum while shopping at the mall (and not much more); hence the accusation that it is only aimed at tween girls.

I feel like this is a point that's been made here too many times before to merit repeating but: your argument jumps way too quickly from what you hear emotionally/physically in the tune ---> the tune as "emotionally one dimensional" ---> the tune is "aimed at tween girls".

There's no link between emotional complexity (which itself would be one of the most individually variably perceived qualities in music) and the age of the target audience. "Call Me" isn't emotionally complex at all, and is less so than "Call Me Maybe". It codes as "older" than "Call Me Maybe" (though not by that much) for stylistic reasons.

Anyway there's nothing wrong, and a lot that's right, with emotional simplicity (as a form of "purity" for some people I guess, though I'm suspicious of that term) which is why it is so often heavily prized not just in pop, but in most genres.

honestly, they both strike me as rather simple songs, emotionally and lyrically. each describes the sense of a romantic moment fairly well, but i think "call me" does a better job of capturing that moment musically, the headlong rush of erotic power and inevitability. it feels intoxicating, sexy and dangerous while "call me maybe" doesn't evoke much but excited good cheer. that's appropriate, i suppose, but not terribly compelling, imo.

there's nothing wrong with simple songs. you don't need much idea-wise to fill 3 minutes if it's a good idea.

33 people are lacking the most important thing of all: CONFIDENCE

Tim F otm

part of the choice here may come down to whether you fantasize about imperious blondes addressing you as someone who has designer sheets or whether you fantasize about nervous giggly girls

or whether you imagine yourself as one or the other

part of the choice here may come down to whether you fantasize about imperious blondes addressing you as someone who has designer sheets or whether you fantasize about nervous giggly girls

this makes me feel kinda gross

buy the ticket, take the ride

part of the choice here may come down to whether you fantasize about imperious blondes addressing you as someone who has designer sheets or whether you fantasize about nervous giggly girls

imagine CRJ covering "Sunday Girl."

French Kissin in The USA

that'll kill any fantasy dead, surely

Tim, I'm not drawing those links directly. Nobody said emotional simplicity was bad (or that "Call Me" was more complex), but that I disagree with some who are making the leap about the song's complexity via content that I'm just not hearing in the song itself. Of course emotional simplicity is prized in pop. It sounds to me like you're arguing that the song is both emotionally simple and complex; something which I would say somebody like Robyn is far better at achieving in contemporary pop. Not that Robyn has directly figured into this discussion up to this point, but I hesitate to praise CMM for such a feat.

"I like Robyn" = "but I have gay/black friends!"

ugh can we please live in a world where it's okay to like Robyn thx guyz

^ this

not in one where it's reasonable to bring her up in a CRJ discussion, tho

It sounds to me like you're arguing that the song is both emotionally simple and complex

I think with a lot of music and in particular pop music, the song acts like a sponge which soaks up the level of meaning/resonance/nuance/application-to-yr-life-experience that you throw at it. So it's not a special feature of CMM that it works this way, and the more invested a listener is the more their enjoyment will operate on multiple levels. This is why I think that this is a bad metric for determining whether the song has merit, because a hater and a fan are, for good reasons, unlikely to find common ground.

something which I would say somebody like Robyn is far better at achieving in contemporary pop. Not that Robyn has directly figured into this discussion up to this point, but I hesitate to praise CMM for such a feat.

It's hard to compare one song against an entire ouvre, but if you choose one Robyn tune ("Be Mine" or "With Every Heartbeat" or "Dancing On My Own" or "Indestructible" or etc.) then I think they're comparable, and I don't see any strong basis for your distinction except personal preference... and the fact that across multiple albums Robyn has constructed a meta-narrative of pop-as-meaning-sponge.

One of the things Robyn does is build into pop a performed self-awareness w/r/t pop music as a locus of potential meaning, but such meaning (or the co-existence of simplicity and complexity etc.) is not contingent on self-awareness to exist. Though it's always tempting to conflate the presence of meaning with instances of self-awareness of same, which is certainly one reason for Robyn's critical success (not a complaint, I love Robyn).

fucking robyn

how many times have i heard the words "but i do like pop, i like ROBYN!!!1111" out of the lips of some tedious bore otherwise overflowing with disdain for anything they perceive as "manufactured" or "for tween girls" or whatever

i don't know why people are so caught up in "the target age" of a particular song or artist anyway? what, you can't empathise with the perspective of someone outside your own rigidly self-defined identity? that's weird to me. or maybe you're just scared of being taken for a teenage girl? lol.

I do think there's something to be said for "Be Mine" being a little more sophisticated just as poetry, as writing, even if it's not more thematically complex. And "With Every Heartbeat" is more compositionally adventurous and complex. I quite like CMM, though.

how many times have i heard the words "but i do like pop, i like ROBYN!!!1111" out of the lips of some tedious bore otherwise overflowing with disdain for anything they perceive as "manufactured" or "for tween girls" or whatever

― bitch I'm on the 242 (lex pretend), Tuesday, 26 June 2012 6:31 AM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This totally doesn't surprise me at all but I've been super lucky enough to escape this IRL, else I think I'd probably dislike her too by now.

It's a good thing tears never show in the pouring rain
As if a good thing ever could make up for all the pain
There'll be no last chance, I promise to never mess it up again
Just a sweet pain of watching your back as you walk
As I'm watching you walk away
And now you're gone, there's like an echo in my head
And I remember every word you said

It's a cool thing you'll never know all the ways I tried
It's a hard thing faking a smile when I feel like I'm falling apart inside
And now you're gone, there's like an echo in my head
And I remember every word you said

And you never were and you never will be mine
No, you never were and you never will be mine

For the first time, there is no mercy in your eyes
And the cold wind's hitting my face and you're gone
And you're walking away
And I am helpless sometimes, wishing's just no good
'Cause you don't see me like I wish you would

'Cause you never were and you never will be mine
No, you never were and you never will be mine

There's a moment to seize every time that we meet
But you always keep passing me by
No, you never were and you never will be mine

I saw you at the station
You had your arm around what's-her-name
She had on that scarf I gave you
You got down to tie her laces

'Cause you never were and you never will be mine
(You looked happy and that's great)
No, you never were and you never will be mine
(I just miss you, that's all)

'Cause you never were and you never will be mine
No, you never were and you never will be mine

There's a moment to seize every time that we meet
But you have always keep passing me by
No, you never were and you never will be mine
'Cause you never were and you never will be mine
No, you never were and you never will be mine

There's a moment to seize every time that we meet
But you have always keep passing me by
No, you never were and you never will be mine

I do think there's something to be said for "Be Mine" being a little more sophisticated just as poetry, as writing, even if it's not more thematically complex.

I do love the opening couplet, but honestly if "Be Mine" wasn't a Robyn song but was the next CRJ tune I doubt that many people would be that surprised (throwback fake R&B beats would actually seem like the appropriate next trick for CRJ/her producers). It's a very similar mix of the general and the specific IMO.

as a friend recently pointed out to me, what's ironic is that the fear of pop (as seen in the comments beneath eg my fact piece on garage pop remixes) is itself the most teenage possible trait