Songs where the singer/protagonist comes off as a serious dick without meaning to

"Spaceboy" by the Smashing Pumpkins. a song ostensibly about/dedicated to Bill Corgan's younger brother Jesse. he was born with a developmental disability and Bill had to take care of him quite a bit. he related his own sense of abandonment and isolation to his handicapped brother, who was bullied and insulted by people of all ages constantly, in front of both of them. i always thought it was sort of tin-eared and in bad taste to compare being the weird kid to having a chromosomal disorder.

Not to go on about it unnecessarily, but I do think it's a fascinating lyric. It really does make more sense, when sung by a man, to be be interpreted as introspective self-mockery.

― everything, Tuesday, April 7, 2015 2:58 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I was also being somewhat facetious but as someone who's been on the receiving end of dudes filtering everything about how they relate to others through their own introspective self-mockery/loathing, it truly is the absolute height and pinnacle of dickishness even before it inevitably collapses into overt dickishness

Poor you.

If you're triggered by anything expressing or inspired by introspection or self-deprecation then there's a hell of a lot of popular music that you'll have to avoid.

apologies for pointing out instances of singers inadvertently coming off as dicks in the singers inadvertently coming off as dicks thread

Self-loathing introverts are such assholes, right

when that self-loathing is projected onto other people, then yes

'fraid so. Self-loathing does very often correlate with other-people-loathing. Bitter comedian examples available by the bucketful.

Thanks ILX, never knew Ella Fitzgerald was such an asshole.

"Poor you."

everything you are insufferable

new ILE board description

everything, more like dick parry the saxophonist for pink floyd

this, the most meta of threads

Jay-Z - Song Cry is ultra dickish. But you already knew that.

"Lodi" by CCR.

If I only had a dollar
For every song I've sung
Every time I had to play
While people sat there drunk

OH I'M SORRY, I didn't realize I was supposed to sit there in hushed reverence for your small-town barroom blues horseshit

Van Morrison, Astral Weeks.

Just like a typical entitled white male, expecting his poor girl to go look for him after he goes venturing in the fucking slipstream. Then he shames her into kissing his eyes? EWWWWWWWWWW!

"Under My Thumb" by the Rolling Stones is pretty misogynistic.

I basically find "Lodi" guy sympathetic, but that might be informed by a low-end dive bar's karaoke night I used to attend where it was a favorite song choice of one of the sad-sack bartender/owners, and he'd change it to "while you just sat there drunk."

most of Rubber Soul

After 7 - "Heat Of The Moment". A song that almost sounds like an expression of regret for being unfaithful until you realize he's singing it to the woman that he's apparently still boffing on the side.

Syreeta - "I Love Every Little Thing About You", specifically the incongruent line about holding God in higher esteem than the person she's singing about. It's like writing a letter to your mom to tell her how wonderful she is and how much you appreciate her but also just pointing out real quick that your dad is a better parent.

Badfinger's "Baby Blue" is a song-length study in a lame non-apology that shifts most of the actual blame onto the love interest for not giving him more credit: "Didn't know you'd think that I'd forget," "Did you really think I'd do you wrong," "Thought you'd realize that I would know," "How can I show you? Show me the way" -- all kinda standard stuff, but when piled up in succession you realize he basically hasn't said anything else and we're supposed to be real impressed by this. In this light, the last verse beginning with "Guess that's all I have to say" becomes downright hilarious.

Stroke 9, "Little Back Backpack" - for the entire plot, but especially the climactic outburst Your mind is lined with layers of lead / HAVE YOU HEARD ONE THING THAT I SAID?!

Richard Marx - "Hold on to the Nights". mostly "Well, I think that I've been true to everybody else but me" - aw someone hates monogamy

A sub-genre of this: 70s singer-songwriter types devoting whole songs to telling an acquaintance (usually male) how they're living their whole life wrong or in a phony dream world, or in an insufficiently liberated fashion. E.g. Hall and Oates "Laughing Boy" and "Lazyman," or Billy Joel "Angry Young Man," "James," "Captain Jack" sorta, etc.

(Obviously, all descendants of "Nowhere Man" and by extension, "Ballad of a Thin Man"-type Dylan. Simon & Garfunkel must have a couple of these that aren't coming immediately to mind.)

Mungo Jerry - In the Summertime

although it's such a braindead song I'm not sure you can say the speaker "means" to be anything

"Don't Think Twice It's Alright" is one where I really have a hard time sympathizing with the speaker -- he sounds like such a mean and bitter person beneath all the maudlin self-pity.

I think Dylan totally means to be a dick though

A lot of those "I'm an early mornin' lover and I must be movin' on" songs fit into this: "Goodbye Stranger" etc.

Xp For sure but I always took it as self-righteous or justified dickery in the speaker's eyes.

I always sort of assumed that the speaker in "Goodbye Stranger" was recognizing his dickishness but maybe I'm projecting.

A lot of Dylan songs could be retitled "You're So Dumb"

lol yes

hahahaha

Dumb ones got it in for me,
You're printin' dumb stuff in the preeeeeeeess

btw this is slightly off-topic but I recently discovered that a fun way to enjoy listening to the song "You're So Vain" is, after she sings "You're so vain!", you ad-lib a sexy "How vain am I, girl?"

lol

If God was here, He'd tell you to your face,
Man, you're some kinda sinner!

To be fair, that protagonist spends the entire running time of the song coming off as a dick.

I feel like he's at least in a gray area in certain moments. I mean, whoever sat down and wrote out the sign saying "Long-Haired Freaky People NEED NOT APPLY!" was kind of asking for it. But it's definitely true that the character is trying to troll these people so maybe "not meaning to" is off base.

Queen - 'Don't Try Suicide'

Stevie Wonder's "Superwoman(Where were you when I need you)" fits right in here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-ohttPIqco

The first part of the song is all just belittling Mary/Syreeta for her ambitions, and the second part is whining about how she's become successful and left him on his own. Aw, boo-hoo mate.

Despite the sentiments I still think it's a great song, though

I feel a similar tension with a number of Beach Boys songs (e.g. 'Caroline, No') that are simultaneously gorgeous and lyrically dickish.

Hi, I just thought of one;

Are You Sure - The Allisons

This was the british eurovision entry in 1958 or whatever. The singer/protagonist has basically been given his marching orders, so to amuse himself he says goodbye in a number of different languages in an off-hand manor, and then tells the girl that she's bound to have regrets by the following day, and how miserable she will be. On the other hand, he's indifferent to it all but is basically giving her one last chance to change her mind. See, Phil in "Don't you want me" is casting himself as the swine, whereas in this they are casting themselves as concerned but mature fellas. But they are actually dicks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_9L2XZ-0Xk

1961, beg puddin'

The whole of Pet Sounds is passive-aggressive dickishness, isn't it? I think that's one of the reasons I've never really liked it.

There's a strain of conservative chauvinism running through the entire Beach Boys catalogue. 'Hey Little Tomboy' is another example that immediately comes to mind.

"Ballad of Ole' Betsy" has got to be the worst of those:

"Betsy was a lady and that she will remain/
Betsy took some beatings but she never once complained"

Yes I realize Betsy is just a *car*, but the implications couldn't be any more obvious