God Only Knows.
(I kid, I kid)
― Adam J Duncan, Sunday, 29 March 2015 11:29 (nine years ago) link
Tony Christie - Avenues and Alleyways - i enjoy it as a portrait of psychotic & patronising macho vigilante
― woof, Sunday, 29 March 2015 11:39 (nine years ago) link
Boyz II Men, End of the Road.
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Sunday, 29 March 2015 11:56 (nine years ago) link
k, i'm gonna come out in defence of Rio. the way i've always thought about it, the singer is bringing the character of Rio to life with each new image he introduces, creating her from scratch and embellishing her with substance and meaning in a similar way to a painter applying paints to fill a canvas. she emerges as striking and radiant -- a kind of beau ideal that didn't exist until the lyrics came together to celebrate her story. i think the singer has earned the entitlement to direct the song wherever he wishes, without straying into the dick category, given that Rio is a product of his imagination.
― charlie h, Sunday, 29 March 2015 12:29 (nine years ago) link
Oh, I've got one! Sing of Me, I'm Dying of Thirst. The way the dissenting voice is undercut in the second verse seems unintentionally dickish to me.
― Frederik B, Sunday, 29 March 2015 12:42 (nine years ago) link
xp I imagined it as being sung from the point of view of a celebrity stalker
― Hugh G. Wreckjoke (snoball), Sunday, 29 March 2015 13:11 (nine years ago) link
yeah, the whole "i've seen you on the beach..." verse probably does support your argument.
― charlie h, Sunday, 29 March 2015 13:20 (nine years ago) link
Oh, here's a good one:
The Kinks: Mindless Child of Motherhood
In which Dave Davies chastises some girl for ruining a good thing with him "to bear a bastard son."
Mindless child of motherhood/you have lost the thing that's good.
― kornrulez6969, Sunday, 29 March 2015 15:48 (nine years ago) link
You're Having My Baby?
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Sunday, 29 March 2015 16:00 (nine years ago) link
If i recall correctly, in his book, he says it's about a girl that he was torn apart from by circumstance, not a girl who left him. she was pregnant with his child. He wrote a few songs about her, actually, including "Susanna's Still Alive."
― Poliopolice, Sunday, 29 March 2015 16:13 (nine years ago) link
always felt this way about 'the worst that could happen', like, am i supposed to sympathize with this self-centered asshole?
― Roberto Spiralli, Sunday, 29 March 2015 16:17 (nine years ago) link
Ha yea that's a good one.
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Sunday, 29 March 2015 16:19 (nine years ago) link
MAYbe it's the best thing.... FOR YOU
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 29 March 2015 16:27 (nine years ago) link
It has been stated that, along with "MacArthur Park" and "By The Time I Get to Phoenix", "The Worst That Could Happen" is about a relationship that Webb had had with a woman named Susan.[2] (...)The song appeared on the list of songs deemed inappropriate by Clear Channel following the September 11, 2001 attacks specifically and inexplicably listing the Johnny Maestro & The Brooklyn Bridge version, but not the 5th Dimension version, despite their note-for-note similarity.
The song appeared on the list of songs deemed inappropriate by Clear Channel following the September 11, 2001 attacks specifically and inexplicably listing the Johnny Maestro & The Brooklyn Bridge version, but not the 5th Dimension version, despite their note-for-note similarity.
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 29 March 2015 16:28 (nine years ago) link
The "without meaning to" criterion is not being observed. "Sunny Afternoon"? "All Apologies"? "Always on My Mind"? Look, ARIZONA. Songs where the singer is utterly clueless of anything except his own serene unquestioned rightness. No ironic distance, no apologies - because what would there even be to apologize for?
"Having My Baby" is a good one. "Teach Your Children" invites everyone of a certain age & outlook to join in: just look at them and sigh.
― Vic Perry, Sunday, 29 March 2015 18:11 (nine years ago) link
"Leaving on a Jet Plane," especially when sung by a man.
― banjoboy, Monday, 30 March 2015 03:47 (nine years ago) link
Why especially?
― Mark G, Monday, 30 March 2015 10:49 (nine years ago) link
It's terrible the way he's making the taxi driver wait and stuff.
― Vic Perry, Monday, 30 March 2015 18:10 (nine years ago) link
"So many times I've played around... they don't mean a thing."
Because infidelity is only a problem if you give a shit about your mistresses?
Hey, babe, my many previous flings were just meaningless flings. So don't even worry about them, or worry about the fact that I'm currently going out of town again for an unspecified period of time. So, just to reiterate, I don't plan to cheat on you, but even if I did, it wouldn't be with someone MEANINGFUL or anything like that. Either way - tell me you'll wait for me. With your legs closed.
Maybe. Just guessing here.
― Ye Mad Puffin, Monday, 30 March 2015 19:17 (nine years ago) link
"two sisters" seems pretty dickish if you don't know ray davies' family history.
― rushomancy, Monday, 30 March 2015 19:31 (nine years ago) link
"Getting Better" has the lines "I used to be cruel to my woman/I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved", a little much for a feel-good tune
― Abstinence Hawk (frogbs), Monday, 30 March 2015 19:36 (nine years ago) link
that shitty Sergio Mendes ballad "Never Gonna Let You Go". whole thing is pretty much shorthand for - "aww fuck I left you and realized I didn't want to. sorry bout that. But hey, good news, I'm ready to come back to you now, so just wanted to let you know we're back on".
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Monday, 30 March 2015 19:46 (nine years ago) link
call your girlfriend to thread
― katherine, Monday, 30 March 2015 19:47 (nine years ago) link
Love the school of song criticism where somebody says "this is this kind of song" and then proceeds to criticize it for not being a good example of the type of song the critic just said it is. Kind of a win win for the critic there.
― Vic Perry, Monday, 30 March 2015 20:16 (nine years ago) link
Ha, yeah, a song where someone openly admits "I used to be cruel" doesn't seem like an example of "coming off as a serious dick without meaning to".
If 'unreliable narrator' songs, where the singer knows the protagonist is a dick but the protagonist doesn't, count, then "Somebody I Used to Know" seems like an obvious answer.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Monday, 30 March 2015 22:09 (nine years ago) link
It was early morning yesterday, I was up before the dawnAnd I really have enjoyed my stay but I must be moving onLike a king without a castle, like a queen without a throneI'm an early morning lover and I must be moving on
― with HD lyrics (Eazy), Monday, 30 March 2015 22:20 (nine years ago) link
Just because someone is aware of past dickishness doesn't mean they realize how shallow and dickish their *current* gesture
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Monday, 30 March 2015 23:41 (nine years ago) link
is
agreed.
"Call Your Girlfriend" is tough though b/c I feel like the performance/arrangement is so sad and aware of the hopelessness of the entire situation - it's like Robyn is aspiring to having this dickish blase world-wise attitude and providing the cheating partner with just the right things to say, but she makes clear she doesn't really believe any of it or that any of these three characters is going to be happy at the end. Different category of thing IMO, if not quite in the "the whole plot is that the protagonist is evil" a la "Every Breath You Take" or "Somebody That I Used To Know."
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 30 March 2015 23:44 (nine years ago) link
'Thank You Very Much' by Kaiser Chiefs. I can't help but wonder how they feel about that song now that hardly anyone gives a shit about 'em.
― You’re being too simplistic and you’re insulting my poor heart (Turrican), Monday, 30 March 2015 23:51 (nine years ago) link
But I mean, what would make the protagonist in "Getting Better" less dickish, if not admitting his past mistakes and anger issues and saying he's trying to change?
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Tuesday, 31 March 2015 00:43 (nine years ago) link
I guess the thing is that the character thinks that just talking about his past ways, and saying he's doing better now, makes it all better. Which maybe flew for a second in 1967 (?) but certainly doesn't square right now - it's a pretty fucking easy redemption for an apparent past pattern of horrible cruelty! For me at least, the thread concept is really tied up with a certain kind of "sensitive male" voice/persona/character, which is probably why a lot of the key examples come from the late 60s and 70s... lotta overlap with blithe hippie dudes figuring that if they're free-thinking, they've pretty much solved it all and can't possibly still be assholes.
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 31 March 2015 00:49 (nine years ago) link
"but certainly doesn't square right now.
i.e. now we can parrot ideas that previous peoples actually had to risk something to make real & act like it's real obvious cuz we're so awesomely aware.
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 31 March 2015 01:09 (nine years ago) link
you'll have to show me where "it" says either:
1. "Getting Better" is a "feel-good tune"
2. that saying he's doing better now (or actually "doing the best that I can"): "makes it all better"
Good luck.
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 31 March 2015 01:13 (nine years ago) link
Oh hey I came up with an improvement on the "Leaving" lyrics:
"So kiss me and smile for me / Sleep with anyone you want"
Because nobody in a relationship doesn't like to be told that.
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 31 March 2015 01:17 (nine years ago) link
Come correct everybody.
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 31 March 2015 01:18 (nine years ago) link
You're very cranky about this.
― from batman to balloon dog (carl agatha), Tuesday, 31 March 2015 01:41 (nine years ago) link
The Byrds - Triad
― kornrulez6969, Tuesday, 31 March 2015 01:55 (nine years ago) link
I hear "Getting Better" the same way as Vic, I think. I never thought of "I've got to admit it's getting better/It gets a little better all the time/(It couldn't get much worse)" as a blithe feel-good sentiment.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Tuesday, 31 March 2015 01:55 (nine years ago) link
"C is for Cookie". There are 25 other letters in the alphabet you furry blue myopic fuck
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Tuesday, 31 March 2015 01:58 (nine years ago) link
OTM. Chocolate also not getting recognized.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Tuesday, 31 March 2015 02:01 (nine years ago) link
"You're very cranky about this."
No, I'm utterly psychotic about this. I may be a dick.
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 31 March 2015 02:14 (nine years ago) link
time to write a song
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Tuesday, 31 March 2015 02:16 (nine years ago) link
Can't believe nobody's said Diane by Husker Du yet. What a dick that narrator is.
― kornrulez6969, Tuesday, 31 March 2015 02:50 (nine years ago) link
cf. "Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues"
― with HD lyrics (Eazy), Tuesday, 31 March 2015 02:55 (nine years ago) link
Yes thank you. Not sure either that I'll go so far as to tell Elton John's girl to wait for him.
However. A certain tendency so far would threaten to turn Sting and Stills with "If you love somebody set them free" & "Love the one you're with" into nondix
ARE YOU PREPARED TO LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE STING AND STILLS ARE NONDIX ?
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 31 March 2015 03:06 (nine years ago) link
Descendents - I'm the One
― from batman to balloon dog (carl agatha), Tuesday, 31 March 2015 03:24 (nine years ago) link
"stay" by pink floyd- the narrator spends the first half of the song trying to get a girl to sleep with him, and the second half of the song trying to get rid of her. that's pretty dickish. "octopus" by vdgg has kind of the same trajectory but that song at least is balanced out by narrator's horror that he's spent all this time trying to get to know this girl 'cos she's cute and then finds out that he's repelled by her personality.
― rushomancy, Tuesday, 31 March 2015 10:25 (nine years ago) link
vdgg song is all about the narrator, not the object, imo, and is quite a mature & cynical self-criticism from someone in their early 20s
― rock (Jack White, Coldplay) (imago), Tuesday, 31 March 2015 11:05 (nine years ago) link
although he was clearly dick enough that his wife left him & took the kid(s) a bit later so idk, self-absorbed intense soi-disant poet possibly not the most empathetic
― rock (Jack White, Coldplay) (imago), Tuesday, 31 March 2015 11:06 (nine years ago) link