sing me a song

Dr. Warner posted earlier about what song would be the soundtrack of her life. In true graduate student form, she instead listed verses from several songs that spoke to her. Interesting stuff; you can learn a lot listening to what people like about music and what speaks to them. Not just listening to the music– although the aesthetics of music can also tell you a lot about a person. But there is something about when the lyrics are out there for you to read, without accompaniment, that really gives you insight into not only the artist, but also the people who really feel that the music touches them personally.* In the spirit of Dr. Warner, here is some music that touches me:

The new

Common, “the people”

Can’t leave rap alone

The streets need me

Hunger in their eyes

Is what seems to feed me

Inside peace, mixed with beast

seems to breed me

no one believes, until I believe me

You know as well as I do that there is a lot of political rap out there, from Dead Prez, Kiwi, or even BDP. I would put Public Enemy in this category, but their music, while certainly political, was fueled by outrage that pointed to how fucked up things are, rather than an in depth analysis of capitalism, consumerism, or pick your -ism). But unlike these artists, Common doesn’t spend a lot of time proselytizing and telling you what is wrong with the system; instead he realizes that there needs to be the first step of living in the system, understanding firsthand the ways in which things are wrong, and then, almost organically, work with people to try to fix them.

The old

Elvis Costello, “welcome to the working week”

Welcome to the workin’ week.

Oh I know it don’t thrill you, I hope it don’t kill you.

Welcome to the workin’ week.

You gotta do it till you’re through it so you better get to it.

All of your family had to kill to survive,

And they’re still waitin’ for their big day to arrive.

But if they knew how I felt they’d bury me alive.

Elvis Costello is probably one of my favorite singers of all time. Whether it is his voice, choice of instruments (if you listen closely to his music, you’ll notice that he doesn’t use a regular electric guitar), or the artistic fearlessness of his lyrics, I remember just screaming this song out my window when I was a kid, before I ever realized I was poor.

Affirmation

Jadakiss, Styles P, Nas, Common, “why?” (remix)

Why do they say I changed for a girl?

Why you worried about my clothes if my flow gonna

change the world?

Why you wait ’til you’re 30

To try and be hard?

Why do I gotta have religion if I believe in God?

Why is Bush actin’ like he tryin’ to get Osama?

Why don’t we impeach him, and elect Obama?

(notable quote from another verse in the song: Why do half of America got AIDS/Why do schools care about your son’s braids/More than they care for his grades?)

Much like “the people,” this song gets me politicized a lot more than “we need a revolution” by Dead Prez. Again, through this song, they are asking the simple questions that intellectuals eschew (too simple, probably, or maybe they have moved so far in trying to come up with an answer, that they forgot the question in the first place), but they live with everyday. I think this was the original appeal of the song, along with the notable hip hop conspiracy theory “why did Bush knock down the Towers?”

Misogynist

316 Mafia, “whoop that trick”

Whoop that trick (get’em)

Whoop that trick (get’em)

Whoop that trick (get’em)

I mainly put this one here because it really is hard out here for a pimp.

Introspection

Queen, “somebody to love”

Got no feel, I got no rhythm

I just keep losing my beat

I’m ok, I’m alright

Ain’t gonna face no defeat

I just gotta get out of this prison cell

Someday I’m gonna be free, lord!

Actually, it’s not just this verse, but the whole song. It is about being lonely, being by yourself, not liking it, but at the same time knowing that you are not going to let it beat you. That somehow, when you look at yourself, all the things that you see that are wrong with you are going to be seen by someone else (whether it is a woman, a man, or even God) as something special and unique. I think in a way, we all look for this. Some have found it, and some haven’t; but it is not just a question of waiting for that person/being. It is about realizing that the person you see in the mirror can be no one else, and believing that all of the flaws you see in yourself are also assets. This is easier said than done, I know. Anyway, I think this song is about that…somehow. I still cry when I listen to it all the way through when I am feeling introspective.

Yes, this will be a karaoke song for me, if I could ever get up the nerve to do something besides rap.

These are just a few of mine. Because music of so many different kinds spanning such a long period of time has been such a large part of my life, there are inevitably hundreds that I could have talked about. Just be lucky I didn’t really get into the mushy and romantic songs that I like…

do you have songs?

*I think that there is a difference between music that touches and inspires you and music that defines you. There is no one song that defines me, nor should there be only one for anyone else. In this sense, then, music is about getting at moments, or even about helping you do the defining of yourself that you need to do. I think in the end, this is what Dr. Warner was implicitly saying with her (unusual) list of songs. Sorry about the parenthetical; I’m just not much of a Dixie Chicks guy.

~ by dystopic on September 16, 2007.