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Ever had one of those moments where you were listening to a song that you thought you knew well, but then you heard something in the lyric, and light bulb went off in your head, and you had one of those “oh, yeah… I get it now” moments of epiphany?
I had one of those the other day at work. On my work computer, I have a couple thousand MP3s loaded, and the playlist is set to random order, so I never know what the heck I’m going to listen to. On Friday, one of my favorite Goo Goo Dolls songs, “Better Days”, came on. Since I had the earphones on, I really got to listen to the lyrics (posted below), which I though I knew. Somewhere, it hit me… “wow, that sounds like the lyrics to a Christmas song!!!” I had never thought of it in those terms, and now that song seems almost more intense than I saw it as being before. Crazy Buffalonian, snuck a Christmas tune in on us without telling us
You go, Johnny R!!! I guess I never thought of it that way because it didn’t have any of the “sound” you’d expect from a blatant Christmas tune.Anyone else have moments like that? I know none of you probably have had a moment like that with a Bruce songs, since we are all very careful about lyrical analysis with his canon, but how about other artists/songs?
Rich
Better Days
by John Rzeznik
And you ask me what I want this year
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we’ll find better days
Cuz I don’t need boxes wrapped in strings
And desire and love and empty things
Just a chance that maybe we’ll find better daysSo take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight’s the night the world begins againAnd it’s someplace simple where we could live
And something only you can give
And thats faith and trust and peace while we’re alive
And the one poor child that saved this world
And there’s 10 million more who probably could
If we all just stopped and said a prayer for themSo take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight’s the night the world begins againI wish everyone was loved tonight
And somehow stop this endless fight
Just a chance that maybe we’ll find better daysSo take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight’s the night the world begins again
Cuz tonight’s the night the world begins againRich,
Just wanted to add that I have many of these moments, and though I can’t really point to any, “Better Days” is as good an example as any!
Vic
Victor wrote:Rich,Just wanted to add that I have many of these moments, and though I can’t really point to any, “Better Days” is as good an example as any!
Vic
VIc,
We’d love examples
When you have one of those moments, be sure to let us know Rich
OK, yet another of those moments hit, and so it’s time to keep y’all well-rounded by keeping this amazingly off-topic topic going….
Remember back in the 80s, when there was this silly dispute about whether or not Ray Parker, Jr. plagiarized Huey Lewis’s I Need A New Drug when he wrote and recorded the theme song from the Ghostbusters movie? I never did hear how that came out. However, I decided today that, while the song may have been ripped off from another, it wasn’t from the Lewis tune. Follow me here (even if you really don’t give a rip)….
I was listening to some old LPs and 45s, trying to compile a collection of old soul and funk songs for my nephew. He’s into that stuff these days, having recently discovered George Clinton and Funkadelic, and I am a very undulgent uncle with losts of old records. I came across a very cool old chestnut that I decided to include in the collection. I haven’t heard this song in about 20 years, when I heard the tune in another Dan Aykroyd movie, Spies Like Us. After listening to this tune, and considering the Aykroyd conneciton (he loved that old Stax soul, so much so that he and John Belushi even hired the bulk of Booker T & The MGs to be the Blues Brothers Band), I had the “aha!” revelation that this may indeed be the tune that was copied for Ghostbusters. What song is that? Why, Soul Finger, by The Bar-Kays. What a cool record, and a wonderful and quite forgotten band. Listen to it some time (you can hear it, if nowhere else, on free.napster.com), and tell me if you can’t hum along the Ghostbusters tune and make it fit. Heck, the “Ghostbusters!” answer to the “who ya gonna call?” line even fits when the background singers are shouting “soul finger!”
Now, to get this back on-topic… I think it would be cool if Bruce and Noisemakers would slip that tune in during the middle of one of their many “tour around the world” jams.
Now, I suggest you all go out and listen to some of that great and seemingly forgotten music. Check out The Staples Singers on the recordings of the WattStax benefit concert (they to the place up with their rendition of Respect Yourself), or some of Isaac Hayes’ classic raps (like on his version of By The Time I Get To Phoenix), or spend a few hours digging on Etta James (dont miss Tell Mama!) or Aretha Franklin. It’s great stuff and makes ya feel good.
Rich
“Ask him his dream. What does it mean? He don’t know” – C. Mayfield
rdiakun wrote:Anyone else have moments like that? I know none of you probably have had a moment like that with a Bruce songs, since we are all very careful about lyrical analysis with his canonActually, I had moments like that with two Bruce songs 😳 😳 :
1.Rainbow’s Cadillac-when I first heard it,I thought it was about a boxer. (“shorts of plaid…coat of more colors than Joseph had”). In my mind,I thought this was a description of the clothes a boxer might wear during a match-the “coat” being the boxer’s robe. I also thought the line “throw it down at the proper time” referred to “throwing” a fight.
2. Walk In The Sun-it took me months to fianally realize this song was about two people who work in a “gentleman’s club.” I liked the chorus so much,it took me a while to really listen to the verses!
Jackie
You go, Johnny R!!! I guess I never thought of it that way because it didn’t have any of the “sound” you’d expect from a blatant Christmas tune.
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