Intelligent Life On Planet Rock
The Non PC I Pod
My I Pod came over all non PC today. First of all it chose Gene Pitney's "24 hours from Tulsa", one of those songs I have heard countless times without really listening to the words.
I was struck by the non PC quality of the story. The male protagonist thwarted in his attempts to get back to the woman he loves by the attentions of a femme fatale. But it isn't his fault. As he points out "All of a sudden I lost control".Could happen to anyone.
But worse was to come. From the same Burt Bacharach collection we were subsequently treated to Jack Jones "Wives and Lovers", which is so dated in its message it has to be heard to be believed.So here it is.
http://open.spotify.com/track/3EPjG4FynvvD9QcTqxDpPk
Straight from the days of Darren arriving home from work on "Bewitched" to announce to Samantha that the boss was coming for dinner.
Any more examples out there of lyrical content well past its sell-by date?
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Del Amitri
Nothing Ever Happens
Full of talk of 'secretaries' and hopelessly outmoded technology. It's almost a museum piece.
Tick.. tick.. tick..
How much time will elapse before the DaveRossian explosion happens?
Allow me.
Infidelity does seem to come up a bit....
- It Might As Well Be You
- Be My Downfall
The Beatles
I had to raise an eyebrow when Getting Better popped into play recently
"I used to be cruel to my woman,I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved"
I believe early work from Stones is loaded with this sorta stuff too..
In fairness to the HJHs
the song does go on to say "Man I was mean but I'm changing the scene" so some redemption may be on offer.
Bowie and Mott - early '70s
"...If 'the Black' hadn't have pulled her off..."
"...some Spade said 'Rock and Rollers, they're all the same'..."
Would not pass muster these days methinks.
See also 'Some Girls' by the 'Under My Thumb' hitmakers.
Don't forget, Paul
That the queer threw up at the sight of that.
Rainbow
I still smile/shudder at the line "I don't know about your brain but you look all right" in the positively tumescent All Night Long.
Mungo Jerry - In The Summertime
" ... have a drink, have a drive ...".
Mind you, on a connected vein, I remember being almost genuinely shocked at the lyrics of "Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town" the first time I actually paid attention to them.
I love it
because it recognises that it's hard to love a man whose legs are bent and paralysed.
Gary Glitter
Do you want to touch me there?
And.......
Now I'm Back With The Boys Again
Two
I Got A Woman: "She knows a woman's place is right there in the home"; and Elvis Presley's Paralyzed: "I'm gay every morning, at night I'm still the same".
Wives and Lovers
I rember a horrified Chris Evans playing this on R1 when all those easy-listening compilations became trendy in the mid 90's. He labelled it the most sexist song ever and I don't think he's far wrong.
Even as a huge Bacharach/David fan...
... I've always found those lyrics absolutely toe-curling, even as a lad with my first Pickwick Bacharach compilation. The Jack Jones version is sleaziness itself, but hearing a woman sing it (Dionne Warwick does a version, for instance) is somehow even worse...
Isn't it just possible...
...that B&D weren't being entirely serious?
Anyway, does it really make sense to describe a song as 'dated' when it was written in the early 60s?
Possible..
but I think not. As you say the song was written in the early sixties and they did things differently then. Perhaps "of its time" would be a better description than dated.
My point is that it just wouldn't get written now.
and there's always...
"You been bad
Don't do what I say.
You don't listen.
And you never obey.
Try to teach you.
But you just won't be good.
You won't behave the way
A big girl should.
It's time to give the whip a crack.
I'm gonna have to send you back to
Bitch School."
which was on the first Raincoats album.
woooah, there...
I think the 24 Hours From Tulsa goes beyond political (in)correctness. There's a brilliant version by Dusty Springfield on "A Girl Called Dusty", and it is just as convincing.
Like I said..
could happen to anyone :)
King Kurt - Destination Zululand
would probably struggle for airplay nowadays
one definite would be
The Groundhogs - Thank Christ for the Bomb
Lulu - To Sir With Love maybe?
I am not sure how a teenage school leaver musing over what she could do to thank her teacher for all his help would be interpreted now.
Less than cheerful
If I was with a woman I'd threaten to unload her
Every time she asked me to explain
If I was with a woman she'd have to learn to cherish
The purity and depth of my disdain
Don't Mess Up A Good Thing
I was on the tube last night, and my iPod threw up this little gem by Fontella Bass and Bobby McClure:
http://open.spotify.com/track/6t91zEnVpFoMSjHLkjTvgf
The woman accuses the man of sleeping around and that, if he continues, the relationship is over. Fair play. However, his defence basically amounts to "Yes, ok, I'm having regular sex with this woman on the other side of town. Every man does it, ok? But, at the end of the day, I'm still with you, aren't I? Don't be so fucking stupid. If you insist on making a big deal out of this, the relationship will be over and it will be your fault, you paranoid, jealous cow."
Shocking. And the crowning irony is that they both maintain that their relationship is a "good thing".
I don't want her You can
I don't want her
You can have her
She's too fat
She's too fat
She's too fat for me