February 13th, 2007 2:14pm
Neither Here Nor There
This is intended to be a Valentine's Day post, but since I have other plans for tomorrow, you get his one day early.
Erasure "Victim of Love (Live in Nashville, 2006)" - This is ostensibly a country version of "Victim of Love," but in actuality it is a glorious totem pole of kitsch. The country and western signifiers are in full force, but there's also a vague Hawaiian luau theme, some Elvis Presley inflections, a twee female back-up singer, a general lounge vibe, and well, let's not skip over the very fact that this is an Erasure song. I've always thought that Andy Bell sounded a bit like Cher on this particular tune, and that impression is even stronger on this version. Every day in every way, Andy Bell becomes a better diva. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)
Mika "Billy Brown" - Mika may not top Erasure today in terms of sublime campiness, but he comes close with this jaunty tune about a bored suburbanite whose life becomes a directionless mess when he realizes that he's fallen in love with another man. For a song about the ramifications of sexual confusion, it's remarkably cheery and devoid of angst, but you can chalk that up to the fact that it's sung from the perspective of an omniscient narrator and not its tragic character. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)
The Smashing Pumpkins "Beautiful" - It took me ten years to develop the frame of reference to realize that this is Billy Corgan's ersatz version of Prince circa Sign O The Times. It's an oddball pop song, and certainly one of the weirder compositions in the Smashing Pumpkins catalog, but it makes perfect sense in the context of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. The beauty of that record comes from how perfectly it emulates the mindset of suburban teenagers, with each of its 28 songs falling on a gray scale of exaggerated, hormonal emotions. There are several types of crush songs on the record, but "Beautiful" is the one that totally nails the ridiculous, naive purity of unrequited love. The object of his affection is idealized in the first verse but just after he lets it slip that he's not actually with that person ("with my face pressed up to the glass / wanting you"), the song shifts into a daydream scenario in which they are together, his love is returned tenfold, and everything is perfect and lovely forever and ever and ever and ever. But forever doesn't last even in his fantasy, and we're back to him acknowledging that they really don't know each other very well, and that "you just can't tell / who you'll love and who you won't." (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)
Elsewhere: “Like a spider, crawling up inside your body and laying a thousand eggs of cancer...I killed you.”
Erasure "Victim of Love (Live in Nashville, 2006)" - This is ostensibly a country version of "Victim of Love," but in actuality it is a glorious totem pole of kitsch. The country and western signifiers are in full force, but there's also a vague Hawaiian luau theme, some Elvis Presley inflections, a twee female back-up singer, a general lounge vibe, and well, let's not skip over the very fact that this is an Erasure song. I've always thought that Andy Bell sounded a bit like Cher on this particular tune, and that impression is even stronger on this version. Every day in every way, Andy Bell becomes a better diva. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)
Mika "Billy Brown" - Mika may not top Erasure today in terms of sublime campiness, but he comes close with this jaunty tune about a bored suburbanite whose life becomes a directionless mess when he realizes that he's fallen in love with another man. For a song about the ramifications of sexual confusion, it's remarkably cheery and devoid of angst, but you can chalk that up to the fact that it's sung from the perspective of an omniscient narrator and not its tragic character. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)
The Smashing Pumpkins "Beautiful" - It took me ten years to develop the frame of reference to realize that this is Billy Corgan's ersatz version of Prince circa Sign O The Times. It's an oddball pop song, and certainly one of the weirder compositions in the Smashing Pumpkins catalog, but it makes perfect sense in the context of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. The beauty of that record comes from how perfectly it emulates the mindset of suburban teenagers, with each of its 28 songs falling on a gray scale of exaggerated, hormonal emotions. There are several types of crush songs on the record, but "Beautiful" is the one that totally nails the ridiculous, naive purity of unrequited love. The object of his affection is idealized in the first verse but just after he lets it slip that he's not actually with that person ("with my face pressed up to the glass / wanting you"), the song shifts into a daydream scenario in which they are together, his love is returned tenfold, and everything is perfect and lovely forever and ever and ever and ever. But forever doesn't last even in his fantasy, and we're back to him acknowledging that they really don't know each other very well, and that "you just can't tell / who you'll love and who you won't." (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)
Elsewhere: “Like a spider, crawling up inside your body and laying a thousand eggs of cancer...I killed you.”
2/13/07 7:44 pm
Thanks for including the Pumpkins song in today’s post. That’s one of my favorite songs on Mellon Collie (although what must that admission say about me?). Coupled with “In the Arms of Sleep,” there is some seriously arresting exploration of unrequited love, that only just escapes stalking.
2out
2/13/07 10:52 pm
I probably haven’t listened to MC and the IS in over a decade, but it’s nice to be reminded that at least some of it isn’t as embarrassing as I once thought it was. Then again, my embarrassment (and I’m sure I’m not alone here) has more to do with the fact that I was an embarrassing teenager when I completely identified with that album.
2/14/07 4:34 am
Yeah, but aside from being a bunch of well written, well produced songs, the greatest thing about that album is how amazingly on-point it is, it taps into the most embarrassing things about adolescent emotions, and yeah, I mean, it can be weird to listen to it after you’ve matured because you’re wincing at painful memories, but if you’re actually at that age, that record is like the beginning and the end of everything.
10/11/07 8:31 pm
“that only just escapes stalking.”
it’s nice the next song on the record is lily, which ends with this:
”
i can hardly wait till i see her
oh lily, i know you love me
cause as they’re draggin me away
i swear i saw her raise her hand and wave (goodbye)
”
when i was 17 and finally realized what these lyrics said, i realized that they might not be Totally Serious Statements of Eternal Love, but just some mumblings of a pathetic dude.
this hit a little too close to home haha