A Sad Song Says So Much...
So I am sitting in my office listening to “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want”, by The Smiths and it is just ripping my heart out.
I have this theory about the difference between the Smiths and the Cure. Most people think of the Cure as a gloomy depressing band, but in reality most of their songs are incredibly romantic and beautiful. Sit down and listen to the words to “Lovesong” sometime. “Whenever I’m alone/with you/you make me feel like I am home again/Whenever I’m alone/with you/you make me feel like I am whole again”. That has to be the most touching lyric in the history of lyrics.
The Smiths on the other hand, write on a more upbeat tempo but if you listen to what they are saying it’s terrible. “And the pain was enough to make a shy, bald, Buddhist reflect and plan a mass murder” (from “Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before”). That’s just terrible, but it’s so catchy and poppy that you don’t notice. The best example of this is “Panic”. Great beat, great hook but the lyrics and the story of the song are depressing as hell. Morrissey was listening to a news report about a riot/massacre or something (I can’t remember exactly and don’t have time to look it up) and right after the news report the DJ put on a Bee Gee’s song. (“Hang the blessed DJ/for the music that he constantly plays/says nothing to me about my life”).
Where things get really dark is when they mix the depressing lyrics and a down tempo. “Please, Please…” is the ultimate example of this. “The times that I’ve had/would make a good man turn bad”… “so please, please, please let me get what I want/this time”. Just the pain and ache in his voice kills me.
The Cure does the same things on songs like “Disintegration” (“I never said I would stay till the end/I knew I would leave you with babies and everything”) or “Want” (“However hard I want/I know deep down in side/I’ll never really get more hope/or any more time”)
Only great music can rip you apart like this...
I have this theory about the difference between the Smiths and the Cure. Most people think of the Cure as a gloomy depressing band, but in reality most of their songs are incredibly romantic and beautiful. Sit down and listen to the words to “Lovesong” sometime. “Whenever I’m alone/with you/you make me feel like I am home again/Whenever I’m alone/with you/you make me feel like I am whole again”. That has to be the most touching lyric in the history of lyrics.
The Smiths on the other hand, write on a more upbeat tempo but if you listen to what they are saying it’s terrible. “And the pain was enough to make a shy, bald, Buddhist reflect and plan a mass murder” (from “Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before”). That’s just terrible, but it’s so catchy and poppy that you don’t notice. The best example of this is “Panic”. Great beat, great hook but the lyrics and the story of the song are depressing as hell. Morrissey was listening to a news report about a riot/massacre or something (I can’t remember exactly and don’t have time to look it up) and right after the news report the DJ put on a Bee Gee’s song. (“Hang the blessed DJ/for the music that he constantly plays/says nothing to me about my life”).
Where things get really dark is when they mix the depressing lyrics and a down tempo. “Please, Please…” is the ultimate example of this. “The times that I’ve had/would make a good man turn bad”… “so please, please, please let me get what I want/this time”. Just the pain and ache in his voice kills me.
The Cure does the same things on songs like “Disintegration” (“I never said I would stay till the end/I knew I would leave you with babies and everything”) or “Want” (“However hard I want/I know deep down in side/I’ll never really get more hope/or any more time”)
Only great music can rip you apart like this...
posted by Jay at 3:31 PM
2 Comments:
Ahh...Morrissey...what can you expect from a man's who's favourite book is The Little Prince, considers himself asexual and who once sported a hearing aid in solidarity with a hearing impaired fan who was being bullied. So sensitive and sweet, yet so...making me want to jump into oncoming traffic.
That is the perfect Morrissey analogy!
One more great Smiths lyric,
"There's a club if you want to go/you might find somebody/who really loves you/so you go and you stand on your own/and you leave on your own/and you go home/and you cry and you want to die" (From How Soon Is Now).
I often think of that when I'm out at a club. Luckily I never go out to "hook up", so it's not that relevant to me, but I see so many people trying so hard that it's sad.
I swear you could do some sort of sociological study on nightclub interaction. Back in undergrad, I used to actually pay attention to things like that... watching guys go and throw game at every girl there and just hope that some of it sticks... wow this was a long comment. Maybe I should turn this thought into a post sometime... hummm
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