"Africa", a song by the band Toto, is one of the greatest songs in the Western canon.
this music video has a weird and colonial energy but there's books and a hot librarian in it
For some reason. Toto gave their blessing to '90s has-been band Weezer to cover "Africa". Weezer has had some very nice songs I enjoyed in my youth, but their "Africa" cover does not live up to them or the original. The Weezer cover sounds like their moms are making them do it. They're preforming the song with the sulky, adequate but lackluster energy of a student in a recital they didn't actually want to do but found no way out of. Even the instrumentals have the same meh energy. Whenever I hear the Weezer cover of "Africa", I wish I were listening to the original instead.
Deeply boring music video. Weird Al Yankovic is in it and they clip his wings and reduce him to dressing up like Stephen Colbert. What's the point of having Weird Al in your music video if you don't even use him properly!!!
You may argue that the point of a song cover is not to do it exactly the same, but to bring something new, even fresh and/or exciting, to the song. Weezer does not do that either. It's like they're a wedding band forced to play some song they think they're too cool for because it was specifically requested by the bride and groom. There is no zest or joy, and not being able to find joy in Toto's "Africa" is like if the sun came up and it was a dark sun, etc.
The cover of "Africa" by the weirdly-named Ninja Sex Party is 100 times better. They have the energy and coolness necessary to do this song justice. Even the instrumentals (which are not identical to the original) are played with great energy and cheer. I enjoyed listening to this cover nearly as much as I enjoy listening to the original.
This is fine. I appreciate that they didn't go for the obvious
One thing I have noticed in the covers of "Africa" (the two above; I haven't sought out the no-doubt countless YouTube amateur covers) is that the bands covering them think that they need to sing the high part of the chorus the loudest. The high part is not the main part; it is a harmony. All vocal parts of the chorus should be sung at the same volume/force, or the high and lower parts should be but one step behind the main middle part, in a manner of speaking. The Weezer vocalists sing the middle and lower harmonies so low they are inaudible. When it comes on on the radio, I am forced to sing the middle part myself in order to at least attempt to salvage the chorus. It is very discomforting and keeps me from fully enjoying the song.
"Africa" by Toto : 5 out of 5 stars
"Africa" covered by Weezer: 2.5 stars
"Africa" covered by Ninja Sex Party : 4 stars
When I was a child
I once sat sobbing on the floor
Beside my mother’s piano
As she played and sang
For there was in her singing
A shy yet solemn glory
My smallness could not hold
And when I was asked
Why I was crying
I had no words for it
I only shook my head
And went on crying
Why is it that music
At its most beautiful
Opens a wound in us
An ache a desolation
Deep as a homesickness
For some far-off
And half-forgotten country
I’ve never understood
Why this is so
But there’s an ancient legend
From the other side of the world
That gives away the secret
Of this mysterious sorrow
For centuries on centuries
We have been wandering
But we were made for Paradise
As deer for the forest
And when music comes to us
With its heavenly beauty
It brings us desolation
For when we hear it
We half remember
That lost native country
We dimly remember the fields
Their fragrant windswept clover
The birdsongs in the orchards
The wild white violets in the moss
By the transparent streams
And shining at the heart of it
Is the longed-for beauty
Of the One who waits for us
Who will always wait for us
In those radiant meadows
Yet also came to live with us
And wanders where we wander.
I've been wanting to do this exegesis of “All About The Bass” ever since it first came out, which was ages ago, but this blog has basically been Procrastination Central since its inception so whatever. I love this song, but I have issues with it.
Yeah it’s pretty clear
I ain’t no size two
But I can shake it shake it
Like I’m supposed to do
I’m glad your not being a size two doesn't keep you from shaking it, because it shouldn't (full disclosure: I danced to this song like a mad fool at my cousin’s wedding). But you’re “supposed to”? Why, because you’re a larger lady? Because you’re a lady in general? Who told you you’re supposed to shake it? Why can’t you just shake it because you want to?
I’m not going to criticize the grammar (double negatives, etc.) used throughout the song because it is standard in African American Vernacular English (AAVE). What I have an issue with is that the singer, Meghan Trainor, is as white and blond as they come and is using AAVE in the first place. I was disappointed when I saw the music video and learned she is white. Cognitive dissonance, linguistic cultural appropriation. AAVE has entered the mainstream (aka white) cultural consciousness, though, so am I being oversensitive? Is it now ok for white people to use it in songs? I'm feeling the answer to both of those questions is no. I don’t know very much about Meghan Trainor so I don't know if her background is inner-city or urban and if she grew up speaking AAVE. Her music video is a preppy pastel retro wonderland, so I rather doubt it. I wish I could remember the source of this quote: "It is profitable to be black or gay as long as you're neither."
‘Cause I got that boom boom that all the boys chase
All the right junk in all the right places
Well. I kind of hate that use of boom boom, as well as the stale platitude that males lust after women’s bodies. Putting the accuracy of that mentality aside, it shouldn't be just blindly accepted as a fact of life. We should expect better from men and boys.
Also, what about people who have all the wrong junk in all the right places, or all the right junk in all the wrong places, or all the wrong junk in all the wrong places (me)? What constitutes right and wrong, in terms of junk and its placement? Just kidding, I know. Women are supposed to look like Jessica Rabbit or Beyonce.
I see the magazines working that Photoshop
We know that shit ain't real
Come on now make it stop
If you've got beauty beauty
Just raise ‘em up
‘Cause every inch of you is perfect
From the bottom to the top
YAASSSSSS. This makes the song for me.
Yeah my mama she told me don’t worry about your size
Aww, that’s nice. My mama has told me to exercise more and not eat so much in order to lose weight since I was a teenager.
She said boys like a little more booty to hold at night
But at least she never made males’ opinions or desires the yardstick for what my body should look like. My health is the reason she tells me what she does. That’s vastly more important than making males desire me. I’m glad she never taught me anything so damaging.
Also, are there really (white) mothers out there sincerely using ‘booty’? That’s horrifying.
You know I won’t be no stick figure silicone Barbie doll
So if that’s what you’re into then go ahead and move along
YES PREACH IT.
Then in the chorus she goes into how she’s “all about that bass, no treble”, which I think is supposed to signify bigness vs. skinnyness? idk. This is not clearly explained and inaccurate musically because the song’s score includes a treble clef. It kind of has to.
Hey I’m bringing booty back
Go ahead and tell them skinny bitches that
Girl, please. Ain’t no white girl bringing booty back (oh no I’m doing it too. I’M PART OF THE PROBLEM). If anyone brought booty back it was Beyonce or JLo way back in the nineties, not some white girl who has only just become famous because of this song.
Also it’s not very nice to address all thin women as skinny bitches. They can’t all possibly be bitches. This brings up an interesting point, though: when you have a group of people who have historically been oppressed or seen as less than, they are naturally going to feel and express resentment towards the oppressors/dominant group/group who they are constantly being compared to unfavorably. When the oppressed group rejects the acceptable mold and breaks free from trying to conform or be conformed to it, the pendulum will swing in the opposite direction (i.e., the resentment and bitterness against skinny bitches or whites or whoever). This is not as bad as the original bias or racism and is a result of the injustice. It is very easy to want to be like “f*ck skinny bitches” like Nicki Minaj, but the skinny girls aren't the issue. It’s that the diversity of body sizes isn't accepted with all types of bodies being seen as equally beautiful, and that instead only one type is held up as acceptable (the thin supermodel body type). Remember, however, that one of the steps of grieving is anger.
No I’m just playing I know you think you’re fat
But I’m here to tell you
Every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top
This is what keeps this song from being skinnybashing, as poorly skilled in reading comprehension and culturally unaware Natalia Kills thought. While most women have body image issues due to this society and its messages, not all women think they’re too fat. There are women and girls who wish they weren't so thin, who wish they had curves instead of being shaped like a tongue depressor. But they too are perfect, just as bigger women and girls are.
Here’s the music video, which I mostly like (just like the song!). I do wish the whole thing were just that Polynesian/Pacific Islander fellow doing his thing, because, to quote a YouTube commentator, he is a “dancing god”. I like the palette/look, the diversity of the people (always a bit off to have white singers with backup dancers who are WOC, though) and that the thin girl in the worrisome plastic wrap corset loosens up and dances friendly-like with the others at the end. I want almost everything Meghan Trainor wears in this video.
I don’t think I have ever been as hungry for anything as Meghan Trainor is for fame. Look at her face. It’s like Rachel Berry from Glee but more. That woman would do anything. It scares me a bit.
Also here is my favorite cover (1940s jazz retro style). That girl’s voice! And she plays the upright bass. Visual and auditory puns, y’all.
I've been toying with the idea that the pop music from different decades is characterized by its influences or flavors. I can't really examine this with pop music from before I was born since I'm not familiar with it, but I think this theory sort of holds up:
The 1990s: R&B-flavored pop (lots of vocal trills, ballads, etc.)
The 2000s: rock-flavored pop (idk, like Avril Lavigne and Kelly Clarkson or whatever)
The 2010s: electronic music (the stuff they play in clubs, like house or dubstep or whatever. I don't know music terms)-flavored pop. Perhaps as a reaction, folk-flavored alternative music seems to be growing in popularity as well (Mumford & Sons). I am not doing a list like this for alternative music because I know even less about that than I do about pop music.
Also, retro-flavored pop (stuff that sounds like Motown or other music from the 1960s, e.g. Amy Winehouse and Adele) became A Thing in the mid-2000s to the present, as well.
I don't know music well enough to be as certain about pop music earlier than that (as if I'm even sure about the pop music in my own lifetime), but I think it's tentatively like this:
1980s: electronic-flavored pop (Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince. This kind of electronic means synthesizers [?] rather than the clubbing/remix-music sound popular today)
1970s: folk (Peter, Paul and Mary; Bread, etc.) and rock (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, etc.)
1960s: rock 'n' roll- (Elvis?) and soul/blues-flavored (Motown, Aretha Franklin etc.)
1950s: idk, rock 'n' roll also? Getting over big band (Elvis?)
1940s: big band
1930s: possibly jazz, medium band, folk (I don't know. All my knowledge of '30s music comes from O Brother, Where Art Thou?)
1920s: jazz, stuff that sounds like classical music to us now
1910s and before: Ragtime?, stuff that is classical music now
At some point Mozart was popular music, dude. Sixteen year old girls probably stayed up at night crying over Felix Mendelssohn.
I'm a sucker for freebies, and free song downloads from iTunes are no
exception. I usually download the ones I like every week (I think the
free songs change every Monday). Last week I downloaded a single called
"Come Back Down" by Greg Laswell featuring Sara Bareilles. It's a great
pop song, catchy and rather anthemic, but it's kind of jarring when you
listen to the words. The official music video handily features the
lyrics, so go ahead and watch it:
The song's message can basically be summed up as, "Sack UP, ho! Get your act together! Look at your life; look at your choices."
It's interesting that this song is so blunt; most pop songs feature
watered down optimism and meaningless positive platitudes. I rather
value this song's honesty.
So why do I call this the Batman of
songs? It's awesome and popular with audiences, but it's kind of a
downer when you think about it. Also, this is not the song people want,
but the song they deserve.
-I'm sitting at the bus stop when two guys pass me. "...Streets ahead!" says one. "Streets ahead?" repeats the other. "March 15!" the first replies. If you're a Community fan, you got that. I've never seen other Community fans in real life or at least heard them talk about the show.
-When I'm about to cross the street while walking home, a car stops at the sign in front of me, my favorite song by Gotye blasting from its speakers. With the biggest grin on my face, I step off the curb to cross the street, singing the ending line, "Now you're just somebody that I used to know..."
Two bonus random/embarrassing things:
-It was cold when I was walking home, so I pulled on the hood of my magenta hoodie. I pass a guy who laughs at me: "You look just like Little Red Riding Hood!"
-When I get to the apartment door, my key card doesn't work. Seeing the lights on, I ring the doorbell so my roommate could open the door for me. A girl I don't know opens the door. That's when I realize I'm at the wrong apartment complex. It looked exactly the same as my apartment, surroundings and all.
The traditional songs about a new year beginning seem melancholy and seem to focus on friends (Auld Lange Syne, My Dear Acquaintance [A Happy New Year]). The only Spanish song I know of on the same subject seems happier and counting-my-blessings-y (it's a scientific term), but that may be because the rhythm is so danceable. (this version is the best I can find on YouTube. Viva Celia Cruz.)
Good things that happened in 2011:
I survived my first year and the first quarter of my second year of grad school
I started a great job
I got my driver's license
I read some great great books and saw some good movies
I hung out with my friends
I bought a new laptop
And a Nook
I did some library volunteering in the summer
My brother and I bought our parents a new desktop computer
My parents sold our minivan
My little brother started college
My mom started a new job she likes
My sister studied abroad in France and Argentina (she's there now)
and just got engaged
My best friend's little girl was born, as was my cousin's second child. Babies are the best
Said bestie^ graduated from nursing school and passed her boards and is now an RN
I started this blog
I got involved with Change.org and learned that if a lot of people click-sign petitions, stuff actually happens. It's a start.
Other stuff I can't remember (these items are just in the order I thought of them)
We just learned that my step-great-grandmother passed away too. She was my grandmother's stepmother.
Natural disasters all over the world of varying intensities and horribleness such as tsunamis, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes and wildfires
Steve Jobs and Elizabeth Taylor died
Political crap, such as awful and/or sexist laws and the way OccupyWhatever protestors were treated. You will never convince me that it is okay to pepper-spray an 80-something year old woman in the face.
The State of Georgia killed Troy Davis
My maternal grandmother has had some worrisome medical stuff happen. She fainted twice a few weeks ago.
I was a bit worried I'd have more stuff in the Bad section than the Good, but I'm glad that's not the case. I think 2011 was somewhat better than 2010, but it still was rather difficult in parts. Here's to hoping 2012 is great.
