Cats in the Cradle - Harry Chapin

Two blog posts in one day!  A record!  Sort of!  Maybe for the most exclamation points in one sentence!

Okay, so I had an epiphany while I was in the shower the other day. Yes, I take showers.  I like being clean.  And don't all great epiphanies happen in the shower?  I'll bet more do than you'd think. 

Right.  Moving on.  I'd heard Cats in the Cradle on the radio the day before and it had hit the repeat button in my brain.  

Like most people, the first time I heard it I was all "this is so tragic, crimes of the father visited upon the son, blah, blah, blah".   So I was mulling the implications and interpretation of the lyrics whilst shampooing my hair and it came to me.  What if, at the end of the song, the son is basically telling his dad "you never had time for me when I was a kid so now that you're old and suddenly have time for me, you know what?  Fuck you.  My kids need me - they're sick - and I'm going to be there for them like you weren't for me.  Take that, you bastard."  I like that interpretation better, quite honestly.  I like the son being the man and father his dad had never been.   

Do I think that's what Harry Chapin's meaning was when he wrote the song?  Who knows.  That's what's so great about music.  You take from it what you want or what you need.  And no matter what you get out of this song, it's a great one and truly deserving of being a classic.

Shimmer - Fuel

I swear I have, like, four blog posts at a minimum swirling around in my head, mostly written.  Have I actually sat down to put them up here?  Of course not.  Slacker Lil!  

Anywho, when I first heard this song, I loved it and immediately went out and bought the entire CD.  That's always a good thing to do, right?  Yeaaah.  This is one of those CD's where I only listen to one song on repeat.  Fortunately, it's a great song.  

...love is for fools who fall behind

It's kind of an aching song, I suppose, which is one of the reasons I like it.  An aching for something your heart wants to be possible but your head knows is impossible.  And isn't so much of life like that?  Encountering things, people, opportunities that you'd love to have in your life but then the universe laughs at you and says "you fucking idiot, you thought you could have that - well think again!"  

Oh what a cynical bitch I can be.   

It's too far away for me to hold
It's too far away...

Little Girls - Oingo Boingo

Redheads were abandoned for a post but now they're back and with a really good one, too.  It's about time the males stood up and represented and who better to do that than Danny Elfman?

I first heard the Mystic Nights of the Oingo Boingo while away on a church youth group excursion.  I was the only person who'd gone and Dave, the youth leader at the time, had the Dr. Demento show on the radio while we were driving home.  I always thought of Dave as mild mannered and kind of boring, but really, I should have realized anyone who listens to Dr. Demento can't be all bad.

So here I was, this good little Christian girl...

{{Please, a moment of silence for the wholesome Christian girl I once was}}

...

{{moment of silence}}

...

Okay, thank you.  As I was saying, I was pure of heart and ears (I listened to Amy Grant for Christ's sake - literally) so when Dr. Demento (how I loved that show - Fish heads, fish heads, roly poly fish heads) started playing this weird band with an even weirder name, I was all "huh?".  Oddly enough, though, I didn't find the music repellent - just really, really weird.  I may have mentioned that already.

Then years later on there came the era of the first of the band's shortened names.  Only a Lad had HEAVY rotation on one of the local radio stations 'round these parts, KROQ 106.7, and Little Girls was one of the bigger songs off of that album.  It's fun and catchy and oh so deliciously disturbing.

They don't ask me questions
They don't want to scold me
They don't look for answers
They just want to hold me
Isn't this fun
Isn't this what life's all about
Isn't this a dream come true
Isn't this a nightmare too

This song is wrong on so many levels but it's the perfect example of Oingo Boingo during the early part of their career.  In order to fully enjoy it, though, you have to realize that taking life too seriously is not a good thing.  That said, I do not condone pedophilia nor do I think that Oingo Boingo does either.

Obviously Danny Elfman has some serious dementedness going on in his amazingly talented brain.  My favorite song of Oingo Boingo's is actually Just Another Day off of Dead Man's Party but Little Girls is too perfect an example of their dark brilliance.

Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones

Redheads were the rage for a couple posts and I had more halfway written in my head but then I got lost in Tori Amosland for a while. Now I've been diverted onto the Rolling Stones highway so redheads are off for a bit.

I love the Stones. Wait, let me clarify. I love the Stones from Tattoo You and before. Anything since then has been utter crap they've done solely for the purpose of adding more money to their already overfilled coffers. Of course, to be fair, Mick does need a steady income to pay for all of his legitimate and illegitimate children, Ronnie has major alcoholism issues and alimony payments and Charlie really should look into getting smile implants.

Of their impressive catalogue, my favorite Stones song is Gimme Shelter.



The real impact of this song for me isn't so much the lyrics, which are simple yet compelling. What gets me every time I hear it is the secondary vocal provided by Merry Clayton. She truly is the focus of the song and Mick seems to understand it as his vocal, while great in true Mick fashion, often takes the backseat to Merry's amazing voice. Their voices in this duet, and this song truly is a duet, complement each other wonderfully.

War, children it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
Oooh see the fire is sweepin'
Our very street today
Burns like a red coal carpet
Mad bull lost its way

Even hearing the intro, with Keith Richards' rhythm guitar and the swelling of the music as the song gains steam, it gives me chills sometimes. There's a very distinct vibe to this song, which hits me as being eerily compelling. It's been used in several feature films, almost all of them having to do with the Vietnam War, about which this song was written.

I also love how the lyric optimistically and hopefully goes from war, rape and murder to how love is only a kiss away. If only it were that simple.