Prince lyric, which just occurred to me in the context of
the feminist-in-the-elevator-at-the-atheist-convention incident. Prince was telling us to live now, because we're all going to die, which he sometimes said clearly — "You better live now/Before the grim reaper come knocking on your door" — and sometimes said absurdly — "Let's look for the purple banana/Until they put us in the truck." He also expressed a clear belief in the afterlife. ("In this life/Things are much harder than in the afterworld/In this life/You're on your own.") He's no atheist. How he behaves in an actual in-this-life elevator, as opposed to a metaphorical elevator, I have no idea. I bet he silently occupies his corner and avoids eye contact, in
classic elevator etiquette, and waits for his floor.
Sorry I can't link to a Prince "Let's Go Crazy" video.
Prince is super-possessive about his songs and doesn't appreciate the value of letting people like Althouse win him new fans. So here's 1. Beck,
"Elevator Music" and 2. Eminem,
"Elevator." Beck says:
All the dudes with banjos
Chicks with wicks
Animals with bananas...
Eminem says:
That’s a no no who even she knows dada’s f-cking crazy
Fucking animal, cookoo, bananas, fucking AP
Whether those are purple bananas, I don't know.
ADDED: Actually, for now, at least,
here's Prince, "Let's Go Crazy."
AND: For the sake of completeness, there is
at least one more elevator/banana song.
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22 comments:
What about that "America's Idol" host's old song: link?
"What about that "America's Idol" host's old song: link?"
Yes, but there's no banana.
Yes, but there's no banana.
Shouldn't that be Yes, we have no bananas?
You're obsessed with purple bananas?
I think somebody needs a little affection.
(man, Sigmund would pick up the ball and run with that one...)
El'vator try to bring me down
Ooh ooh, ooh ooh,
When I goes into town
Ooh ooh, ooh ooh,
But I punch a higher floor
Ooh ooh, ooh ooh,
A floor above the store
Ooh ooh, ooh ooh,
I gets off at the 'xec'tive suite
Ooh ooh, ooh ooh,
And then I stamps my feet
Ooh ooh, ooh ooh
Cause I'm the 'rig'nal idjiot
Ooh ooh, ooh ooh
Who mustways throw a fit
Ooh ooh, ooh ooh...
A couple of things:
Prince was telling us to live now, because we're all going to die,...He also expressed a clear belief in the afterlife...He's no atheist.
No, atheists generally don't endorse the "live for now" ethos - we're not stupid - we try to find the common good and live for that. Believers betray their belief in an afterlife by constantly reinforcing the idea they won't live forever, as Prince does here ("live now") and saying to do something idiotic about it.
How he behaves in an actual in-this-life elevator, as opposed to a metaphorical elevator, I have no idea. I bet he silently occupies his corner and avoids eye contact, in classic elevator etiquette, and waits for his floor.
Yeah, he's a hypocrite - and a fruitbat. There are some musicians, no matter how talented, who just embarrass the hell out of me. Not to mention, Prince's gift apparently left the building as soon as he got seriously spiritual.
That's how it seems to happen,...
BTW, I was up late, last night, pondering this Amy Winehouse lyric:
They tried to make me go to rehab
but I said 'no, no, no'
Yes I've been black but when I come back
you'll know know know
I ain't got the time
and if my daddy thinks I'm fine
Just try to make me go to rehab
but I won't go go go
That's going to hurt her old man for a long time to come, I think. But, then, he's divorced, so whatever.
It's generally a good idea to ignore the actual opinions and advice of musicians.
It's generally a good idea to ignore the actual opinions and advice of musicians.
I wouldn't go that far. We tend to be smarter than most, but you have to be selective:
1) Is it an artist who gives a shit about the general welfare?
2) Are you listening to a person or a work of art? (I'll write about anything in a song, even stuff I can't stand,...glowingly.)
3) What's the artists hit-to-miss ratio for assessing reality?
Just keep your heads down, amen.
Ain't no Don Giovannis on a damn elevator.
Freakin' pervert.
Prince was pretty awesome back in the day. What a talented dude.
Somewhere along the way, the roles of songwriter and romantic poet seem to have merged. Before they were geniuses, songwriters seemed to have lived long, productive lives. Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Harold Arlen: these were men of grand talent but they didn't consider themselves examplars, avatars, or prophets. They had a knack and they merchandised it the best they could. Their music, which has now endured for three or four generations, was not about their private sorrows and disappointments or even the grand evils of capitalist societies. Catchy tunes and June-moon-swoon win the day and win posterity.....Winehouse definitely had talent, but it was her addiction not her talent that she nurtured and developed. She would have been greater if she hadn't been so grandiose about a mundane problem.
If a musician establishes himself as a thinker and writer worth paying attention to, then his being a musician is not disqualifying.
I'm just saying that if you love someone because of their music (or acting), you shouldn't, because of that, consume their various opinions on matters other than what you already love them for. They're frequently given the opportunity to put their opinions out for public consumption, and it's best not to consume.
From the article Crack linked:
The study also found that musicians who took the time to exercise between symphonies had even higher-functioning brain capabilities.
What the hell does that even mean? The mind reels with various applications.
What, are there musicians out there who are keeping hand weights under their chairs to use between movements? Or maybe, in the case of female musicians, just doing Kegels?
I suppose pit musicians could dart under the stage and do toe-touches or something.
I'm sorry, but I'm finding this most immensely intriguing and amusing, and I can't wait to read this article over the phone to my musician father (now in his 70s and ticking right along)--even though I know it'll only go to his and encourage him.
Did I ever mention that the first time I "participated," in a manner of speaking, in a live music performance, I was just a teeny, tiny baby.
It's true.
My parents (then young; my mom was still a senior in college and my dad in grad school [both music majors]) were contracted to play in the pit orchestra of a musical. I came early (always was a pain in the ass, lol ), but the show had to go on (and they needed the money to pay for my deliver; no health insurance). So they rearranged the pit a bit, stuck my bassinet under the stage right by the little door, and stuck a bottle in my mouth when I opened it.
Fortunately, I was a good baby and months away from babbling.
Made up for it later, of course.
; )
wv: bacound
OK, that's creepy.
First, that's one of Prince's best songs, but not close to his best guitar work.
Second, I keep hearing people suggesting that we should listen to someone because he/she is "smart." If the current resident of the White House hasn't cured you of that I suggest that you spend some time hanging around a math or physics department at a good research university. Smartest people you ever met. Couldn't run a Popsicle stand.
Anything too stupid to be said, is sung.
- Voltaire
No, "Love in an Elevator" by Aerosmith?
Oh, chicken little beat me to it and I was scanning for "Aerosmith."
Prince is living for today, but tomorrow there will a lien on his property for all his unpaid property taxes in Minnesota.
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