Category: Off-Topic

Song of the Day, Part Two: Beyonce, Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)

Laura8 Comments

I love this song, and the video, so here is a very happy Day Two song. The backstory is that I was challenged by my friend Diane at Ladies Who Lunch blog, for this Song A Day Challenge, I’m supposed to post the lyrics of a favorite song for five days in a row, and explain what the song lyrics mean to me.

The meaning of the lyrics. I can ace that: Don’t mess around too much, or take us for granted, guys. We have options, too. Treat us right. If you don’t you’ll be alone. Wuh oh oh.

I like the inversion. And I love Beyoncé.

As for the music, and even the video, to me, it’s pop genius. One hundred percent fun. If you press “play” up there and don’t immediately start dancing, or at least tapping your feet or shimmying your shoulders, you better have someone call an ambulance, because you may be dead.

So here it is:

All the single ladies (All the single ladies)
All the single ladies (All the single ladies)
All the single ladies (All the single ladies)
All the single ladies
Now put your hands up

Up in the club, we just broke up
I’m doing my own little thing
You decided to dip but now you wanna trip
Cause another brother noticed me
I’m up on him, he up on me
don’t pay him any attention
Cause I cried my tears, for three good years
Ya can’t be mad at me

[Chorus:]
Cause if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it
If you liked it then you should’ve put a ring on it
Don’t be mad once you see that he want it
If you liked it then you should’ve put a ring on it

Wuh uh oh uh uh oh oh uh oh uh uh oh
Wuh uh oh uh uh oh oh uh oh uh uh oh

[Chorus]

I got gloss on my lips, a man on my hips
Hold me tighter than my Dereon jeans
Acting up, drink in my cup
I could care less what you think
I need no permission, did I mention
Don’t pay him any attention
Cause you had your turn
And now you gonna learn
What it really feels like to miss me

[Chorus]

Wuh uh oh uh uh oh oh uh oh uh uh oh
Wuh uh oh uh uh oh oh uh oh uh uh oh

Don’t treat me to these things of the world
I’m not that kind of girl
Your love is what I prefer, what I deserve
Is a man that makes me then takes me
And delivers me to a destiny, to infinity and beyond
Pull me into your arms
Say I’m the one you want
If you don’t, you’ll be alone
And like a ghost I’ll be gone

All the single ladies (All the single ladies)
All the single ladies (All the single ladies)
All the single ladies (All the single ladies)
All the single ladies
Now put your hands up

Wuh uh oh uh uh oh oh uh oh uh uh oh
Wuh uh oh uh uh oh oh uh oh uh uh oh

 

Song of the Day, Part One: The Ramones, I Wanna Be Sedated

Laura1 Comment

Well, this will be fun. (For me. Definitely not you!) My friend Diane from the wonderful Ladies Who Lunch blog nominated me for the Song a Day Challenge.

I’ve just totally copied out the rules of this challenge from her, but I’m supposed to post the lyrics of a favorite song for five days in a row, explain what the song lyrics mean to me, and add the video if available. I’m also supposed to pass the challenge along to two other people. Now, I actually don’t know any bloggers other than Diane who post that often. And I can’t afford to make any more enemies. So, instead, I’m going to take the lazy person’s way out bold and brave step of letting any blog reader self-nominate. If you want to do the Song a Day Challenge, consider yourself nominated by me. Go for it!

These five songs aren’t actually my all-time favorite songs. I don’t think. I like a lot of songs. I just thought of five songs that I love but that I’m not sure I’ve mentioned on the blog before.

The first is “I Wanna Be Sedated” by the Ramones. A real oldie, this one came out in 1978 on the classic album Road to Ruin. Who are the Ramones? A punk band from Queens, New York City.

To shorthand that for my friend, Jim, yes, that means, “they can’t play their instruments.” See also the Clash and the Replacements. The Ramones are a stand-in for all those bands. But that’s okay! That genre, the favorite of my youth and teenage years, still holds up. It seems pretty contemporary, actually.

What do the lyrics of “I Wanna Be Sedated” mean to me? Well, that’s self-explanatory. Usually, I don’t pay much attention to lyrics; I’m more about the beat, the music and the feel of the song, while the words just trail off into, like, “congratulations on the mess, hmm, hmm, hmmm, ba ba.” But these lyrics are imprinted on my brain.

The lyrics are simple, sure — that’s why I can remember them. Hilarious. Exaggerated. But true! I must feel this way (not literally) dozens of times a week, even now. At the airport, standing in the longest line at the grocery store, listening to my own teenagers, checking the news. Actually, no: in the last two situations, I do literally want to be sedated.

So, not profound, perhaps, but wonderful nonetheless, is “I Wanna Be Sedated” by the late, great American band, the Ramones.

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated
Nothin’ to do and no where to go-o-oh I wanna be sedated
Just get me to the airport put me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
I can’t control my fingers I can’t control my brain
Oh no no no no no

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go….
Just put me in a wheelchair, get me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
I can’t control my fingers I can’t control my brain
Oh no no no no no

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated
Nothin’ to do and no where to go-o-o I wanna be sedated
Just put me in a wheelchair get me to the show
Hurry hurry hurry before I go loco
I can’t control my fingers I can’t control my toes
Oh no no no no no

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go…
Just put me in a wheelchair…
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated

It’s a Long Way to Tipperary

Laura3 Comments

mary_tyler_moore_show_title_card

Mary Tyler Moore died yesterday, at the age of 80. Which is hard to believe, on both fronts. I still think of her as Mary Richards, the 1970s career woman who wondered if she could make it on her own.

A lot of girls and women who were around in 1970s America look back on the Mary Tyler Moore show with gratitude and fondness. It was funny and warm, well-written and well-acted, but not just that. The very premise of the show was quietly inspirational. In 1970, it presented as normal the possibility that single women could be both independent and happy, for the whole run of the show.

Women could have fulfilling jobs — careers, even. Women could have a circle of good friends, but could live contentedly alone in a cute apartment. Women could date just for fun — not seriously, not looking for a husband. Women didn’t have to be perfect. They didn’t have to be good cooks and hostesses — it was a running joke that Mary’s dinner parties were awful. Women could stammer, could be uncertain and could make mistakes. And still be happy.

That was relevatory, for girls as young as I. Mary Richards was a role model, and an inspiration. As was Mary Tyler Moore. Thanks, Mary Tyler Moore.

But the show was also so funny. There may never be a half hour of television as funny and true for me as the Chuckles the Clown episode. Chuckles, the local television station’s clown, met an untimely death, which led other coworkers to make nervous, tasteless jokes that horrified Mary. But it was Mary, usually so well-mannered and appropriate, who found herself unable to stop laughing during the solemn funeral service. Mary was met with shocked stares, as you’d imagine, until the clergyman officiating at the service tried to make her feel better by telling everyone that, no, she should laugh, because Chuckles lived to make people laugh, and her laughter was exactly what the late clown would have wanted. At which point she started sobbing.

When the show went off the air, the last episode ended with the characters, most of whom had just been fired, walking out of the office, arms around each other, singing It’s a Long Way to Tipperary. Because that always was the message of the Mary Tyler More Show. Despite the title song, you don’t just make it on your own — you make it with the help of colleagues, friends and family.

Thanks for that, too, Mary Tyler Moore.

 

Merry Christmas

Laura5 Comments

It’s Christmas Eve, and I heard this on the radio when I was returning from picking up the last of bits we need for tonight and tomorrow. It made me think of my mother, who loved Christmas.

Our family Christmas traditions, as I’ve mentioned before, are Swedish, so Christmas Eve has always been more meaningful to me than Christmas Day. It’s the night of our family’s traditional Swedish dinner, and it was the night growing up that our church had the children’s pageant, the carols, the service. It’s the night that’s not about things.

My mother was the kindest, smartest, most talented person I ever knew. Also very strong-willed and certain. Our personalities and interests were quite different, so I was something of a trial for her. I was always doing things my way. She eventually learned that I was probably the one thing she couldn’t fix. I was the recipe that turned out all whacked.

But there were good ingredients in there. And at least I always made her laugh. So she came to bear my foibles with a resignation that was entirely unusual for her. I like to think that she came to appreciate individuality and difference. But now that I’m a mother, I think it’s more likely that she adopted the, “Don’t look at me; it’s not my fault” shrug that comes in handy for us all.

I love my mother, and I’ll probably always strive to be worthy of her. She was the best person I ever knew. She passed away after a long and difficult illness days before Christmas two years ago, so she’s especially in my thoughts this time of year. I know she wouldn’t love this version of Silent Night. I guess I’m still doing things my way. But this does remind me of her. I remember the crunch of the snow as we walked home from church in the dark of night on Christmas Eve, in the sharp and bitter cold. I like to think of my mother now sleeping in heavenly peace, in the dawn of redeeming grace.

So I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy Hanukkah and a peaceful and happy end of the year with those you love.

The Naughty List, In Song

Laura3 Comments

Well, I love a good Christmas song as much as anyone, probably more than most people, but I guess good songs must cost more, because my shopping trips this year have been the stuff of musical nightmares. What is going on in American malls this year?

I actually walked around Barnes & Noble with my hands over my ears for ten minutes. (Then I stood in front of the science books and loudly exclaimed, “Boy these look nerdy,” before realizing (a) I was actually there to buy a science book as a gift, and (b) the guys browsing these books would hear me. And edge away, crushed.) I am quite certain I’m on Barnes & Noble’s naughty list.

But because I practically needed to bleach out my poor brain after these trips, I’ve put together a playlist for people like me. Those who need a little un-Christmas, right this very minute. A list for my fellow naughty-listers, if you will.

Joy Division, Love Will Tear Us Apart: Just the greatest song ever recorded. That’s all.

 

Car Seat Headrest, Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales: A little mopey at first, but it’s got a beat that builds in a killer way. This is my second favorite song of 2016. Your mother will be disappointed in some of the lyrics. Which are helpfully printed right there.

 

Flaming Lips, Yoshimi: A fairly gross video to play for your young nephews, to enliven your holiday gathering. I neither admit nor deny having done this myself.

 

The B-52s, Roam: Pure fun from the 80s. But also words to live by. Your mother should like this one.

 

The Weather Girls, It’s Raining Men: Pure fun from the 80s, part two. Put some camp in your Christmas or Hanukkah. Just made for moms.

 

A Tribe Called Quest, Bonita Applebum: We are rolling forward into 1990, when A Tribe Called Quest ambled onto the scene. If she listens to the lyrics, your mother will definitely not like this song. Unless your mother is me, which I’m afraid only works for three of you. Play this for your young nephews, however, and you’ll never have to attend another family dinner. Because you will never again be invited.

 

Lauryn Hill, Doo-Wop (That Thing): Very occasionally, someone makes something, and it’s perfect. Here you go.

 

A Tribe Called Quest, We the People: Extreme bad-language alert. Plus, this expresses a point of view that isn’t popular with everyone. So if you don’t already know this group, don’t click. But it’s my favorite song of 2016. So it’s gonna make my list. Also, RIP Phife.

The “Sorry, We’re Watching the Gilmore Girls Reunion” Music Break

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It’s the day after Thanksgiving in the US, and Black Friday for shoppers. But my girls and I (and most of my female friends) will be watching the new Gilmore Girls reunion episodes. Thank you Netflix.

(By the way, have you taken the “Which Gilmore Girl are you” quiz? I got Lorelei, which is obvious, if only because I talk all the time and drink a lot of coffee. Also I’m slightly unhinged, but not in a dangerous way. (It’s the coffee that does it.) My younger daughter was delighted to be told she’s Rory, the goody-two-shoes. I personally think she’s also got some Emily mixed in. My older daughter, self-protectively, won’t take the quiz. So we tell her she’s probably Kirk. Heh heh.)

Sadly, it won’t take all day to watch the Gilmore reunion. So up there is something else to enjoy. This is the first single from the upcoming album by the wonderful Mary J. Blige. It’s a song that someone accurately described as the most Mary J. Blige song possible. And truly, it is. It’s so Mary J. Blige, it’s almost meta-Mary J. Blige. And I love it.

Also, I want her lipstick. I really do.

The “I’m Cooking While I Croon” Day-Before-Thanksgiving Music Break

Laura1 Comment

Pie crust, whipped sweet potatoes and stuffing are on the docket for today. I like to knock some things off early, but there’s only so much space in our fridge.

The only good thing about cooking, if you ask me, is that I’ve got speakers in the kitchen, so it’s jukebox city in there. And here’s an oldie but goodie. I’ve been a little worried about Kanye West, since he seems to be having a hard time right now. So I’m sending out good thoughts. Also, this is just a good song. (And more blog-friendly than most of his songs.) Be well, Kanye.