11 July 2007
♥ eagles or beatles?
I'd like to head this one off by saying it's an endless debate, but whether the Eagles or the Beatles were better isn't really even worth debating. Everyone knows the Beatles were, in every way, far superior to the Eagles, right down to their roots in the English countryside. You can't beat that.
For every semi-respectable song put out by the Eagles, the Beatles have about fifty. "Life in the Fast Lane," sure, that's a good one, he was fatally handsome, she was terminally gray, yadda yadda yadda, but can that really compete with the meant-to-be attitude of "Hey Jude"? The hopeless yet not unexplained longing of "Ticket to Ride"? The biting sarcasm overshadowed by undoubted admiration in "Day Tripper"? I don't think so. Yeah, "Hotel California," it's a great song, some dance to remember, some dance to forget, but if you want to talk about curious melancholy and feeling unable to escape destiny, try "A Day in the Life" or take an LSD trip with the stoner Beatles in "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" or "I am the Walrus." Moral of the story, there's no beating the Beatles. End of story.
But this "debate" actually represents a much larger idea: people don't understand what songs are really trying to say. Now, I'm not trying to say I know everything or I get everything or anything like that, but I think the meaning of a lot of songs is lost on people who simply can't relate. For example, Dire Straits' "Romeo and Juliet" appears at first to be a romantic ballad of love and devotion, but if you actually read the lyrics, you'll notice that it's about being heartbroken when somebody doesn't love you anymore and you can't understand why. Or the Killers' "Smile Like You Mean It." A friend I used to associate with (her identity shall remain anonymous) took the title quite seriously, claiming that the track was actually about sincerity; a closer look will convince most listeners that it's really about trying to protect yourself when someone you love finds someone else.
There are a million songs out there with a million different meanings, and I guess in a way that's the beauty of music: even if you're not necessarily coming away with the message the artist was trying to send, you've got a new perspective and maybe even thought of something that would never have occurred to you.
I'm trying to be more positive these days, and to be quite honest, it's going rather well despite the occasional bump in the road. But the insistence on putting a positive spin on everything, to be frank, pisses me off. It's ridiculous. Things aren't going to be perfect all the time. Sometimes things are bad, sometimes we are rejected and heartbroken and insincere in our intentions, but that's what human nature is. We are imperfect, and making mistakes is how we learn. It's how we grow.
So next time you hear Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach," don't tell yourself it's all okay because they're getting married. No. Madonna's life sucks right then. She has a questionably reliable boyfriend who is apparently opposed to birth control and she knows that her traditional father isn't going to approve of her lifestyle choices. She faces rejection by either her boyfriend or her family. There's really no easy answer for her. Fortunately, however, we can comfort ourselves in a number of ways: a) as far as we know, Madonna did not actually have to deal with an out-of-wedlock child as a minor, b) the song just goes to show that even if she had, you can still end up being pretty freaking cool even if your life doesn't go exactly to plan.
For every semi-respectable song put out by the Eagles, the Beatles have about fifty. "Life in the Fast Lane," sure, that's a good one, he was fatally handsome, she was terminally gray, yadda yadda yadda, but can that really compete with the meant-to-be attitude of "Hey Jude"? The hopeless yet not unexplained longing of "Ticket to Ride"? The biting sarcasm overshadowed by undoubted admiration in "Day Tripper"? I don't think so. Yeah, "Hotel California," it's a great song, some dance to remember, some dance to forget, but if you want to talk about curious melancholy and feeling unable to escape destiny, try "A Day in the Life" or take an LSD trip with the stoner Beatles in "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" or "I am the Walrus." Moral of the story, there's no beating the Beatles. End of story.
But this "debate" actually represents a much larger idea: people don't understand what songs are really trying to say. Now, I'm not trying to say I know everything or I get everything or anything like that, but I think the meaning of a lot of songs is lost on people who simply can't relate. For example, Dire Straits' "Romeo and Juliet" appears at first to be a romantic ballad of love and devotion, but if you actually read the lyrics, you'll notice that it's about being heartbroken when somebody doesn't love you anymore and you can't understand why. Or the Killers' "Smile Like You Mean It." A friend I used to associate with (her identity shall remain anonymous) took the title quite seriously, claiming that the track was actually about sincerity; a closer look will convince most listeners that it's really about trying to protect yourself when someone you love finds someone else.
There are a million songs out there with a million different meanings, and I guess in a way that's the beauty of music: even if you're not necessarily coming away with the message the artist was trying to send, you've got a new perspective and maybe even thought of something that would never have occurred to you.
I'm trying to be more positive these days, and to be quite honest, it's going rather well despite the occasional bump in the road. But the insistence on putting a positive spin on everything, to be frank, pisses me off. It's ridiculous. Things aren't going to be perfect all the time. Sometimes things are bad, sometimes we are rejected and heartbroken and insincere in our intentions, but that's what human nature is. We are imperfect, and making mistakes is how we learn. It's how we grow.
So next time you hear Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach," don't tell yourself it's all okay because they're getting married. No. Madonna's life sucks right then. She has a questionably reliable boyfriend who is apparently opposed to birth control and she knows that her traditional father isn't going to approve of her lifestyle choices. She faces rejection by either her boyfriend or her family. There's really no easy answer for her. Fortunately, however, we can comfort ourselves in a number of ways: a) as far as we know, Madonna did not actually have to deal with an out-of-wedlock child as a minor, b) the song just goes to show that even if she had, you can still end up being pretty freaking cool even if your life doesn't go exactly to plan.
7/11/2007
