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[spatch]

One of earliest signs that irony is dead in this country involves those who simply cannot take a song for anything but its literal wordy hook, either because they just can't understand or they're too lazy to listen beyond it. We discussed Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son" earlier, but there's also the joy of people who use ironically inappropriate songs for their wedding song or for part of the reception. Love turns people's brains into Cream of Wheat, and that is why songs like REM's "The One I Love" and "Every Breath You Take" by the Police are often used by the moronic-in-love people as "their song."

Hey, awesome. The One I Love calls the object of the singer's affection "a simple prop to occupy my time." And Every Breath You Take, of course, is about a stalker. But they use phrases like "This one goes out to the one I love" and "Oh can't you see? You belong to me" so OBVIOUSLY it's a song that's going out to the person they love.

Earlier today I was pointed to the dominance of Hey Ya! as a wedding song in recent times. Not as a first dance or a "our song" song, mind you, but as a song played loudly at weddings. A good wedding DJ, by the way, is going to understand that there are just some songs you don't want to hear at a wedding reception. Songs that go directly against the proven fact that today, these two are In Love Forever and That's How It's Going To Be. For instance, I remember my aunt's wedding in 1989 and oh, that Tone Loc was such a popular fellow, so they played Funky Cold Medina at her reception. The DJ wisely segued to another song before the third verse, which is all about how Tone Loc uses his Funky Cold Medina sex potion on a girl, but when she starts "...talkin 'bout plans for a wedding" Loc cold dumps her ass. You get the idea.

So what's Hey Ya! about? The death of a relationship held together far too long by atrophy, with lyrics I shall paraphrase to sound a bit more prose-y:

My baby don't mess around because she loves me so, and this I know for sure
But does she really wanna, but can't stand to see me walk out the door?

and

If what they say is "nothing is forever"
Then what makes love the exception?
And why are we so in denial when we know we're not happy here?

That's an excellent song to play at a wedding, because hey, divorce foreshadowing. Brilliant.

Course, nobody listens to lyrics anymore. That's a proven fact. Andre Ice Cold 3000 knows it, and pretty much sums up the whole thing the best:

Y'all don't wanna hear me, you just wanna dance.

Truth.

Comments

[hermitgeecko.livejournal.com]

I confess that Sting's "Fields of Gold" was "my" song at my wedding. It's a bit more subtle, but... the couple's split up by the end of the song. Which was perhaps telling for the marriage.

Still, we had our college's ballroom dance instructor choreograph it, and the result was beautiful.

Lyrics:

You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we walk in fields of gold

So she took her love
For to gaze a while
Upon the fields of barley
In his arms she fell as her hair came down
Among the fields of gold

Will you stay with me, will you be my love
Among the fields of barley
We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we lie in fields of gold

See the west wind move like a lover so
Upon the fields of barley
Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth
Among the fields of gold

I never made promises lightly
And there have been some that I've broken
But I swear in the days still left
We'll walk in fields of gold
We'll walk in fields of gold

Many years have passed since those summer days
Among the fields of barley
See the children run as the sun goes down
Among the fields of gold
You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky
When we walked in fields of gold
When we walked in fields of gold
When we walked in fields of gold