F**c You – Cee Lo Green

Ok, I admit it. This post and its timing are very opportunistic from me. On Friday, Cee Lo was on the BBC program Later with Jools Holland. (LINK). Also, this song is number one in the charts right now in the UK.

The lyrics via  http://www.elyricsworld.com/:

(Chorus)
I see you driving 'round town
With the girl i love and i'm like,
F**k you!
Oo, oo, ooo
I guess the change in my pocket
Wasn't enough i'm like,
F**k you!
And f**k her too!
I said, if i was richer, i'd still be with ya
Ha, now ain't that some shit? (ain't that some shit?)
And although there's pain in my chest
I still wish you the best with a...
F**k you!
Oo, oo, ooo

Yeah i'm sorry, i can't afford a ferrari,
But that don't mean i can't get you there.
I guess he's an xbox and i'm more atari,
But the way you play your game ain't fair.

I pity the fool that falls in love with you
(oh shit she's a gold digger)
Well
(just thought you should know nigga)
Ooooooh
I've got some news for you
Yeah go run and tell your little boyfriend

(chorus)

Now i know, that i had to borrow,
Beg and steal and lie and cheat.
Trying to keep ya, trying to please ya.
'Cause being in love with you ass ain't cheap.

I pity the fool that falls in love with you
(oh shit she's a gold digger)
Well
(just thought you should know nigga)
Ooooooh
I've got some news for you
i really hate yo ass right now
(chorus)

Now baby, baby, baby, why d'you wanna wanna hurt me so bad?

(so bad, so bad, so bad)
I tried to tell my mamma but she told me
"this is one for your dad"
(your dad, your dad, your dad)
Uh! Whhhy? Uh! Whhhy? Uh!
Whhhy lady? Oh! I love you oh!
I still love you. Oooh! 

Fuck You lyrics by Cee-Lo Green

But the thing is that this song got me thinking: What is a good song? How would you define it? For me, it is simple: nice tunes and meaningful lyrics. I know these are very broad categorizations. But for example, this song’s lyrics are meaningful in the sense that they are funny and tell story I can appreciate or relate to. Hey, I have some F**c yous to give away. And who hasn’t? Don’t tell me you don’t.

PS: an amusing video doesn’t make a song great but it helps.

One song, three versions

There are songs that take me back to certain moments in my life, others remind me of the different seasons, others I like to listen when blogging and others that reflect on my state of mind or help me to get to certain mood.

This post is about a song that I never tire of listen when I’m a bit down and need a little help to carry on. It’s a classic. The song is (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher which was written by Carl Davis featuring some Motown musicians and sang by Jackie Wilson. This is the original version.

 

This second version is by the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. When I grow up I’d like to be like him.

And the third one I want to show you is by ACM Gospel Choir and it was performed in the very entertaining BBC program Last Choir Standing.

Of course, one of these three versions is the one I like the most; I’ve got my favorite. But I find things that I appreciate in each one of them. I love the cool movements and voice of Jackie Wilson plus the original Motown feeling about this version. Also I like the energy of the Boss in a more rocker version. And lastly the exuberance youth that emanates from the choir (who said choirs are not cool?). Maybe it’s a bit simplistic but I think there could be a lesson here on multiculturalism, tolerance and appreciating the good that different things have to offer. Am I being too naïf? Can you see good things on all the three versions?

Once

I have been lucky with movies recently. I picked up “Once” in the DVD shop as I like the description in the case. A few hours later, I liked the film very much as well. From IMDB: “A modern-day musical about a busker and an immigrant and their eventful week in Dublin, as they write, rehearse and record songs that tell their love story”. It is one of these movies that are sometimes called “small” (with no disrespect) as it is a simple tale of loneliness being replaced by love and friendship. But most importantly, it succeeds in being different and original.

One of main features of this movie is its music. One of the songs (“Falling Slowly”) won the 2008 Oscar Academy Award for Best Original Song. Without being a classic musical there is music all along it and it is simply beautiful. My favorite scene is when the GUY and the GIRL play this song together for the first time in the instrument shop.

I don't know you
But I want you
All the more for that
Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can't react
And games that never amount
To more than they're meant
Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice
You'll make it now

Falling slowly, eyes that know me
And I can't go back
Moods that take me and erase me
And I'm painted black
You have suffered enough
And warred with yourself
It's time that you won

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You've made it now
Falling slowly sing your melody
I'll sing along

(thanks stlyrics!).

It is hardly surprising that the music is really nice considering that the main characters are musicians and not actors. Indeed, Glen Hansard, the GUY, is very famous in Ireland.

So if you like small but touching stories that do not are necessarily the product of big budgets and if you like singers/songwriters that can convey deep emotions with no more than a guitar, give it a try.

Across the Overpass - The Solids

In the final scene of the film Strictly Sexual there is a lovely song in the background.

It's as simple as this, here it is
Couldn't spell it out more clearly
There's only today, and the freeway,
And the pain that keeps you near me

The animation, of sinking souls,
Strung along a telephone pole
It's easy to miss

You could circle the earth
The universe
We're shadowed in the same light
It's coming undone
So you run
While I'm circling the drainpipe

An invitation to just forget
Well I'm not finished yet, I got big plans

Cut off the table, hon and do the math
Washed out and faded like a photograph
And I spell out your name across the overpass
It's as simple as that

It's as simple as this
What I miss, I will carry to the last day
Deliver my spark
Through the dark
To the angels in the ashtray
Saturation of hopeless need
But as the asphalt bleeds
Curtains rise and

Someday you'll find me standing in your path
Whether deep in the background of some photograph
And you'll see your name scrawled across the overpass
It's as simple as that

Simple's hard enough now anyway
Simple's hard enough now anyway

Someday you'll find me standing in your path
Somewhere deep in the background of some photograph
And you'll see your name scrawled across the overpass
Someday you'll find me standing in your path
Somewhere deep in the background of some photograph
And you'll see your name scrawled across the overpass
It's as simple as that
Simple's hard enough now anyway
Simple's hard enough now anyway
Simple's hard enough now anyway
Simple's hard enough now anyway........

(thanks lyricsmania!)

This song is by The Solids, a Californian band now composed by Carter Bays (vocals and guitar), Craig Thomas (drums), Pat Butler (bass) and Phil Wen (guitar). Nothing remarkable so far: a rock band that makes good songs (see myspace).

However, what it is remarkable is that Bays and Thomas are the creators of “How I Met Your Mother”, one of my all time favourites TV series (whose song “Hey Beautiful”  is also by The Solids).

Ps: maybe for a future post, people with talent for different activities (such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, football player that when retired were great managers such as Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cryuff, athletes being outstanding in different disciplines) and people with an amazing talent for one thing that failed trying a different one (for instance, Michael Jordan).