One bonobo's view of the world...and stuff.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

The Song Remains Inane

My five least favourite songs of all time:

5= Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

5= Another Brick in the Wall* - Pink Floyd

5 = Blue Monday - New Order

5 = Layla - Derek and the Dominoes


But by a massive margin, No. 1 with a bullet in the temple...

Imagine - John Lennon

Christ, they're dire. There were many bubbling under. It would unfair (and time consuming) to name and shame them all, but I suppose special opprobrium** should go to Elton John's 'Candle in the Wind'. Have you ever heard of anything quite so tacky as dedicating a song to one not-particularly-noteworthy 'icon' and then saying "Actually, it's about someone else now...". People's Princess, my arse. I never voted for any of 'em.

Further suggestions welcome. Make your case. Personally, I don't think things like Agadoo or The Birdy Song qualify. At least they're honest shite.

Imagine...no possessions!!!



*And not just because folk insist on saying "Actually, its full title is 'Another Brick In The Wall, Pt 2' ." - although fuck knows that's reason enough.

**I think it's a kind of bedtime malted milk drink. Not sure.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

... but did you like Another Brick in the Wall Part 1? ;-)

Fully agree with your number one choice. On my list I'd add everything the Beatles ever did, but I haven't listened to their rubbish enough to put it in any particular order.

Edward the Bonobo said...

nnnn...I think that's a little uncharitable. Certainly I prefered them when they were a rock 'n roll band - and then later round about Abbet Road. Oh...and Revolver's not so shabby.

But I guess I see where you're coming from. The things that gets me is how some people regard them as unique. I think their merit is firstly in how they mixed black R&B into white culture, and then the interplay between all the bands of the time...they copied Brian Wislon, Dylan, etc. etc.

Amd I'm afraid I rather like the recent remix album.

Anonymous said...

*whistle* I disagree with you Ed.

I like all those songs.

Imagine: I like the words, but the melody doesn't do much for me.

And I don't care about Candle in the Wind.

But the others...

Unknown said...

Line from 'High Fidelity' (the book, not the movie)

"She says she likes Simple Minds, but I'm explaining to her why she's wrong."

No, no and a thousand times NO! The lyrics to Imagine are goddawful, inane shite. No - give me Lennon's kick-ass version of 'Money' any day. Much closer to his real sentiments, too. ;-)

Anonymous said...

*laugh* I read "High Fidelity" too. Don't you identify with the central character Ed? ;)

Oh, you won't like today's hootoo front page *laugh*

Anonymous said...

Agree completely with your 5 listed nominations. They make me hurl. Imagine is the worst of Lennon's otherwise genius output.

Anonymous said...

High Fidelity...Rob was such as music snob. Thats part of the point of the book.

Simple Minds were great when they just started out. A truly inspiring sound of working class city culture and up there with the early Stone Roses output.

Upon the Catwalk is a masterpiece and way ahead of its time.
Don't you forget about me is still a class song (as illustrated by it's being chosen as the theme tune for one of the best movies about teenage-hood ever made)

Later stuff, Belfast Child etc?

Rob had a point.

It annoyed me when they made it into a movie. Whilst all the cast were perfect, why did they have to change his taste in music just to suit the american audience? Is wasn't right, and missed some of the crucial points in the book.

Your (bottom) top five are a bit obvious though.

Your going for the old "popular=rubbish" angle

And if you aren't including the birdy song, on account of it being silly on purpose, why include Bohemian Rhapsody? It was never intended to be taken seriously. Its just a musical romp. That's why its brilliant.

Dylan, blowing in the wind, would probably top mine. Even though Dylan was a genius Blowing in the Wind was lowest common denominator tosh.

(in my opinion)

:-)

x

Unknown said...

Welll...in fairness, I do like a well-crafted, popular pop song. You'd havev to go a long way to beat 'Crazy' or 'Hey Ya'.

I'mm not sure I quite agree about Bo Rhap. Yes, jokey...But isn't it a bit like The Darkness? "Oh, but we're not just a joke band..."? I agree, though - few people would quibble about its inclusion.

You've got a point about Dylan, though....Although I've a hunch he'd agree about 'Blowin'...'

Anyway - I thought it might come over as overly malicious if I named the entire U2 catalogue.

Anonymous said...

Add anything that people play as their 'first dance' at their wedding. Its making me gag just thinking of the possibilities.

Anonymous said...

I totally agree about "Imagine". Ugh. Same goods for pretty much all of Lennon's solo stuff.

Not a fan of "Candle In the Wind", either. The rest I'm indifferent to.

Emily said...

Ah, but perhaps you'd like all those songs more if they weren't so overplayed.

"Another Brick..." is not my favourite song on The Wall (which is probably one of my favourite albums) but I still think it's pretty damn good. "Imagine" is not my favourite Lennon song, but I'm willing to like it simply because it is Lennon, and expressing sentiments that I find touching, and idealistic. I went through a brief "Bohemian Rhapsody" phase shortly after I discovered popular music, but that's all over now thank goodness.

I have absolutely no patience for really any modern pop music. It's all so inane, clichéd and disgusting.

Unknown said...

I slightly disagree with you on modern pop music. You say 'inane' like it's a bad thing! But isn't there merit in well-crafted inanity. Something like...ooh...'Milkshake' by Kelis?

And The Wall - nah. The Floyd have never really done it for me full stop.

Amd 'Imagine'. I'm going to stick to my guns on that. It's a disgraceful song. There's a bizarre myth of Lennon The Saint. I do like Lennon, but he was at his best when he was being the mean-spirited fucker he truly was.

Emily said...

While I think we'll have to agree to disagree on The Wall, being the rosy-eyed young person that I am, I like "Imagine" precisely because it's so ridiculously happy and soft and pretty. Wouldn't it be nice to think everything could work out? See, you get to be cynical because you're older... but it's not time for me quite yet.

There are other Lennon songs that are far better, though.

Anonymous said...

emr - I agree, love the Wall and Pink Floyd. The trouble with Imagine is that it is just musically awful, nothing to do with idealism. I'm all for idealism, but not crap music.

Unknown said...

AH, EMR....it's why I love you. However, I suspect that you've yet to discover the 'gritty' in music.

Dan,though. Hang your head in shame. I was a 'Young Person' when The Wall came out. It was shite then, and it's still shite. Fer fuck's sake - it even featured Bob Geldof in the movie.

(But what do I know? I used to be a major Genesis fan.)

Anonymous said...

Hehe, I still haven't seen the movie, although having Geldof in it is certainly not a recommendation. ;-)

Emily said...

The movie's so-so - certainly not as good as the album by itself, and Bob Geldof is one of the rather large reasons for that.

The animation sequences are the high point of the movie, though, as are other scenes divorced from reality. It doesn't do too well, I don't think, to make a piece of music conform too closely to reality as we live it.

TRiG said...

Should I be ashamed or proud of the fact that I have never heard the songs Blue Monday or Layla, and have never heard of the bands that sang them?

Bohemian Rhapsody is harmless fun.

Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) is trying to make a point, but it can also be enjoyed as harmless fun.

And Imagine is quite palatable if not overplayed.

I'll agree with your assessment of Candle in the Wind, though.

TRiG.