Music Philosophy blog 6

I know I’ve been gone for awhile over the break but like I said my keyboard is broken. Today’s discussion got me thinking about covers, versions and parodies of various pieces of music. I really wish my keyboard still worked properly because then I could blog more easily but alas.

The first example I wanted to expose you to is one that I enjoy thoroughly. Bitches Ain’t Shit by Ben Folds. I was first introduced to this song by my freshman roommate who is in the best sense of the word a hippie. Ben Folds essentially does folk Indi music. For those of you who have never heard of him if you have seen Over the Hedge Folds does the entire soundtrack. Bitches Ain’t Shit is originally a Dr. Dre song. Folds does the song in the style of his own music. Now in my opinion the songs do have different meaning due to being different songs—as we discussed in class. Of course, this is entirely my opinion but I feel the original version is vile, disgusting, rude, crude, and lacking any socio-politically redeeming value. I find Folds version to be funny and fun, satirical (obviously), entertaining, and a statement on not all but certain types of rap. Now I am not demonizing Dre or praising Folds and I am not necessarily saying that the things I said about Dre’s version are bad things—some people enjoy the rude and the like. So what do you think? Do you think style can change the intent of the lyrics so greatly. I can say that Folds version is more “musical” in the sense that Folds actually is singing the whole time and there are instruments being played. I am of course referencing the Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me episode I linked in a previous blog.

Dre’s Version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTw287pA-00&feature=related

Folds’ Version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjFRy8jQ_0U&feature=related

A similar situation would Down With the Sickness, originally by Disturbed. The jazz singer Richard Cheese does his own jazz cover of the song. But I don’t think that the Disturbed version is all that bad.

Next, there is the matter of the song You Spin Me Round by Dead or Alive. This song is about a person seeing someone at a club and instantly being filled with lust and desire. I’m not going to sugar coat it—even though I hate the new version of the song—the singer wants to take this person home for sex however the singer does admit to falling in love with the person at the sight of them in the club. So there is a subtext of sex but overtones of love stipulated in the lyrics.

You Spin Me Round by Dead or Alive:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUatnbaNfEo

The remake You Spin my Head Right Round is by Flo Rida and its meaning is simple and clear: oral sex. That’s it. Oral sex.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND_gFPNu-V0

A song that’s meaning isn’t lost in one of its reinterpretations is the Dusty Springfield song Only Want to be With You.

Dusty Springfield:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYbzW-6tvIM

Then there is the relatively recent Metal version of the song that I actually really, really like and enjoy and I am not a big fan of Metal. I am very particular about the Metal I like. The band is called Volbeat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts19Nn-xyGs

I also wanted to talk about two songs that have been remade countless times; so many times, in fact there is probably a version for every genre of music: Mad World and Video Killed the Radio Star. Just YouTube them and you will see what I mean. I absolutely love these songs and all of their various versions, covers, and parodies. The reason I love all the versions is I have yet to come across a version that did not do the originals message justice. Now I am all for creativity and improvisation but some classics should not be messed\with such as Mr. Lonely which in my opinion Akon did not do it justice. Half the song sounds like if Alvin from The Chipmunks was on crack while singing. Sometimes sampling works—sometimes it does not (what do you think?) An example of it working is Jay Z’s Hard Knock Life. Anyway, I wanted to link you to a cool version of VKRS—the country western version. I think it is great but then again VKRS is one of my all tome favorite songs.

Handsome Hanks Video Killed The Radio Star:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70B9bHE-4HQ

Finally, I leave you with a parody, I’ve done covers and versions so I might as well do a parody. This is a Christmas parody and I know there are tons of those and I like a lot of them but this one is pretty fun and it has zombies and you all know I love zombies:

Zombie night:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo8xEnu1DYs

and the outtakes which include bits of other parodies:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAY8OQntMUQ

Music and Philosophy Blog Entry 3

I know my blogs tend to have nothing to do with the readings and if they do, it is something obscure, but my Q/A’s focus more on the readings and I do not want to be repeating myself. I already repeat myself saying class what is also in my Q/A. I would hate to repeat myself three times.

This week, after watching Dance of the Dead with some friends, I started thinking about the phrase “music soothes the savage beast” In the movie, zombies cease attacking when a band plays their music. I went looking online for the origins of the phrase and here is what I came up with: The phrase is from a 1697 poem, The Mourning Bride by William Congreve. Here is the poem:

Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Beast (in some translations it is ‘breast’),
To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.
I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd,
And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd,
By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound.
What then am I? Am I more senseless grown
Than Trees, or Flint? O force of constant Woe!
'Tis not in Harmony to calm my Griefs.
Anselmo sleeps, and is at Peace; last Night
The silent Tomb receiv'd the good Old King;
He and his Sorrows now are safely lodg'd
Within its cold, but hospitable Bosom.
Why am not I at Peace?

It is a very deep and well-written poem. In the original context, the phrase has an entirely different meaning but this poem still has a lot to say about music. Clearly, the Congreve is speaking of music as a mystical thing that is hard to define (and seeing how we have this class, we are still defining). He feels music is metaphysical and full of power. The power to heal, to change the world, and he feels he has no music in his soul. (This just gave me an idea for another blog).

Clearly Congreve is depressed and heartbroken and music the power to fix these problems.

But why do we still say the music can soothe any monster, animal, or damaged person?

Is there any truth to this?

I think there is. And here is where the blog ties in with my Q/A:

If we take the definition of absolute music as discussed in class as interpreted from Hamilton, music loses most of the powers and capabilities roughly sketched out in this poem. I fully reject this theory of music. I could on about it here but I will elaborate in my Q/A. Essentially though, I believe the point of music is to feel something human, to connect to something else, to have images created in one’s head due to the nature of the piece, and to send messages of soci-political, philosophical, or otherwise significant messages to people. And in doing so, listening to music in this way, one will contemplate on the nature of the piece, what it wants to express. Breaking it down to tones and notes entirely misses the point.

We have this idea, of music soothing the hurt and the cruel because we feel so strongly about music and the effects it can have on anyone or anything. Music can unite a nation, start or stop a war, heal a broken heart, paint wonderful pictures in our minds, and do so much more. And a message of the poem: without music we are nothing, we are broken, and unable to cope, basically, music makes us human.