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This song is puerile, juvenile, and immature. And I love it!

The song is of course a favorite of Dr. Demento’s, and of mine. It’s totally silly, but it’s got so much charm that you really don’t mind the innuendo and euphemisms. Plus, it’s such a clever song as well. I love the simple sing-along style, and it all just works very, very nicely.

Here’s a link to a tribute video

And of course, the lyrics:

I have a sad story to tell you.
It may hurt your feelings a bit.
Last night when I walked into my bathroom,
I stepped in a big pile of …

And now, folks, my story is ended.
I think it is time I should quit.
If any of you feel offended,
Stick your head in a barrel of …

—————-
Now playing: Roman Holiday - Stand By
via FoxyTunes

Bizarro Genius Baby is a tremendously funny song about the world’s smartest baby and her hapless father. The humor comes from Frontalot’s descriptions of her antics, and also from his clever solution he comes up with to his problem, particularly when his livelihood is threatened.

I love the stilted rhythm of this song, as well as Frontalot’s staccato delivery, and the fun rhymes. It’s a cool song all the way around.

Here’s a link to the (hilarious) video

And of course, the lyrics:

I had a dream that I fathered a bizarro genius baby.
She’s out the womb like, “Dood, why’d I get expatriated?”
Debated at one month the finer points of a diaper,
devised a device composed of a hose and a windshield wiper.
Grew riper in intellect as the months passed, wore a dunce cap ironically,
got fussy once and she summoned me not sonically
but through a series of editorials that she authored,
entitled: “Is MC Frontalot One Of The Worst Fathers?”
Oxford, Stanford, Harvard called, she didn’t call them back.
“Tuition & Housing? I’m holding out for a tenure track.”
Distracted by her first birthday party, I hardly noticed
she’d brought peace to the middle east or at least a cease-fire with the POTUS.
And no dust had settled when she’d disproved Fermat
by finding A³ + B³ that = C³ and her sadness
at throwing the field into disarray got assuaged
by a brand new rattle and a mint parfait.

She had to settle for the Fields Medal but didn’t settle well,
all the while cursing the indiscretions of Madame Nobel,
and so well tuckered out was she at this point that she napped,
arose with a whole symphony composed in Bb.
“See dad?” Yes dear, it’ll go with the other ones on the fridge,
in between the two Puccinis you translated & abridged,
just above ‘I love you dad’ in macaroni/glitter
and the 37 villanelles to mom (but I ain’t bitter).
And no quitter was she neither when the time it came to walk:
built an exoskeleton out of gelatin and chalk
which allowed her to run thirty miles an hour ‘round the yard.
You think that parenting your normal little children is hard?
I got scarred, scared, scampered at by holographic artifacts
that she projected on the scene with a machine that automatically
discerns your worst concerns & makes them visible.
She deemed it risible. Her glee was indivisible
from all emanations that the baby would make.
I had to become less hilarious for all of our sakes.
I made mistakes, I’ll admit it. Dropped the kid on her head,
destroyed the part of her that thought of evil. Or so she said!
Now I bred this thing out myself in part —
she quoted “reap what you sow;” I had to take it to heart.
I sought to restart: I said, “Girl, you’ll be a woman.
Can’t be dabbling and dilettantin’ all the time, I’m assuming.
Got to pick a theme and focus the beam of your brain power.”
Her face became overcome with an insane glower
and then it remained sour. She said, “Oh, I have.
Though the UI that you gave me was buggy I finally found me the nav.
And I’m dialing in a career path I think you’ll like.
Began when I played with an 808 and it ends with a mic.”
I didn’t need her to elaborate at all.
She was already wearing the glasses, mic in the palm.
She planned to become a nerdcore rapper just like me
so I shipped her to Singapore, sold her baby ass to Nike.

Shakin’ isn’t any sort of earth-shattering song, nor do I consider it to be the Dandys’ best. However, it is a very good song.

It’s fairly basic jangle-pop with little influence from the Velvet Underground. The song itself is a simple lover’s lament, but what really makes this song better is the organ and the harsh guitar sounds. I like that the song sounds upbeat and fun, but it’s really not.

Here’s a link to a tribute video

And of course, the lyrics:

Oh you got me shakin
oh you got me high
I’m getting nowhere now
I’m not that good
but you were drinking
and thinking all night
you were hot so you thought
you didn’t want to try
you were getting older
I was getting wiser not
you could see no reason to be any nicer
but I still can’t seem to help but want you back back back back back
you said I’m lazy
well maybe you’re right
I turned around and said
hey man turn that shit off
maybe baby you act like a star
you did not. anything. who did you think you are?
you were getting older
I was getting wiser not
you could see no reason to be any nicer, but
well you get what you got and you learn how to like it
but I can’t seem to help but want you back back back back back
you were getting older
I was getting wiser not
say you will but you wont but you did but you don’t
ahh ahhh ahhh
well you get what you got and you learn how to like it
ahhh hahaha ahhh hahaha
you can see no reason to be any nicer
but anyway you slice it I just don’t get no wiser
but I still can’t seem to help but want you back back

Don’t Leave Me This Way is a classic disco song–both Thelma Houston’s version and this one.

The Communards were primarily the duo of Richard Coles and Jimmy Somerville. Somerville’s gorgeous falsetto is what really puts this over the top (although I have to give credit to efforts of co/backup singer Sarah Jane Morris), and the energy of the song really was something a little different in the mid-Eighties when the recording came out. It’s a fun song, and a great cover.

Here’s a link to the video

And of course, the lyrics:

Don’t leave me this way
I can’t survive I can’t stay alive, without your love oh baby
Don’t leave me this way,
No I can’t exist … I’ll surely miss your tender kiss
Don’t leave me this way
Ahhh, baby!
My heart is full of love and desire for you
Now com’on down and do what you gotta do
You started this fire down in my soul
Now can’t you see it’s burning out of control
Com’on, satisfy the need in me
’cause only your good lovin’ can set me free
Don’t, don’t you leave me this way,
No don’t you understand I’m at your command
Oh baby please, please, don’t leave me this way … nooo baby
Don’t leave me this way,
No I can’t survive
I can’t stay alive without your love baby,
Don’t leave me this way
Ahhh, baby! my heart is full of love and desire for you
So com’on down and do what you got to do
You started this fire down in my soul
Now can’t you see it’s burning out of control
So com’on, satisfy the need in me
’cause only your good lovin’ can set me free
Need you lovin’, baby … need it … need it …
Satisfy the need in me satisfy the need in me
Well baby, come and satify the need in me
Whoa baby, come and satify the need in me
Oh baby don’t leave me this way
Don’t leave me this way no,
Don’t leave me this way no,
Don’t leave me this way, baby
Don’t leave … don’t leave me this way babe …
Oh, baby …

This has to be the most fun song I’ve ever heard about drug addiction.

Hateful was one of the most memorable songs from London Calling, likely because of it’s upbeat, Bo Diddly style rhythm, the call and response style vocals, and the very singable chorus. The lyrics are obviously about a man who is addicted to heroin (most likely), and his single minded pursuit of his next fix, loathing himself the whole time.

Here’s a link to a tribute video

And of course, the lyrics:

Well, I got a friend who’s a man (who’s a man)
What man?
The man who keeps me from the lonely, the only
He gives me what I need
What you need? What you got?
I need it all oh so badly

Oh, anything I want he gives it to me
Anything I want he gives it, but not for free
hateful
(Anything I want) he gives it to me
(Anything I want) me
(Anything I want) but not for free
(Anything I want) to me
Anything I want

For those of you that don’t know, Klark Kent was actually the alter-ego of Police drummer Stewart Copeland. The songs were fun, quirky sounding tunes that Sting apparently didn’t want to record as the Police, so Copeland invented a fictitious band.

This particular song can only be described as “quirky”. It’s got an odd, shambling rhythm that still seems pleasant to the ears, and Copeland’s voice sounds just a tad like he’s singing in the bathtub from underneath the water. Still, it all works, and it’s a fun little song about that first apartment.

You can listen to the song below:

And of course, the lyrics:

I finally got away from home
I got apartment of my own
Eccentric posing is allowed
And I can play the music loud
I’m gonna abuse my brand new pad
My lousy manners are O.K.
I finally got away from home
I got apartment of my own
I entertain my rancid date
And she can hang around till late
Oh boy!

I finally got away from home
I got apartment of my own
Not sure exactly ’bout the rent
My weekly pay won’t even dent
Won’t hide my dealings
Oh boy Oh boy!

How Soon Is Now? is an 80’s classic, instantly recognizable, and a great song. The guitar, Morrissey’s vocals, the industrial sounds, it all really works, and like many, I can identify with the themes of shyness and alienation expressed by the protagonist.

From Wikipedia:

The song contains only one verse which is repeated twice, plus a chorus and a bridge. The subject is an individual who cannot find a way to break out of his shyness. Two couplets from the song are well known in pop culture, the opening to the verse: “I am the son, and the heir, of a shyness that is criminally vulgar / I am the son and heir, of nothing in particular”, and the chorus: “I am human and I need to be loved / Just like everybody else does”. The opening was adapted from a line in George Eliot’s Middlemarch: “To be born the son of a Middlemarch manufacturer, and inevitable heir to nothing in particular”.[1] While the track is cited as having changed U.S. media perception of the band as “some wacky gay-rock crusade”, the lyrics have also been taken as specifically relating to contemporary Manchester gay club culture.

Here’s a link to the video

And of course, the lyrics:

I am the son
and the heir
Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar
I am the son and heir
Of nothing in particular

I am Human And I need to be loved
Just like everybody else does

Vive Le Rock is a really good song, although I’m really not 100 percent sure what it’s exactly about. Lyrically, many of Adam’s songs are self-referential, and perhaps this one is as well. He has written many songs about being famous, his personal life, etc., and I must wonder if this is the same. I think perhaps this time he’s referring to the press, although it’s hard to say.

That being said, I like the song for several reasons. Number one, it rocks. It sort of bridges the line between 70’s glam and 80’s hair metal–okay, perhaps that’s not quite a good comparison, but somewhat close. Additionally, it’s Adam, and I just think he tends to make things fun. I really feel he’s one of the more underrated artists over the last 30 years or so.

Here’s a link to the video

And of course, the lyrics:

Bang bang you’re dead
Did not did too
Stop diddy-bopping buddy
Bouncing betty on you

Look ma, I’m on top of the world

I know this probably sounds like a broken record, but this song is just plain fun. It’s got a good beat and you can definitely dance to it, plus it’s got a really cool melody.

There’s little mystery regarding the song’s meaning, but if you haven’t puzzled it out yet, it’s about sex. Gay sex. It’s human and it’s good. Just embrace the beat and enjoy it.

Here’s a link to the video

And of course, the lyrics:

Searching for some company
Feel the rhythm dance with me
Them beat boy blues seem out of space
Now they want to party pace party pace
Dance dance on the floor dance dance move some more
Dance dance feel the heat
Hit that perfect beat boy, hit that perfect beat beat boy

Hit hit hit hit
Beat beat beat beat beat beat beat beat beat beat boy
Ive got that feeling them beat boy feelings
Ive got that feeling that perfect beat (beat boy beat boy)
Ive got that feeling (that perfect feeling)
That perfect feeling all over me (beat boy beat boy)

I’m not the biggest AFI fan, but I do like this song.

Third Season is a song about rebellion and revolution, a politically themed song about an undercurrent of mounting tension ready to overflow into action. The music captures this feeling well, with the somewhat subdued verses giving way to the angry and unrestrained chorus. The message is clear–the establishment is going to be blindsided by the revolution, and you had best get out of the way or be trampled.

I like the song because of the music and the vocals, and because it just plain rocks. The vocals work perfectly, particularly in the chorus.

Here’s a link to the video

And of course, the lyrics:

Can you feel the pulse?
Can you feel the heat rising from below?
Can you feel the energy? It’s gaining strength, oh so slowly
But I’ll wait…I’ll wait…till the seasons change.
Why wait?…Why wait?… till the fall comes.
(Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!)
Ohhh. And I’ll say..
I’ll give you nothing but a mirthless laugh.
Ohhh.
Can you see the signs?
Can you sense the changing of the winds?
Can you sense the stillness in the air?
Calm will remain…oh so shortly.
But I’ll wait… I’ll wait… till the seasons change.
Why wait?…Why wait?… till the fall comes.
(Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!)
Ohhh. And I’ll say..
I’ll give you nothing but a mirthless laugh.
Ohhh. And I’ll say..
Gonna take you by… Gonna take you by…
Gonna take you by surprise as it rises.
Gonna take you by… Gonna take you by…
Gonna take you by surprise as it rises.
Ohhh.. (Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey)
Ohhh. And I’ll say..
I’ll give you nothing but a mirthless laugh.
Ohhh. And I’ll say..
Whoa! Whoa!
Gonna take you by surprise
Whoa! Whoa! Ohhhhh………..