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Re: Least Favorite Song

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2014 5:00 am
by TMBJon
drewdy9999 wrote:everything the narrator says implies is reciprocated by the woman in the song
The feelings are not reciprocated in any way. Quite the opposite. In the narrator's head perhaps, but in reality the woman barely notices the narrator (which is the whole point of the song).

Re: Least Favorite Song

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2014 7:10 pm
by remmy
TMBJon wrote:
drewdy9999 wrote:everything the narrator says implies is reciprocated by the woman in the song
The feelings are not reciprocated in any way. Quite the opposite. In the narrator's head perhaps, but in reality the woman barely notices the narrator (which is the whole point of the song).
That's my take on it too. He's completely fabricated this entire love story narrative in his head -- he's misinterpreting the woman's body language and momentary eye contact to mean something, when in reality she's just sitting on the bus, minding her own business, maybe periodically wondering why that guy won't stop staring at her.

Which is why I find the song way too creepy to enjoy. :(

Re: Least Favorite Song

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2014 8:53 pm
by TMBJon
remmy wrote:maybe periodically wondering why that guy won't stop staring at her.

Which is why I find the song way too creepy to enjoy. :(
I really appreciate the song for this reason. It's a peek inside a psychopath's head. What is that creepy guy on the bus thinking about? It turns out he's quite the romantic, but in the worst possible way.

Re: Least Favorite Song

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 3:03 am
by Just a Bill
Well, Well, Well wrote:this thread is for your least favorite song take that "Jackson park express is the best song ever" stuff somewhere else OMG.
So back on topic, I think my least favorite is My Own Eyes. The music does nothing for me, I can't make out a lot of the lyrics, and I don't feel like studying the liner notes just to find out if there's a minor chuckle or two stuck in there. From what I could hear, it seemed like one of those "stream of random non-sequiturs" songs that are basically fillers (and that certainly don't require the amazing talents of WAY; many of us could come up with randomly "weird" lyrics).

In fact, I'm realizing about myself that when the music is boring, it's hard for me to like the song even if it's funny. Handy is a double-whammy for me, since the source tune is awful and the three (?) jokes the lyrics seem to offer are pretty weak. Remember when people were sharing the Fancy video before we knew what Handy would be, and a bunch of folks said that before it was even halfway through they shut it off, or muted it and just ogled the girls? Weak source material. "Screw dat, screw dat" just wasn't enough to make me care. But as boring as Handy is, at least I can hear the lyrics!

I've been in Al's corner since the early 80s, love his work, and respect him a lot; he's absolutely a genius and a great person. But I am puzzled by his (rare) misses like My Own Eyes where it's basically just a mushy mess. If the source material is this murky (no idea whether that's true, not interested in finding out), maybe there was a better parody subject somewhere else?

I'm hoping that this new era of releasing singles instead of conventional albums is going to free him up, and eliminate the pressure to write "fillers" like MOE just to reach the 12 songs needed to fill the disc.

I do fully realize that some other fans probably love My Own Eyes and would be heartbroken to not have it, in much the same way that I love Sports Song despite all the unlove. But the OP asked, so here's my subjective answer.

Re: Least Favorite Song

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 3:14 am
by TMBJon
Wow, could not disagree more about My Own Eyes! Definitely a contender for my favorite song on the album. Perfectly accurate style parody despite not really mimicking any one FF song, amazing music that rocks all the way through, and hilarious lyrics that get funnier the more you think about them! :accordion:

Re: Least Favorite Song

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 3:24 am
by Big Spoon
While I do love My Own Eyes, I understand some of where Just A Bill is coming from, in that I also have a bit of a tough time understanding some of the lyrics. However, I still love the song. The music is awesome and dead-on Foo Fighters (who I'm a fan of) and the lyrics are drop dead funny.

Re: Least Favorite Song

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 3:48 am
by Just a Bill
TMBJon wrote:and hilarious lyrics that get funnier the more you think about them!
Big Spoon wrote:and the lyrics are drop dead funny.
Okay, now you guys have made me go to the liner notes to see what I'm missing!

I saw a baby drive a truck
I saw a junkie eat a tuba
I saw a stripper kiss a duck
Behind a dumpster in Aruba

I saw this fat, psychotic guy
His underwear was made of crickets
He pawned his skeleton to buy
Some old, expired lotto tickets

I saw a naked vagrant
Giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to his cat
I probably could've gone my whole life without seeing that


Hmm, wasn't missing anything.

To each his own, I guess. For me, these are the most disappointing kinds of lyrics from a wordmaster like Al. You can stick in literally any nonsensical thing you want to fit the rhythm or rhyme. It's sort of cheating, which would be fine if they were funny. I just don't see the funny.

Maybe there's some devilishly clever wordplay or commentary here and I'm just too #thicke to see it?

Re: Least Favorite Song

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 7:04 am
by mrmeadows
Can't say MOE is my favorite song on the album, either, but actually reading those lyrics made me laugh more than when I heard them in the song itself!

Re: Least Favorite Song

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 8:00 am
by Well, Well, Well
Just a Bill wrote: I've been in Al's corner since the early 80s, love his work, and respect him a lot; he's absolutely a genius and a great person. But I am puzzled by his (rare) misses like My Own Eyes where it's basically just a mushy mess. If the source material is this murky (no idea whether that's true, not interested in finding out), maybe there was a better parody subject somewhere else?
While I like My Own Eyes a fair amount, and I think some of the lyrics are hilarious, I do agree that the source material used for the song is weak since it seems to sound more like recent Foo Fighters releases. I felt like midway through One by One a lot of the FF songs were straightforward rock songs that were unremarkable and unmemorable, and it kept like that for a while. I'm often reminded of Germs as a comparison. I enjoy it a lot more, one my favorite songs on RWS, because it's recognizable and memorable NIN that he's parodying. (Nine Inch Nails is another band I think has gotten worse over time.) I mean, he apparently used a Velvet Revolver riff as the main riff, so....this song is pretty unremarkable musically for me.

Re: Least Favorite Song

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 10:55 am
by TMBJon
For me, the humor of My Own Eyes lies entirely in the way that, musically, Al and the band encapsulated a Foo Fighters style song. It transcends the lyrics, much the same way that Mission Statement does. I think the "point" of the song is to mimic the first-person storytelling style of a Foo Fighters song.

Look at the lyrics of the songs that My Own Eyes sounds most like: The Pretender, Times Like These, All My Life, and even Learn To Fly. All of the songs are thematically similar to My Own Eyes:
I am a one way motorway
I'm the road that drives away
then follows you back home
I am a street light shining
I'm a white light blinding bright
burning off and on
Send in your skeletons
Sing as their bones go marching in... again
I'm finished making sense
Done pleading ignorance
That whole defense
Now I'm looking to the sky to save me
Looking for a sign of life
Looking for something to help me burn out bright
I'm looking for a complication
Looking 'cause I'm tired of lying
Make my way back home when I learn to fly high.
It's a similar joke to Bob, I think. That the lyrics could be replaced with non-sequiturs, and it would still sound like a quintessential Foo Fighters hit.