I am finding that those artists with a Mr Nice Guy image aren’t faring so well – I am thinking here of Elton John, Billy Joel and Phil Collins, but I’m sure there are others. Time after time, their songs don’t work. It’s becoming quite predictable. Even though they have a range of styles, it’s always wrong. “Allentown” came close, but the dismal aftertaste was a red flag. And the song, “An Innocent Man,” which is a more clearly articulated version of Yes’ song “Owner of a Lonley Heart,” is all the worse for being so crystal clear. Then you know it stinks. In that one, Writer says that he’s innocent, and therefore he’s the one to pick for the sack tonight. Here are some lyrics: “Some people sleep all alone every night / Instead of taking a lover to bed . . . You know you only hurt yourself out of spite / I guess you’d rather be a martyr tonight / That’s your decision / But I’m not below / Anybody I know . . .”
Ack, ack, triple ack.
The song goes on to portray Writer (“Innocent Man”) as a real rescuer — willing to wait, to sacrifice, to do anything. He makes it seem like he’s entirely accommodating and almost Christ-like in his empathy, concern and caring, but notice that there’s mockery in these lines if you don’t choose to sleep with him: “I guess you’d rather be a martyr tonight.” And with these lines, the lyricist groups himself with the people of the world who view themselves as Hot Stuff. If you don’t want their company, then they so quickly say that you’re out of your mind. They point to your rejection of them as a Vewy Stwong Case in favour of your inability to think clearly. You don’t dig me (no more)? Then you must be cwazy! This is how their argument unfolds. In their anger at being rejected, they look to belittle or even condemn the one who rejects them, though they cannot find genuine fault.
Ill-intentioned egoists.
Let’s move on.
Listening to Phil Collins’ “Against the Odds,” I conclude that it is a Very Bad Sign if you start laughing when you hear a singer describe how sad he is. It is a sign of impending 80s-hit-rejection if you find this funny: “I wish I could just make you turn around / Turn around and see me cry.”
Ha ha ha!
Oh dear. What do you picture here? A man standing there on the streetcorner with tears running down his face, while his arms are outstretched towards you? He sings, “Pleeeeeeese!” And of course you know we’ll have to shoot this scene in the pouring rain. Or maybe we could run it as an edgy black and white piece. The camera will zoom in on the kleenexes all scattered around the floor and then slowly climb up to show the red nose and droopy eyes of the guy sitting on the corner of his bed. Something like that? (I know, the nose wouldn’t be red if we shot this in black and white, so we could colorize it afterwards I guess, for Sadder Effect.)
But I mean, really! — the imagery of the line is just too pathetic: “Turn around and see me cry.”
And he sings, “So take a look at me now, oh there’s just an empty space.”
An empty space? That’s it? The man has now become an empty space?
Ha ha ha! It makes me think of the supersized “art” on the corner of 87 Avenue and 112 Street, where a giant statue has a head and feet stuck onto either end of a giant empty rectangle.
It’s unpleasant, just like this song. Please make it go away.
Now of course, this is not to say that sadness cannot be done in a song, and this is not to say that I laugh at the concept of a man being sad. It’s just — it’s just — it’s just that it’s a delicate thing for a man to sing about himself weeping. It doesn’t usually work. For a man to sing that he’s “Cry-y-y-y-y-y-y-ying over you,” doesn’t make him seem more appealing. I don’t know. Give the man a teddy bear and slowly back away. Close the door; the man needs some privacy right now.
It just doesn’t work.
There are so many ways to do sadness which are far more effective.
Take, for instance, John Waite’s song “Missing You,” where he knows that he’s in defiant denial of his own emotions. It does connect and it’s one of the two inspired songs of 1984. I like how the title tells the truth. The lines are well done and really communicate the lyricist’s desolation and grief.
The other inspired song was “Hold Me Now,” and there is a fleeting reference to crying, but it’s in the context of a man and woman sharing every other kind of emotion together as well. It is not entirely dissimilar in theme to BNL’s “One Week” song, but unfortunately the BNL song was too conscious of its own cleverness. Too often BNL’s songs suffer from a show-offyness, where their ability to deliver rhyming and snazzy lines at super-sonic speed negatively impacts the plan for the melody. There has to be a balance between the lyrics and the melody; you don’t want one to overshadow the other.
“Hold Me Now,” by Thompson Twins, gives the listener a realistic picture of the ups and downs that characterize long-term relationships, while ending with a theme of forgiveness. It reminds me of the words of the Papal Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, which was also inspired. That’s because it doesn’t shy away from describing things as they actually are as a starting point. It’s a document which takes stock of how things really are, right now. It seems to say, ‘let’s begin with our feet on the ground.’
From there, we will go up, like a rocket.
And here, I have to point out that the David Bowie lyrics that were quoted by the Vatican person which Fr. Rutler says frightened and intimidated him were these: “Ground Control to Major Tom / Commencing countdown, engines on / Check ignition and may God’s love be with you.”
Isn’t that cool? It’s a rocket theme!
But anyway, to return to “Hold Me Now,” the writer contrasts the good days (the photo on the wall) of what seems like perfection — unending laughter and bliss — with the current situation. The current situation is messy and full of imperfection. Nevertheless, you are left with the impression that the current situation is perhaps better than the frozen image, filled as it is with forgiveness and constancy through thick and thin. “But you know that there’s nowhere / That I’d rather be / Than with you here today.”
It’s a good song.
Here are the lyrics for both:
Hold Me Now — Thompson Twins
(Lyrics: Tom Bailey, Alannah Currie and Joe Leeway)
I have a picture,
Pinned to my wall.
An image of you and of me and we’re laughing; we’re loving it all.
Look at our life now, tattered and torn.
We fuss and we fight and delight in the tears that we cry until dawnHold me now
Warm my heart
Stay with me
Let loving start
Let loving startYou say I’m a dreamer;
We’re two of a kind
Both of us searching for some perfect world we know we’ll never find
So perhaps I should leave here, yeah yeah go far away
But you know that there’s nowhere that I’d rather be than with you here todayHold me now
Warm my heart
Stay with me
Let loving start
Let loving startYou ask if I love you; well what can I say?
You know that I do and that this is just one of those games that we playSo I’ll sing you a new song
Please don’t cry anymore
And then I’ll ask your forgiveness,
though I don’t know just what I’m asking it forHold me now
Warm my heart
Stay with me
Let loving start
Let loving start
Missing You — John Waite
(Lyrics: John Waite, Mark Leonard, Chas Sandford)
Every time I think of you
I always catch my breath
And I’m still standing here
And you’re miles away
And I’m wondering why you leftAnd there’s a storm that’s raging
Through my frozen heart tonightI hear your name in certain circles
And it always makes me smile
I spend my time thinking about you
And it’s almost driving me wildAnd there’s a heart that’s breaking
Down this long distance line tonightI ain’t missing you at all
Since you’ve been gone away
I ain’t missing you
No matter what I might sayThere’s a message in the wild
And I’m sending you
This signal tonight
You don’t know how desperate I’ve become
And it looks like
I’m losing this fightIn your world, I have no meaning
Though I’m trying hard to understandAnd it’s my heart that’s breaking
Down this long distance line tonightI ain’t missing you at all
Since you’ve been gone away
I ain’t missing you
No matter what my friends sayAnd there’s a message that I’m sending out
Like a telegraph to your soul
And if I can’t bridge this distance
Stop this heartbreak overloadI ain’t missing you at all
Since you’ve been gone away
I ain’t missing you
No matter what my friends sayI ain’t missing you
I ain’t missing you
I keep lying to myselfAnd there’s a storm that’s raging
Through my frozen heart tonightI ain’t missing you at all
Since you’ve been gone away
I ain’t missing you
No matter what my friends sayAin’t missing you
I ain’t missing you
I ain’t missing you
I keep lying to myself
Ain’t missing you . . .
I ain’t missing you
I ain’t missing you
I ain’t missing you
I ain’t missing you
I ain’t missing you
Ain’t missing youOh no
No matter what my friends might say
I ain’t missing you