My life has been pretty hectic lately. Recently I noticed that my taste in music may have suffered a little for all the running around. I joined mog.com partly as an affirmation, to motivate me to think and write about good music...and probably listen to it too. I was hoping that being on mog would inspire me to put down the Justin Timberlake CD long enough to write a blog about "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" or my changing impressions of "Verklarte Nacht." I thought I could use mog as a forum to explore my obsession with Elvis Costello or to discuss why I think Steely Dan is a viable listening option -- even today. And so, it is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I begin by mogging career with a discussion of Beyonce's recent single "Ring the Alarm."
The first time I heard this song, I was on tour somewhere watching a video show. The combination of Beyonce's vocal delivery (which I can only describe as ferocious) with the accompanying visual stimuli overloaded my circuitry and I decided to postpone my judgment of the song until I was in a calmer state of mind. Subsequently I went to her myspace page to check out the song again (audio only) and let me tell you: this track rules!
The vocal is so emotive that it is almost absurd, but I can't help but go along with it. The subject matter is nothing new. A woman contemplates leaving her lover, who appears to be doing her wrong. But it is her choice of metaphors that I find so intriguing:
She gon' be rockin' chinchilla coats if I let you go
Get in the house off the coast if I let you go
She gon' take everything I own if I let you go
Some people decry the lack of substance in bling-oriented music, but it was while I was listening to this song that it dawned on me that material goods and designer clothes are merely the latest in the endless succession of metaphors used by poets and pop singers to express the ineffable...if you will the "moon and stars" of today. Now having said that, let's see if I can listen to another week of crap without quite so much guilt.
Comments
well its good you can find the real meaning in something that looks superficial on the surface. The mistake alot of people make with todays popular music is writing it off as bubblegum disposable music with little to no artistic merit. The problem with R&B and hip hop, is alot of the general public dont completely "get" the references and analogies being used.
It could be a song about love and peace, but it could just sound like "diamonds, money, hoes, cars" to someone if they arent privvy.
When I first heard "Ring the Alarm", my immediate thought was: 'why didn't Beyonce create her album around THIS song?' Listening through the rest of B'day, I was so disappointed that she didn't go the insane rock-out route and instead created some very safe pop songs. To see her collaborate with Peaches or Le Tigre would be incredible.
Intelligent, entertaining words on a song that I still hate - I just don't get off on the sound of it, and Beyonce's singing style is almost always alienating to me... maybe I should get that looked at. But you are right about those words and I feel that better already; very insightful... (I want to see you turn that type of phrase on Steely Dan and watch the cheese melt away from the public perception!)