The Great Saiyaman
02-17-2020, 09:35 AM
Life has a way of throwing curve balls and often makes you go "How did it end up being like this?"
Of course that's a great topic for songwriters to use too and many well known songs are about that. So I figured it to be fun to talk about those songs and showcase them.
First up, here's The Who with their epic "Bell Boy"
-njdxlFIVAc
In this song we find our protagonist in a situation where he runs into Ace, the former leader of the Mod gang he used to be part of. And he finds him employed as a BELL BOY. As Ace tells his story about his new life it goes from "Oh yeah, I'm in a good place, looking all flash in my uniform." to "Dude, I hate it, I'm underpaid, humiliating myself on a daily basis." He goes on about sleeping on the beach from time to time reflecting on the dreams he had to give up. When he goes "You could learn a lot of a life like mine" he's basically telling our guy "Get your life together, you do NOT want to end up like I did."
One topic frequently used in "How did it all end up like this?" is the midlife crisis and a guy who made himself a career about writing songs about that is Paul Simon.
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According to "Classic Albums" Paul basically wrote about the average Joe who is basically an invisible entity on the street. The guy in his forties and what does he have to show for it? He's not married, no children, not successful. He doesn't stand out, made no difference in the world and is living with all the fears of the time (Mid 1980's Cold war, not a pleasant time) He's a softy in a world which DEMANDS him being tough as nails, how can he be what everybody expects him to be? But the Chorus is basically about our guy walking up to a woman and asking her "Can I make an alliance with you so we can face all of that together?" The last verse is about Paul himself, our guy finds himself in a completely different setting and he's blown away by all the positive mental attitude, the way these people carry themselves and he's happy with the woman at his side going through the journey to get there.
"Nowhere man" is basically John Lennon writing about himself, he's in his twenties, he's probably the biggest rock star on earth and he can barely comprehend what is happening.
- His marriage is falling apart.
- He barely knows his own son
- He goes to all of these amazing countries on tour but cannot leave his own hotel room because he'd be mobbed.
- He comes up with these GREAT songs but performing them live is basically impossible and with big PA systems being a thing of the future, the screaming girls in the audience would have drowned out the music anyway.
- Hamburg buddy (and future Plastic Ono band Bass player) Klaus Voorman said that he met up with John on the set of "Strawberry fields forever" and that the latter just burst into tears telling him how unhappy he was with all of it.
8scSwaKbE64
"Nowhere man" basically is telling the listener "Here's a man completely lost, so please be sympathetic, after all, don't we all have moments in our lives where we are lost too?" But it also is hopeful: "Nowhere man, don't worry, take your time, don't hurry, leave it all til somebody else lends you a hand." things will get better eventually.
Peter Gabriel was always very vocal in support of his former band Genesis after him leaving them in 1976. Always said that he thought Phil Collins was doing a brilliant job at fronting the band and singing the songs. (Although he also stressed that Phil didn't PERFORM the songs the same way he did.) So when the time came around to release his first solo album, he knew that everybody was watching his every move. He wrote a song about his departure from Genesis which became one of the all time classics of his solo material.
_OO2PuGz-H8
"Solsbury hill" clearly showcases the uncertainty. People telling him "You must be crazy to leave that band now that you guys are finally getting success." and the uncertainty about how the fans would react to his album. What WAS without question though is the big Thumbs up to his former band mates, a "Well done Lads!"
Once more Peter Gabriel. The idea of the song came about when in the early eighties, the UK Government decided to close all of the mines, putting many thousands of people out of a job. Gabriel put himself in the shoes of one of those miners, sitting there, their world destroyed, what future did he have left?
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And then there's that soothing element of Kate Bush telling him to keep at it, better times will come eventually. In the "Classic albums" episode of the album "So" it was revealed that he actually wanted Dolly Parton to sing the female part, which producer Daniel Lanois said was "An inspired choice" but Parton couldn't be booked.
From one Prog rock legend to another. Roger Waters still says about this song that he wonders how he got away with writing it. But the universal truth of looking in the mirror one day and seeing the face of a middle aged man wondering where the teenager went hits everybody.
JwYX52BP2Sk
For me personally, the line "Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way." is such a poignant piece of poetry as well as it is a brutally honest view on the English.
Life has a way of confronting you without mercy and the next song on our list is about that. "Tragedy's a-Coming" by Primus.
kQv8zNQX578
According to Les Claypool, this song is about the death of his mother which was impossible for him to run away from and around that same time, his cousin to whom he's really close to fell ill to leukemia. Tragic events came at him one after another like bullets from a machine gun. The Video is from the point of view of a Lobster in a fish restaurant who knows that it takes only one customer who wants to have a Lobster dish for dinner to seal his fate. It's as simple and impossible to avoid as that, it just takes one person to say "I'll have the lobster."
Of course that's a great topic for songwriters to use too and many well known songs are about that. So I figured it to be fun to talk about those songs and showcase them.
First up, here's The Who with their epic "Bell Boy"
-njdxlFIVAc
In this song we find our protagonist in a situation where he runs into Ace, the former leader of the Mod gang he used to be part of. And he finds him employed as a BELL BOY. As Ace tells his story about his new life it goes from "Oh yeah, I'm in a good place, looking all flash in my uniform." to "Dude, I hate it, I'm underpaid, humiliating myself on a daily basis." He goes on about sleeping on the beach from time to time reflecting on the dreams he had to give up. When he goes "You could learn a lot of a life like mine" he's basically telling our guy "Get your life together, you do NOT want to end up like I did."
One topic frequently used in "How did it all end up like this?" is the midlife crisis and a guy who made himself a career about writing songs about that is Paul Simon.
uq-gYOrU8bA
According to "Classic Albums" Paul basically wrote about the average Joe who is basically an invisible entity on the street. The guy in his forties and what does he have to show for it? He's not married, no children, not successful. He doesn't stand out, made no difference in the world and is living with all the fears of the time (Mid 1980's Cold war, not a pleasant time) He's a softy in a world which DEMANDS him being tough as nails, how can he be what everybody expects him to be? But the Chorus is basically about our guy walking up to a woman and asking her "Can I make an alliance with you so we can face all of that together?" The last verse is about Paul himself, our guy finds himself in a completely different setting and he's blown away by all the positive mental attitude, the way these people carry themselves and he's happy with the woman at his side going through the journey to get there.
"Nowhere man" is basically John Lennon writing about himself, he's in his twenties, he's probably the biggest rock star on earth and he can barely comprehend what is happening.
- His marriage is falling apart.
- He barely knows his own son
- He goes to all of these amazing countries on tour but cannot leave his own hotel room because he'd be mobbed.
- He comes up with these GREAT songs but performing them live is basically impossible and with big PA systems being a thing of the future, the screaming girls in the audience would have drowned out the music anyway.
- Hamburg buddy (and future Plastic Ono band Bass player) Klaus Voorman said that he met up with John on the set of "Strawberry fields forever" and that the latter just burst into tears telling him how unhappy he was with all of it.
8scSwaKbE64
"Nowhere man" basically is telling the listener "Here's a man completely lost, so please be sympathetic, after all, don't we all have moments in our lives where we are lost too?" But it also is hopeful: "Nowhere man, don't worry, take your time, don't hurry, leave it all til somebody else lends you a hand." things will get better eventually.
Peter Gabriel was always very vocal in support of his former band Genesis after him leaving them in 1976. Always said that he thought Phil Collins was doing a brilliant job at fronting the band and singing the songs. (Although he also stressed that Phil didn't PERFORM the songs the same way he did.) So when the time came around to release his first solo album, he knew that everybody was watching his every move. He wrote a song about his departure from Genesis which became one of the all time classics of his solo material.
_OO2PuGz-H8
"Solsbury hill" clearly showcases the uncertainty. People telling him "You must be crazy to leave that band now that you guys are finally getting success." and the uncertainty about how the fans would react to his album. What WAS without question though is the big Thumbs up to his former band mates, a "Well done Lads!"
Once more Peter Gabriel. The idea of the song came about when in the early eighties, the UK Government decided to close all of the mines, putting many thousands of people out of a job. Gabriel put himself in the shoes of one of those miners, sitting there, their world destroyed, what future did he have left?
VjEq-r2agqc
And then there's that soothing element of Kate Bush telling him to keep at it, better times will come eventually. In the "Classic albums" episode of the album "So" it was revealed that he actually wanted Dolly Parton to sing the female part, which producer Daniel Lanois said was "An inspired choice" but Parton couldn't be booked.
From one Prog rock legend to another. Roger Waters still says about this song that he wonders how he got away with writing it. But the universal truth of looking in the mirror one day and seeing the face of a middle aged man wondering where the teenager went hits everybody.
JwYX52BP2Sk
For me personally, the line "Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way." is such a poignant piece of poetry as well as it is a brutally honest view on the English.
Life has a way of confronting you without mercy and the next song on our list is about that. "Tragedy's a-Coming" by Primus.
kQv8zNQX578
According to Les Claypool, this song is about the death of his mother which was impossible for him to run away from and around that same time, his cousin to whom he's really close to fell ill to leukemia. Tragic events came at him one after another like bullets from a machine gun. The Video is from the point of view of a Lobster in a fish restaurant who knows that it takes only one customer who wants to have a Lobster dish for dinner to seal his fate. It's as simple and impossible to avoid as that, it just takes one person to say "I'll have the lobster."