Flaming Lips: “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Part 1” (2002)
Like the Magnetic Fields’ “Andrew in Drag” (Songs You May Have Missed #162) Flaming Lips’ “Yoshimi” follows a cardinal rule of pseudo-novelty songwriting: if it’s catchy enough, even the people who ought to think it’s too weird will find themselves liking it. “Yoshimi” actually made it into the video game Rock Band 3 and has been reworked for the TV show Friends (“Phoebe Battles the Pink Robots”)–pretty mainstream for a song so bizarre.
If you removed the lyric about a city employee charged with the task of defending citizens from…well, pink robots–and substituted more typical love song sentiments, the melody could have carried it to pop hit territory. But I like it better as a cult classic.
Songs like “Judas Unrepentant” are why I hang in there with prog rock. Despite the fact that 95% of what I sift through disappoints, and notwithstanding the genre’s current overall metal leanings, there are occasions when an ambitious practitioner of the long-form rock song produces pure gold. Songs like this one, and bands like Big Big Train, reward repeated listenings and have greater shelf life than more ephemeral pop music.
The song does a remarkable job telling a story that requires quite a bit of detail, as well as the language of the art world–without sacrificing listenability. Let’s face it, if your story is “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”, it isn’t difficult to keep it catchy. But weaving a tale with the complexity required here, well–that’s what we still have progressive rock for. That’s why it’s still essential, despite the multitude of claims that the only era of prog that mattered was the Yes/Genesis/Floyd heyday 1970’s.
Judas Unrepentant:
Venetian expertise Inspired by Titian Which he modified Fine tuned along dutch lines
He’s painting revenge Embittered by lack of success
With signature techniques Attention to details And fine tell tale brushstrokes Of badger and sable
Expressing contempt For greedy dealers Getting rich At the artist’s expense
Infamous forger and restorer Judas Unrepentant Branded a charming old lovable rogue Judas Unrepentant Hey Judas Unrepentant Hey Judas!
His time bombs are in place And anachronisms Clues pointing to the truth If ever they are X-rayed
Wrote legends in lead white To trick the experts And hoodwink Hoodwink the trained eye
Infamous forger and restorer Judas Unrepentant Branded a charming old lovable rogue Judas Unrepentant Hey Judas Unrepentant Hey Judas Unrepentant
Establishing provenance Acquiring old frames with Christie’s numbers Then paints a picture in the same style Specialising in minor works by major artists
All rise Thirteen watercolours by Samuel Palmer Have proven to be his undoing And so he confesses then he is arrested Charged him with conspiracy to defraud
Years of chain smoking and breathing in fumes from restorations The stress of the court case had taken its toll His trial was halted due to ill health
So now we can all buy Real genuine fakes That’s posthumous fame It’s always the same
Infamous forger and restorer Judas Unrepentant Branded a charming old lovable rogue Judas Unrepentant Feeling like Robin Hood Just as good As Rembrandt or Titian Hey Judas Unrepentant Hey Judas Unrepentant Hey Judas Unrepentant
Lily Allen’s “Not Fair” is a genre-bender, as is its source album, 2009’s It’s Not Me It’s You. While the song and the album touch on country (nice Porter Wagoner bookend, by the way) it’s better described, I think, as “adult bubble gum”–definitely teeth-rottingly sweet, but pretty saucy on the lyrical side. So funny to be so taken by a song’s catchiness, then have that “wait–what did she just say?” moment. Good stuff.
Mystery feature the vocals of Benoit David, who until recently was Jon Anderson’s replacement in Yes after Anderson experienced voice problems, until David’s own vocal difficulties forced the band to replace him in turn. Benoit, by the way, was discovered by Yes while singing in a Yes tribute band.
“Between Love and Hate” typifies the regal brand of prog rock that Mystery deliver on their excellent 2010 offering One Among the Living. For fans of long-form rock played with taste and relative restraint–without the metal overtones present in so much of today’s prog–this is a band to look into.
A mostly forgotten trinket from the pop music moment just before the Beatles.
If we rightly think of the Mick Jaggers and Paul McCartneys as rock and roll royalty, what ought we say about Carole King, who was crafting perfect pop songs like this one several years before even they came onto the scene?
King’s often-covered “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”, as recorded by the Shirelles, became pop’s first number one hit by a girl group–in 1960. If you want a short clinic on great pop songwriting just listen to any version of “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and King’s own recording of “It’s Too Late” (with its jazzy sax solo). It just doesn’t get any better than that.
Granted, the sentiments of “I Can’t Stay Mad at You” are passe, but it’s charm is undying, like the innocence of a love story in an old black and white movie.
The R&B singer and rapper best known for “Milkshake” (search “Spock” on this site for a unique take) released Kelis Was Here in 2006, an album that debuted at #10 but sold relatively disappointingly. However, the album contained a Cee Lo Green-produced gem called “Lil Star”, which never charted as a single in the U.S. although it did peak at #3 in the UK.
Refreshingly not the usual subject matter of R&B diva fare (man-does-diva-wrong, diva-wants-ranchy-sex-as-much-as-man, diva-is-too-good-for-underachieving-man, etc. etc.) “Lil Star” finds the typically brash Kelis putting the sauciness (and vulgarity) aside in favor of actual humility. As she sings about her own imperfections and being a small part of a bigger picture in the verses, Cee Lo takes over in the chorus with almost-fatherly exhortations to “keep tryin’ and tryin'”.
Like I said, refreshing. And the fact that a song like this can’t be a hit in the U.S. is part of what’s wrong with R&B in the Nicki Minaj era.
Every Moment Has A Song 