Songs of overwhelm

[tzikeh]

I would like to be original, articulate, insightful, or inspiring today, but I've never mastered the ability to take the thoughts in my head and transmogrify them into clear, sensible words. So I will say this:

I was driving to work this morning when a song came on WXRT (Thursday is "New Releases" on this station) which was called, I think, "Fate's Right Hand", by someone I've never heard of. It was a song of overwhelm - that is, it was comprised mostly of lists of everything the songwriter finds awful, incomprehensible, or otherwise oppressive in the world today, either on a personal or a grand scale. It got me thinking about this very narrow sub-genre of songs, and other ones that I know. Each of them has a particular attitude towards its own subject matter, be it comic irony, painful earnestness, or resigned "fuck it" celebration. Interestingly, I can't think of any that were written pre-nuclear age - though each decade since then has at least one. If you folks know any, I'd love to hear them.

Merry Minuet (1958)

They're rioting in Africa,
There's strife in Iran.
What nature doesn't do to us
Will be done by our fellow man!

Eve of Destruction (1965)

Think of all the hate there is in Red China!
Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama!
Ah, you may leave here, for four days in space,
but when you return, it's the same old place,
the poundin' of the drums, the pride and disgrace,
you can bury your dead, but don't leave a trace,
hate your next-door-neighbour, but don't forget to say grace,
and you tell me over and over and over and over again my friend,
you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

Ball of Confusion (1970)

Evolution, revolution, gun control, the sound of soul
shooting rockets to the moon
kids growing up too soon
politicians say more taxes will solve everything
And the band played on

It's the End of the World As We Know It (1987)

Six o’clock - TV hour. Don’t get caught in foreign tower. Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn. Lock him in uniform and book burning, blood letting. Every motive escalate. Automotive incinerate. Light a candle, light a motive. Step down, step down. Watch a heel crush, crush. Uh oh, this means no fear - cavalier. Renegade and steer clear! A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies. Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline.

We Didn't Start the Fire (1989)

"wheel of fortune", sally ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless vets, aids, crack, bernie goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, china’s under martial law
Rock and roller cola wars, I can’t take it anymore

imagine all the people
living life in peace
you may say I'm a dreamer
but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
and the world will live as one.

Comments

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

Billy Joel was moved to speak out against the "cola wars." Ahhh, the 80s were hell.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Hee - yeah, I could have chosen one of the verses about a different decade, but I wanted the song to reflect the time in which it was written. :)

And hey, he didn't light it, but he's *trying* to fight it...

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

The Statler Brothers have several of the "list" type songs.

"Class of 57" catalogues what happened to all the folks, states "things get complicated, when you get past 18" and has the chorus:
"The class of 57 had its dreams.
We all thought we'd change the world
with our great works and deeds
Or maybe we just thought the world
would change to fit our needs."

"Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott" decries the state of movies:

"Everybody's trying to make a comment
about our doubts and fears
True Grit's the only movie
I've really understood in years."

"Do you remember these" is a lament for things gone by, including "Movie stars on dixie cup tops and knickers to your knees"

Simon and Garfunkle did "A Simple Desultory Philippic
(Or How I was Robert Macnamara'd Into Submission)"

[nomadicwriter]

I totally love these kind of list songs. Mostly because I'm a sucker for anything with clever lyrics.

The first one that came to mind when I was reading this was Don McLean's Prime Time. There's also Goodbye Marlon Brando by Elton John. On a more personal level of, um, overwhelmedness, there's Mr. Chainsaw by Alkaline Trio.

On the flip side, you've got Affirmation by Savage Garden, which is a feelgood version of a list song.

List Songs

[barkley.livejournal.com]

I was just going to say, "You know, the one with the video with the guy holding the placards with each list item written on it" and you'd know immediately what I was talking about because you know Stuff.

But then I thought I'd satisfy my own curiosity and look it up. It was INXS just as I thought, and the song was Mediate.

[katallison.livejournal.com]

Boy, a *lot* of Dylan songs fit in this category, but one that leaps to mind is Subterranean Homesick Blues.

great list

[rosawestphalen.livejournal.com]

This is a wonderful collection, thank you for posting it. You made my entire day brighter -- which is, I know, somewhat strange and ironic. But somehow these lyrics made me feel less alone in my despair. I'm off to make a tape, dedicated to tzikeh.
Glom!

And, submitted for your consideration (I don't know if it would fit your overwhelm criteria, each verse focuses on one terrible thing):

Another Day by Sting (1986)
If we escape annihilation
Not only hope but education
The world is ruled by Bellophiles
Adding to their weapon piles
Imagine what your taxes buy
We hardly ever try
But it's hard to tell the poison from the cure
It's harder still to know the reason why, why, why
The only thing I really know for sure
Is that another day, another day's gone by, bye,bye

Re: great list

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

In a way, I think this *is* an uplifting collection, because it shows that, while we all may despair or be completely overwhelmed, we do persevere, if only to write songs about it another day.