Sunday, March 27, 2011

So elegant and sleek

Ok, this one's been haunting me for 3 days in a row, to the exclusion of all other music:


It works on so many levels that it landed squarely in obsession territory.

Firstly, ever since bumping into Flesh Tone, I've had a weird thing for Kelis. Intro notwithstanding, the music took a backseat to the look and the person(a): I just found myself being fascinated with her, in that iconic capacity reserved for things unapproachable and unrelatable. So I had that going, and then this performance happened, and took it to another level. I know it's completely subjective, but I find her absolutely awestriking in this video - at least in those fleeting moments when you can actually make her out from behind the craptastic visualizations courtesy of David Lynch.

Secondly, the song is great, obviously. Grand and darkly romantic with a touch of menace - it's right up my alley.

Finally, the lyrics. Take a moment to read them:

Do you know where we are?
I'm longing for the dark
Of our nocturnal life
It begins and ends with you
Don't spill my secret

You were once running wild, hiding in the morning mist
Game demands I make you mine
I thought that I could resist, but the leopard in you
Silently preyed on me.

I made my way back home (Did you follow her?)
I handled her with care (Were you in control?)
So elegant and sleek (Were you not afraid?)
I need her to be near (Does she belong to you?)
Don't spill my secret

You were once running wild, hiding in the morning mist
Game demands I make you mine
I thought that I could resist, but the leopard in you
Silently preyed on me

Deserted by my friends (Don't they understand?)
She's so much more than them (How could they compare?)
So now she's just for me (No one else can see)
I watch her while she sleeps (Be sure she dreams of you)
Don't spill my secret

(It's been quite a while) Since we were last outside
(And do you miss the chase) Now that we've both been tamed
(Inside this gilded cage) Prisoners of our thoughts
(You saved me from myself)
Don't spill my secret


Today a man was taken from his apartment at the New Jersey Shore, and arrested under suspicion of entrapment of a wild animal. Police from forced entry discovered a caged leopard in the building. The fully grown feline was said to be surprisingly domesticated, by zoological experts who gave her a thorough examination before preparing her for relocation. A large crowd has gathered outside to watch the beautiful creature, and the giant cage was lowered slowly onto the street by a crane. From here, the leopard was transferred into the back of a truck for it's journey ahead. A startled onlooker said, it's extraordinary to think that any human being could have lived in such close quarters with such a dangerous animal. Police are saying that the captive was simply besotted with the creature, and barely left her side. It's alleged that he hunted her in the wild and expertly forged documents to facilitate her illegal export to the United States of America. The incident has already created much controversy, and is now likely to lead to a major international investigation into the life of the man who stole a leopard.

So yeah, it starts out pretty generic - at times even cringeworthy - only to turn into a psychotic ode to bestiality. And a superbly crafted one at that. I like the call and response structure of the verses. I like that they picked a female vocalist for the counterpart, which makes the number sound like a bona fide - if a bit dark - love song until the final reveal. And I absolutely love that she doesn't sing from the leopard's point of view, which would be tacky, exploitative, and put the animal on equal footing lyrically, implying that it could have ever been anything more than a passive/unwilling object of obsession (I'm trying to use neutral wording here).

In fact, I think the song is a really kickass depiction of someone's descent into madness. The male vocals are initially focused on the tangible; they're pretty straightforward. But as the song progresses, they become increasingly warped by the second, more twisted vocal line, until they are eventually overtaken by it.

If you follow Kelis' lines, you'll see that the second voice starts out very disassociated - inquiring and doubtful, as if it were voicing concerns which the protagonist doesn't want to address. By the next verse, it has become more integrated, echoing and complimenting the still relatively pragmatic male narrative, though with darker and more abstract undertones ("Be sure she dreams of you"). In the ultimate verse, the second voice finally takes over: the female vocals assume the lead, and the twin narratives reach perfect cohesion, becoming one. The psychosis is complete.

Pretty nifty for a little pop number, huh?

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Bellringer


People get compartmentalized, you get labelled, and I thought: "I don't want anyone to label me as anything other than the Funny One." Because if they say: "She's the Funny One" they haven't then got to say: "She's the Ginger One" or "She's the Speccy One". "She's the Funny One" and that's it. I wanted "funny" to define who I was (...) I suppose it is a survival instinct, and it is one I think I still use now. I would still rather... I just think if people think that I'm funny, they are not going to look any further. They're not going to delve any deeper. "I'm funny, don't look at me! Look at me with your eyes closed, look at me with your ears."

- Catherine Tate, Girls Who Do: Comedy

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Red Dot

I think I've finally triangulated the exact position of my "let's write another blog entry" button. The formula is: if I'm at least a little bit drunk, and too tired to log into WoW, but not yet incapacitated enough to just lie down and watch something before going to sleep, AND if Ana is not online for me to dump whatever happens to be leaking out of my brain at the time... on.

As you can see it's a tiny spot indeed. And I'm already talking to Ana...

And now I've updated the borgs, and I'm completely out of steam again. Until next time.

I felt like I was cheating, so I figured I'd at least throw in a song. It's one of those bands that popped up on too many websites and was advertised by too many of my music-savvy friends for me to ever properly check out, but it played in the background on our last evening in Bham - the only one, I think, during which we flirted with some sort of collective nostalgia - and got inset into that snapshot. I've since listened to the whole album a bunch of times and now know that I only like 2 songs from it, so it wasn't exactly a miraculous conversion, but still. This one's really good.