Lyrics & their meaning Part 11 - I started a joke

Ever wondered what your favorite song was about? Probably not, which is good because a nice melody and tune are far more enticing than words. Church hymns have truly inspiring lyrics and meaningful messages but don’t really jump out of the record stores. At last a biased attempt is being made to determine what some of the best-loved tunes are really about. We will have a look at the background of these songs and see if history can tell us if any light can be shed on these cryptic verses, poignant prose or just Grade Two poetry

PART 11
I Stated a Joke - The Bee Gees (1967)

A timeless classic that reminds us the Bee Bees really were good once and maybe that Disco period thing can be just seen as when they were possessed by evil spirits. Although the songs singer Robin Gibb has claimed that the melody was inspired by the sounds he heard in a jet engine, he has always steadfastly refused to explain the mysterious lyrics.
Brother Barry has been quoted: "there was a lot of that in those days. there was a lot of pschedelia and the idea that if you wrote something, even if it sounded ridiculous, somebody would find the meaning for it, and that was the truth".
In the monstrous 2000 Unauthorized biography The Bee Gees - Tales of the brother Gibb, The authors describe I Started A Joke as ".... (the) prime example of the pure abstract Gibb lyric that everyone can read something into and, it would seem nearly everyone did"
This must of been a sixties thing, I remember growing up and thinking the song was about Adolph Hitler, because he was the only person I thought who could make the whole world cry, and everyone was happy when he died. But after an exhaustive search through heaps of Bee Gee web sites I couldn't find one reference to the songs meanings ( with the exception of the melody/aeroplane link) anywhere.

© 2004 Shidot Prod.

The list of useless lists

A comprehensive list of nothing in particular. Some are factual others fanciful. Great for boring interludes at work or on a rainy Saturday afternoon.
These are great because they always lead onto something else as interesting.

THE WORLD

List of all countries in the world


List of Presidents of the United States


List of Australian Prime Ministers


List of all states of the USA


List of Richest people in the world


List of Popes


List of Endangered Animals


List of Serial Killers


List of the 10 worst pollution spots


List of the most populous countries


List of World’s tallest buildings



MUSIC

Ten Most controversial record albums


Lists of best selling music artists


List of Best Selling Albums of all time


List of Rock n Roll Hall of Fame Inductees


List of all Bob Dylan’s songs


List of world’s worst album covers


List of Rolling Stones Albums


List of the 500 greatest albums of all time


List of ”Paul is dead” Theories (The Beatles Paul McCartney)


LITERATURE

Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries


Books you’ll always see in Thrift Stores


List of famous banned books



List of the best selling books ever


List of Stephen King Books


List of books in the Bible


List of Agatha Christie books


List of the worlds largest circulating newspapers



MEDIA

100 Scariest Movie Scenes


Highest grossing movies of all time


The 20 Best Zombie Films


List of Logie Hall of Fame


List of Best Picture Oscar Winners


List of annoying Movie characters


List of Celebrity’s children’s names


SPORT

List of host cities for the Summer Olympic Games


List of host cities for the Winter Olympic Games


List of Brownlow Medal Winners


List of Melbourne Cup Winners



List of most Olympics medals won by an individual



List of Sports cheaters

Lyrics & their meanings Part 10 - Helter Skelter

This continuing story of song lyrics and there meaning in some of the worlds best loved songs.
Are they really as important as you make them out to be?

PART 10
Helter Skelter (1968) – The Beatles
Rollicking’ number that most people on first listen must of thought it was a John Lennon composition. But Paul McCartney took
a break from writing “about boring people doing boring things” as Lennon liked to call them, to write a gritty piece of music full of menace and kicked harder than anything The Who could do. But the words were exactly as Lennon had described earlier. They are about going down a large slide at a Carnival.
Makes you think Charles Manson picked the wrong song to base his racial cleansing and murder sprees.

© 2004 Shidot Prod.

Whatever happened to the Skinheads?

Historical accuracy warning
Disclaimer note:
Not everybody remembers things the same and I was a bit young when Skinheads first ruled, so please forgive any glaring omissions.


Whatever happened to the Skinheads?

When I was growing up in Melbourne in the 1970s three things seem to have become intrinsically linked to my memory of the period.
1.The summers were always hotter.
2. There were heaps more kids and
3. Everyone over 12 with a few exceptions was a Skin(head) or a Sharpie.
It is now a historical fact that this was a cultural trend complete with fashion, attitude and even dancing that was unique to Australia.
The short back and sides with the rat tails down the back, the conte cardigans with the little buttoned flap on the middle back area, the chiselled toed shoes with the Cuban heel the tight Levi’s or Lee jeans and the flared Staggers or pinstriped trousers with or without platform shoes for going out.





The whole sharpie thing was very close to the English Mods it was about being “Sharp”
As a group the Sharpies (as I recall) the guys as well as the girls always looked good.
When I was young my brother-in-law a good ten years older than me said that growing up in the early 60’s he was a member of the Jordy Boys, named after our suburb Jordanville, and also the local all boys Technical school. They wore their hair short and wore Cuban heels and naff cardigans with slacks and jeans. These guys moved on and then the long hairs eventually took over then about 1972 the local teenagers were getting their haircut and wearing platform shoes, a fad had started and it was called a skin head, it was said to be heavily influenced by the movie “ Clockwork Orange” the film adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ book, starring Malcolm McDowell. The braces and boots didn’t catch on in
Melbourne, originally the haircut was the fashion, usually the youth of the day wore runners, jeans and miller shirts. As the movement evolved gangs started to assemble. In my area it was the Holmesglen Skins and they began to dress in the now traditional dress as mentioned earlier. With the gangs came the gang mentality and the peer group pressure that manifested into a violent attitude and the territorial protection of their turf. It spawned infamous gangs such as the Melbourne Skins, A&A Sharps and the Northside Sharps.
The movement peaked in the mid 70’s with huge summer concerts and bands like The Coloured Balls and Buster Brown capitalising on the fashion. As the next generation moved up, many in awe of their bigger brothers or sisters the Skin had now become the Sharpie and movement was fading. Music styles were changing, many didn’t want to be part of such a violent culture and many were just growing up and moving on. The last wave of Sharpies (now Sharps) were in the late 70’s the local gang were once again called the Jordy Boys again and consisted mainly of school kids trading on others reputation, with the odd older member from an earlier incarnation who just couldn’t let go as a leader or figure head, by the early 80, most sharps were mistaken for Punks.
But for something that had an impact on so many young people of the time it is very hard to find any photos, reference or historical data referencing it.
It’s like those involved don’t want to remember it.
I have my own theory about this, maybe due to violent tag that Sharpies eventually were lumbered with or the direct connection of their haircuts and dress (mullet and tight jeans) with that inner city swear word: BOGAN.
There are some small snippets like the Greg Macainsh of Skyhooks fame mini Documentary of 1974 Sharpies. There is also the photograph collection held at the Victoria Library of Larry Jenkins of his time with the South Blackie (Blackburn) Sharps.
History hasn’t been kind, with Skinheads these days portrayed as the English equivalent (Romper Stomper), a more solitary, excessively violent and political character, something the Melbourne movement wasn’t, or as simple minded skinny ruffians with rat tails down to their backside who had bad teeth and looked like they didn’t wash.(Dogs In Space)
Eventually some true history of Skinheads will emerge and maybe a decent period movie will be made, though I doubt it.

POSTSCRIPT.
Since this article was posted I've been contacted by Chris O'Halloran of the Skins and Sharps website. A brilliant historical site documenting many an ex sharpie story with lots of great old photos.


This article originally appeared in the Boronia and Basin Community Newspaper June 2010

Lyrics & their meaning Part 9- A Horse with no name

This continuing story of song lyrics and their meaning in some of the worlds best loved songs.

PART 9
A Horse With No Name- America (1972)
This is one song that the writer admitted at the time of release that it was about nothing, but changed it to a different kind of nothing years later.
The band AMERICA is full of contradictions. The bands founding members; Lee “Dewey” Bunnell, Gerry Beckley and Dan Peek were all sons of U.S Air Force personnel, who by the time they met in England were seasoned world travellers.
Here was a band formed in England by American citizens who were ineligible for the draft during the Vietnam war even though the U.S military were paying their parents wages.
They were no doubt a talented crew, being picked up by Warners Record Label while still teenagers. And in 1971 recorded their first album, the self titled AMERICA.
The band were not named after their country of origin but of an old Americana juke box in a coffee shop the frequented.
The album was critically hailed but didn’t shift many units, their live performances keeping the public interested. This lack of record sales didn’t deter Warners though and the label continued to push the band getting support gigs with such diverse acts as Elton John, Pink Floyd and The Who. They were the first band featured on the classic television show case “ The Old Grey Whistle Test”.
Five months after the release of the album, in a display of faith not usually attributed to record companies, the band was sent back to the studio to record extra songs to find a single to spark interest in the album.
One of these songs was a track originally titled “ the Desert Song” . It was changed to “ A Horse With No Name” after the band was asked to change it because it was the same title as an old musical.
The song was included as an extra track on the re-released album and as the next single to an unsuspecting world and what would be a reward for the faith shown by the label.
“ A Horse with no name” went onto become one of the biggest songs of 1972, and with it the album sales followed. It reached No.1 in the U.K and U.S in both single and album charts.
The song was unfavourably compared to something in the Neil Young vein, whose song Heart of Gold incidentally was knocked from the top spot on the US charts by the song.
When challenged about the songs meaning Bunnell the songs writer admitted it was about nothing the classic words , tune , melody mix was just what people were attracted to.
© 2005 Shidot Prod.

Lyrics & their meaning Part 8 - Smells like teen spirit

Part 8 of a 19 part series If your lucky!

PART 8
Smells Like Teen Spirit (1990) Nirvana
Nirvana’s impact on the youth of the early nineties is comparable to the Beatles of the mid sixties. Its just that kids in the 90’s didn’t express their emotions as extremely as their Mum’s & Dads (or should that be their Grandparents).
As analogies goes these two bands lend a strong argument that song lyrics contribute nothing in the grand scheme of things. In the end it boils down to the music wether it be energy or attitude and how the singers express themselves.
Do you really believe ‘She loves you yeah, yeah, yeah’ was responsible for the way the sixties were shaped. Just as “ A mulatto, an albino, a mosquito, my libido, yah” was instrumental in getting Generation X’s to dress up in baggy clothes and get all moody and mumble a lot.
Smells Like Teen Spirit propelled Nirvana to mega-star status in 1991 when it was the first single released from the Nevermind album. It was released at a pivotal moment that seemed right for the youth of the time and joined the ‘Circle of Life’.
The periodical renewal that seems to breathe new life into popular music that bought us Rock ‘N’ Roll itself, as well as the British invasion, Punk as well as Disco, Heavy Rock and the New Romantics.
Songwriter Kurt Cobain never wanted to change the world and definitely didn’t want to be a spokesperson for his generation.
But much to his dismay that did become the case and the pressure of this attention drove him to suicide. And in a strange twist to these events, the fans rather than start wondering if he was really dead started pointing the finger on who really did it.
Smells like Teen Spirit (named after a deodorant marketed at a youth audience) despite its anthemic title means nothing, Cobain’ s lyrics were typically random and using his unique voice he would make throwaway lines come alive by growling one minute and whispering the next. Late in 1992 Cobain has been put on record as saying:
‘At the time I wrote those songs, I really didn’t know what I was trying to say.
There’s no point in my even trying to analyse or explain it’
Jonathan Poneman Co-Owner of Sub-Pop the bands old record label added:
‘Nirvana are incredibly misinterpreted. Nobody is listening to what the band has to say. The songs subject matter and lyrics are meaningless. What’s meaningful is that they’re connecting with people, and saying, you make the decision what are we going to do now?’
Probably the most heartening thing to take from all this is the fact that the fans have all seemed to take heed of this advice and unlike their 60’s & 70’s counterparts don’t look for things that don’t exist.
In a case of actions speak louder than words, the ‘Seattle Sound’ or ‘Grunge’ as the music that Nirvana spearheaded was known, influenced much of the nineties.
In fashions; the dressing down from the ‘Greed is Good’ eighties. In music the re-emergence of guitar based rock. But it also had its down side with spectre of heroin making a big comeback. Coburn himself a victim of that scourge.
Coburn said his lyrics were meaningless, it’s sad he followed a life style which followed the same philosophy.

War of the Worlds EComic

This is a fantastic piece of work based on the original novel by H.G Wells and well worth the time to take a peek.