Songs that make you feel uncomfortable

[steantval]

22 hours ago, thebrig said:

I could be wrong, but surely these lyrics are only asking, Would you choose to walk or stay? I really don't see the connection with amputees.

But, saying, I would rather go blind! is a statement that they would choose to go blind, which to my mind is a terrible thing to say.

This is a metaphor, they are often used in song writing.

Another couple of examples that are used in the English language.

I would give my right arm for that.

I would rather stick red hot pokers in my eyes.

 

[wateroftyne]

25 minutes ago, Barking Spiders said:

I actually finding myself cringing a lot more at lyrics that try to be philosophical or deep in some way but come across as pretentious (to me anyway). For me Rush are one of the worst offenders. Planet Rock played Limelight ten mins ago.  Check out

Living on a lighted stage approaches the unreal
For those who think and feel
In touch with some reality beyond the gilded cage

Cast in this unlikely role, ill-equipped to act
With insufficient tact
One must put up barriers to keep oneself intact

Living in the limelight, the universal dream
For those who wish to see
Those who wish to be
Must put aside the alienation
Get on with the fascination
The real relation, the underlying theme

Living in a fish eye lens, caught in the camera eye
I have no heart to lie
I can't pretend a stranger is a long-awaited friend

All the world's indeed a stage and we are merely players
Performers and portrayers
Each anothers audience outside the gilded cage...(blah blah)

 

The Shakespeare allusion is particularly toe-curling. On the subject of Shakespeare, there's much for the more sensitive among us to get upset over. There's murder, rape, mutilation, incest, cannibalism, misogyny, racism and wife abuse. Titus Andronicus is particularly hardcore. Are theatre directors/producers going to edit out the more 'distasteful' stuff to cater for modern times?

As much as I adore ‘em, Neil’s lyrics missed more than hit IMO.

Having said that, as clunky as Limelight is, he was being brutally honest.

[Greg Edwards69]

I mentioned something like this, regarding songs like 'Brown Sugar' last year on the Essex Cover Bands' facebook community, at the height of the George Floyd debate. I got swiftly reamed out for being overtly woke and too sensitive. Facebook can really be a cesspit of human kind sometimes. (FWIW, I haven't played that song for years as it's incredibly cheesy, and just gets the dad's up on the dancefloor embarrassing themselves.)

I don't think of myself as being 'woke' or a snowflake, but I am conscious of the current affairs climate we live it today as many of us are.

But the best comment I received was that I shouldn't be playing Brown Sugar anyway. Not because it's racist, but because its a crap song.

[ubit]

2 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

But the best comment I received was that I shouldn't be playing Brown Sugar anyway. Not because it's racist, but because its a crap song.

Do you honestly believe that Mick Jagger wrote that as a racist song? I see it as the opposite. He is telling a story of another time, not glamourising it. Just the same as movies showing slaves being brutalised. Do we see those film  makers as being racist? It's art describing events that happened before, when things were different.

[SumOne]

I find it interesting that music often gets more criticism for being offensive or inciting bad things than other forms of art while actually being much tamer. Films, porn, books, computer games are all more explicit in their content. I guess it says something about the power of music.

[peteb]

9 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

Is it racist? i think probably unintentionally but it is.

 

19 minutes ago, ubit said:

Do you honestly believe that Mick Jagger wrote that as a racist song? I see it as the opposite. He is telling a story of another time, not glamourising it. Just the same as movies showing slaves being brutalised. Do we see those film  makers as being racist? It's art describing events that happened before, when things were different.

I don't believe that there is anything unintentional about the lyrics to Brown Sugar, Jagger was trying to push people's buttons. It's ironic that he was trying to trigger repressed, uptight, racist right wing Americans and ended up triggering repressed, uptight liberals...! 

[Greg Edwards69]

26 minutes ago, ubit said:

Do you honestly believe that Mick Jagger wrote that as a racist song? I see it as the opposite. He is telling a story of another time, not glamourising it. Just the same as movies showing slaves being brutalised. Do we see those film  makers as being racist? It's art describing events that happened before, when things were different.

No I don't believe he intended it to be racist.  Just to merely be offensive in a juvenile way.  This article sums it up well for me, particularly this paragraph.

"It’s obvious what the problem is, the song is a disgraceful act of gratuitous juvenilia, relishing on the ability to offend rather than a considered analysis of the subject at hand. The issue is indicative of the defence that the band have chosen to use over the years: “I never would write that song now,” Jagger said in an interview with Rolling Stone in 1995. “I would probably censor myself. I’d think, ‘Oh God, I can’t. I’ve got to stop. I can’t just write raw like that.’” In Keith Richards’ Life, Jim Dickerson says ‘Brown Sugar’ was written in forty-five minutes, “It was disgusting,” is the conclusion. "

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/rolling-stones-brown-sugar-racism-jagger-richards/

[Andy_L]

2 hours ago, ubit said:

Maybe that's the real reason he said he didn't want to do it!

Let's just say that our singer is the best singer in the band

[Woodinblack]

56 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

But the best comment I received was that I shouldn't be playing Brown Sugar anyway. Not because it's racist, but because its a crap song.

That was also one of her main concerns about the song!

[SteveK]

2 hours ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

Jagger said in an interview with Rolling Stone in 1995. “I would probably censor myself. I’d think, ‘Oh God, I can’t. I’ve got to stop. I can’t just write raw like that.’

That is the beauty of the young. Jagger was in his 20s when he wrote Brown Sugar. He was still subconsciously thumbing his nose, not really giving a toss, the way that the creative young do!

Now he's 100, like most artists as they get older and become part of the establishment, he doesn't have that same creative blood running through his veins.

I don't suppose Pete Townshend would write My Generation today, or John Lydon write Anarchy in the UK (OK, I may be wrong on that one🤔).

Brown Sugar is a story, as is Delilah. I actually think the lyrics of both are rather exceptional and thought provoking. Isn't that what we want in our art?

[Woodinblack]

26 minutes ago, SteveK said:

I don't suppose Pete Townshend would write My Generation today,

Of course he could - that is all he ever goes on about.

[Graham]

I've really enjoyed reading this thread.

I have no issue with challenging subjects being discussed in music; it would be hard for me to be an extreme metal fan if I did.

In my mind though, there is a distinct difference to listening to and performing these songs.

My issue with Delilah is that it is told from the killer's perspective and is sympathetic to them, not the victim. It seems to be the very epitome of "men are scared women will laugh at them, women are scared men will kill them"

With Brown Sugar, it was interesting reading the history of the song and the context in which it was written, but I find the language it uses to describe black people exoticises and I would argue dehumanises them. Of course, your perspective may differ, my perspective being of a white man I am probably not the best authority on the subject; all I know is that it makes me uneasy.

I have found the whole thread extremely interesting though and was very happy to see others perspectives.

[paul_5]

This one.

https://youtu.be/-KAWylrnlvA

[neepheid]

4 minutes ago, paul_5 said:

This one.

https://youtu.be/-KAWylrnlvA

You're going to have to try harder than that to rickroll me

[Barking Spiders]

1 hour ago, paul_5 said:

This one.

https://youtu.be/-KAWylrnlvA

I wanted to barf out my entire innards when I heard the words. Shame on the adults who've brainwashed these kids. Next stop, a new British spin on the Horst Wessel song

[mikel]

On 23/06/2021 at 22:15, 40hz said:

Turning Japanese by the Vapors. Always makes me cringe a bit.

Oh please. You won't go blind you know. As Billy Connoly said " ill stop when I need glasses".

[LeftyP]

On 23/06/2021 at 20:48, Andy_L said:

I certainly get where you're coming from, but it does rely on the audience to give it some thought. We have a former drummer who is now on the sex offenders' register, and the singer is a teacher, so he's very conscious of these things. 

Even then, the protagonist does seem to be tempted:

Get out of here
Before I have the time
To change my mind
'Cause I'm afraid we'll go too far

He's not ruling it out 100% perhaps 

Being tempted is one thing.  Giving in is another!