Charlie Dean’s Blog

Have you ever had that experience where you really like a song, or a movie or something, then you find out what it’s about and suddenly you like the song SOOO much more?  (And, generally, the people around you are like, “duh.”  And then you feel stupid, but still no less excited.)

I was a late-comer to the Jimmy Eat World party.  I knew that Dave liked them a lot, so I bought Chase This Light when it came out a couple years ago on a lark, and I was hooked!  Eventually, I went back and bought all their albums.  One of my favorite songs, just in terms of the sound of the song, is “A Praise Chorus,” off the Bleed American album.

And then, I recently came across some discussion of the song and about how the song is a love song about falling in love with rock n’ roll.  I now I think it might just be one of my favorite songs ever.  The first part of the song is about kind of being a wallflower… then finding a song to fall in love with.  The end of the song is a whole compilation of lines, lyrics and references to other songs.  I particularly love the reference to Motley Crue (“kick start my rock n’ roll heart”)!

Favorite line: “I want to always feel like part of this was mine.”  That line captures for me what listening to music is always about for me… finding something in the music and feeling like part of the lyric is my story, my poetry, my song.

Another favorite line:  “Crimson and Clover, over and over.”  “Crimson and Clover” was a hit in the 60’s by Tommy James and the Shondells.  I love this lyric because it’s all about how you find a song you love and you can just play it over and over.

Here are the lyrics from songmeaning.com, along with some commentary.

Here is a youtube link with the official video, if you just want to hear the song.

For a breakdown of the songs referenced or alluded to, here’s the wikipedia entry.

Last night, I was tired, spent, done.  So, after putting all the kids to bed at 7:30, Jennifer got on the phone to talk to her sister-in-law for a good long time, and I put on my pj’s and nestled under my favorite quilt on the downstairs couch and watched the Grammy’s.  As  a challenge to myself, I made the rule that I had to watch every performance in it’s entirety, and I only fast-forwarded through commercials and talking.  Here are a couple takes.

• Lady Gaga.  I just don’t get it.  I don’t know who is buying her albums/going to her shows, etc.
• Steve Colbert.  NOT FUNNY.  Mostly awkward.  Glad when he left the stage.
• Pink was interesting.  Pretty song, amazing that she could sing while doing the whole cirque-du-soliel thing
• Michael Jackson “tribute” was lacking…then awkward…then a little sad.
• Lady Antebellum confirmed all my bias against country music.  The Zach Brown Band re-confirmed my existing bias, although I liked the ending.
• I like Taylor Swift.  She seems like a nice girl.   Her lyrics are honest and a bit idealistic and naive, but it works for a 17-year old.  She doesn’t perform very well live, though, especially when she’s covering a song, singing with Stevi Nicks.
• Beyonce.  Great voice.  Good song.  HATED the cover of Alanis Morrisette.
• Jamie Foxx – T-Pain – Slash mashup.  November rain is a COOL guitar solo, but it was lost in a lot of voice modulating chaos.
• DMB was okay.  Dave is a strange cat.
• I really liked the Green Day number with the cast of “American Idiot.”  It was probably my favorite performance of the night.
• Bon Jovi – aka, my favorite band in Jr. High, was what you’d expect of Bon Jovi.
• I know he’s vile & vulgar, but I really like listening to Eminem rap – what little wasn’t censored.

Okay, I’ll stop talking about Conan.  After this post, that is.

As much as I’ve gotten caught up in the “I’m with Coco” campaign, there are some bigger things that I’ve been thinking about:

• I’ve always been very interested in demographic studies, particularly in the analysis of the characteristics of particular generations (e.g. Baby Boomer, Gen-X, Millennials, etc.).  It’s pretty clear that the support of Conan or Chin falls pretty much along generational lines.  But what’s interesting to me, and the only explanation that makes sense to me for what happened, is NBC’s choice to continue catering to Baby Boomers at the expense of next generation consumers.  And, I think there are probably some interesting discussions to be had about what it means for Baby Boomers to retire gracefully and let the next generation shape the world.  It’s amusing to me that the generation that is known for their rebellion in the 60’s against the “establishment” has become, in many ways, a more entrenched “establishment” than their parents were.  I was talking to a friend today, and we’re hoping, that when our time comes, we will be able, with grace & dignity, to turn over the reigns…
• Tom Hanks.  Cream Soda.  Priceless.  Fossil spraying Beluga Caviar on an original Picasso?  “Dear Internet…”
• You can watch Conan’s final statement here, along with the full text.  I loved this part:

To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I’ll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask of you is one thing: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism — it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere.

Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”

One of my greatest struggles is with cynicism – I can get so cynical about government, people, church, church leaders, friends… you name it.  In the middle of the laughter, I was challenged.  I hope, sometime in the future to devote a whole post to cynicism… we’ll see.