Oh well, as long as it's something I've heard a gazillion times before.

Reading one of the alumni magazines I get -- which are always full of articles so watered-down to be as inoffensive as possible -- I come across a feature about the ethics of doing social science experiments on human subjects. Here's one test that cracked me up: "One proposal...involved playing tapes of critical statements made by their mothers to subjects suffering -- or recovering -- from depression." Uh-oh. But, hey, thankfully the researchers "try to calibrate the intensity of the critical remarks to ensure that subjects will not be exposed to anything too upsetting or out of the ordinary...[They] also made sure that mothers are criticizing things about their children that their children already know about. In other words, [they] try to ensure that this is not the first time the participant will have heard his or her mother complain about that particular aspect of his or her behavior." Yeah, that's not nagging at all.

Posted at 1:44 PM ||

 
My life, and its soundtrack (I):
"Must I paint you a picture?" Billy Bragg.

There is an ad that runs on one of the cable channels here (I've never seen it on the free-to-air channels; presumably the advertiser knows its rich demographic -- you know, the one that can afford the $20 per month). I have successfully repressed much of it, but it essentially consists of a black screen, over which is played the sounds of pathetic whimpering children as various title cards flash about how each day, in some countries, kids are starving, disease-ridden, and generally screwed. Then the final title card flashes: "Do you really want us to show you a picture?"

As befitting a man of contradictions, I am, at the conclusion of the ad, usually both screaming in fury at the TV, "YES! YES I DO NEED A PICTURE!!!" and laughing hysterically at the cheap tug at my non-existent heartstrings. I am sure that the scam of a charity just couldn't find any cheap stock footage of starving kids they could use.

So you can imagine how wary I was when approaching Billy Bragg's song, "Must I Paint You a Picture?" The wariness doesn’t simply come from the fact that, judging solely by that title, Bragg's song could very well have been played over the ad. This is, after all, a Billy Bragg song. Bragg, for those who have never heard of him, is a member of that dying breed: the political singer-songwriter, or as Gilmore Girls fans might prefer, a troubadour, heh (although, British Thatcher-hating working-class champion that he is, Bragg is unlikely to waste his time on anything as wishy-washy as starving children, thank god).

I actually have very fond memories of Bragg -- back in the 80s, even as I was buying Smash Hits to read about Culture Club and Thompson Twins, I had a soft spot for his music. Most of all, of course, he was the writer of "A New England," which Kirsty MacColl covered and made into one of my favorite songs of all time. I was also partial to "Between the Wars," and I do bless his heart for the slightly cheesy "Sexuality" ("I had an uncle who was gay," sings Billy – oh, don’t you all? It’s always the funny uncle).

It was thus appropriate that I started thinking about Bragg again thanks to M., with whom I pored over many issues of Smash Hits and who recently emailed from Hong Kong to ask if I had a copy of Bragg's new CD compilation Must I Paint You A Picture? The Essential Billy Bragg. I didn't, but her request got me to Bragg's website, where I downloaded the song in question. (For trainspotters: the song first appeared on Bragg's 1988 album Worker's Playtime, and presumably has been re-recorded for this new collection.) It also led me to, um, a few other songs -- that story is probably better left uncommitted to print -- so I've been listening to a number of Bragg tunes all day.

Anyway, the song is fantastic: a lovely ballad backed mostly by guitars and an organ. The lyric pulls a bit of a bait-and-switch: despite the political ring, it turns out to be a love song. More specifically, it might be about a break-up caused by an indiscretion ("you…claiming that virtue never tested is no virtue at all"). I like it because of the bait-and-switch: there's something about songs that sound political but turned out to be personal that get me (Pet Shop Boys' "Liberation" is probably my favorite example of this).

Indeed, the songs by Bragg that make me squirm aren't those that are simply political, but rather those whose politics are never personalized. Comparing "Between the Wars" and "The Price of Oil," for example, I much prefer the former, and not just because its tune is prettier. Because "Between the Wars" is told from the point of view of various working-class narrators, it's so much more compelling to me than the lecture-fest that is "The Price of Oil." That probably sums up what I find useful or even uplifting about pop music (which Bragg, whether he likes it or not, is part of): not that it can hector me into feeling something, but rather because it can, for a moment, create -- usually but not exclusively through a first person point of view -- that someone else's feeling for me, to inhabit or not as I will. In other words, Billy -- and advertiser for the children's charity -- show, don't tell.

By this reasoning, I should hate Phil Collins's "Another Day in Paradise," or Crystal Waters's "Gypsy Woman," and, yeah, they are ass.

Posted at 6:40 PM ||