Comments on: Ain’t No Senator’s Son

By: The Sparrows of Happiness

The Sparrows of Happiness — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 03:59:00 +0000

After my band recorded "Waiting for the Axe To Fall", a sword-metal epic about a revenant who returns from beyond death to avenge himself against his betrayers, I realized that I was incapable of singing the song in anything other than a ridiculous quasi-English accent. Does that make me a bad person?

Now for those of you with English degrees:

It is a long and well established practice of Poets Throughout the Ages to use words that ain't 'xactly purty BECAUSE THEY FIT THE FUCKING METER. Or because they sound good, or because they're funny, or because they put someone in mind of something else. It's really not worth thinking about. It is an artistic device about as worthy of discussion as, say, turning on an effects pedal or restringing your guitar.

On the other hand, I think I did gang aft agley the other day, and I walked up to one of my coworkers and said, "I dare you to frame my fearful symmetry". Oft, I think of such things whilst contemplating thine blog posts.

So to sum up, if Robert Fucking Burns is guilty of shit like this, I hardly think it's worth taking Mick Jagger to task over it.

And finally, for the record, "ain't" was a word INVENTED BY THE FUCKING BRITISH.

By: John Cramer

John Cramer — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:22:00 +0000

I’ll go ahead and take the horrible lyricist award, and you’re welcome.

By: Justin

Justin — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:55:00 +0000

Well, Charlie won’t win because his lyrics will all be honed. Maybe he could win for his everyday speech, though.

By: Head Stapler

Head Stapler — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:35:00 +0000

We should have a terrible lyricist award.

By: Justin

Justin — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:20:00 +0000

I think that’s a fantastic idea, Charlie.

By: Charlie Naked

Charlie Naked — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:07:00 +0000

I think from now on, I’m going to start peppering my speech with things like “ain’t” and “baby”. And then when I write songs, I’ll use proper English and consult handbooks on punctuation and grammar to hone everything perfectly. Just to be contrary, baby.

By: John Cramer

John Cramer — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 05:28:00 +0000

Not only does that fucking hobbit have a wife, he’s pushing forty.

As for Mick Jagger, his affectations are not only legend, they’re embarassing. That very element threatens to ruin their best albums: basically anything with Mick Taylor.

By: dd

dd — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 04:33:00 +0000

Carlos, I always remember having panic attacks about what bands like Gerogerogegege and other japanese noise bands were actually singing when I was music director at KTRU-FM. On the one hand, I had every reason to assume it was some pretty foul things at least some of the time; on the other hand, it was in Japanese, and I certainly didn’t know any better. I suppose the same is true for other languages, but the extreme Japanese stuff just stuck out to me as being the most obvious risk.

By: dd

dd — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 04:31:00 +0000

The Decemberists are not one of my favorite, say, 15,000 bands. But I think a lot of lyrical decisions like these are made on the basis of what fits the scansion, and “ain’t” fits a lot of things a lot better than “isn’t”.

Bowie chooses personas all the time. Nothing he sings would surprise me. (I just read the book on LOW which is especially informative in this regard as well as a couple dozen others.)

By: Charlie Naked

Charlie Naked — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 23:14:00 +0000

I’m with you on the Stones albums… I have a particular affinity for their stuff from about 1969 to 1972 or so…