It's so hard to find songs that actually appeal in some significant philosophical way to me. I'm not above willingly hearing what I want to as far as entertaining music goes in order to make ends meet in a culture that bombards us with trite nonsense. Just wish what I misheard on the radio had been the actual lyrics.
The chorus to Kevin Rudolf's "Let it Rock" goes:
Because when I arrive
I, I bring the fire
Make you come alive
I can take you higher
What is this, forgot?
I must now remind you
Let It Rock
Let It Rock
Let It Rock
Instead of what is highlighted, my cognitive biases interpolated,
"What they says, for God..." Meaning, the way people used to conceive of what makes life worth living in a passionate way for God needs to be replaced with a passion for life in a humanistic sense.
And the song had introduced God earlier in the song:
So you pray to God
To justify the way you live a lie, live a lie, live a lie
So it wasn't an implausible interpretation, but it was wrong. Oh well. There's a whole bunch of other stuff going on in
the song I'm not even going to try to understand, so it's not a significant loss. But it does remind me how few songs seem to be available in my philosophical genre.
Ben
Update: Saint Gasoline has a
very interesting post interpreting the entire song as a fully humanistic anthem.
Comments (15)
Try Had a Dad by Alice in Chains.
But it does remind me how few songs seem to be available in my philosophical genre.
Not sure what you mean. You mean songs about atheism/humanism/skepticism?
If so, check out the following bands: Spiral Architect, Atheist, Tori Amos (her very early stuff), Morbid Angel, Slayer, Immolation. Those last 3 have Satanic overtones in their lyrics, but they also emphasize questioning authority, especially religious authority. Also, the band Live, in their first album there's a song called "Operation Spirit" which clearly rejects Jesus, the concept of spirt and soul, etc
If that's not what you meant, then my bad.
@AibellFaeire - Can't find it. Is it the one by Jane's Addiction?
@Unstoppable_Inner_Strength - Really I'm looking for something that has a good portion of pro-active humanistic philosophy that you can tell is intelligent and inspirational. I don't mind a bit of reactionary kind of themes, but I don't want it to dwarf the fundamental virtues of the songs. I'd rather the emphasis be on "we can do better than x, y, and z" rather than whining about things.
I will check out your suggestions though.
Ben
@WAR_ON_ERROR - Hey, I tried.
@Unstoppable_Inner_Strength - hehe, it's alright. I'm picky.
Yeah, I have a similar problem when I think a song is/isn't about sex, and it turns out to be the opposite. How on earth am I supposed to build my collection of songs to shag to in these unfriendly conditions?
@Andrea_TheNerd - Yeah, it really makes me doubt that collective consciousness thing.
@WAR_ON_ERROR - It makes me doubt the musical training of the vocalist. :P
@WAR_ON_ERROR - Yes. I'm just super drunk. I even looked it up on my iTunes before typing it, and I guess it just didn't transfer over to my brain.
I KNEW IT WAS A GIRLS NAME BAND
You should take a course in literary criticism, my friend. Then you'd learn how to use fake French philosophy to interpret texts (or song lyrics) to mean whatever the hell you want them to mean! After taking that course, I delighted in interpreting every novel I read in my literature courses as humanistic or atheistic in some way. I even once went so far as to argue that Uncle Tom's Cabin and a slave narrative were pro-slavery. But reinterpreting song lyrics is a special passion of mine. (I once argued that NIN's "Closer" is an ode to Christianity and religious mores. Yes, it can be done.)
After reading all of the lyrics, though, I must insist that this is indeed a ghetto atheist anthem! I'll probably post my interpretation of it in my own blog. But I'd never really listened to this song and now I think I kind of like it!
@AibellFaeire - Be sure and hit the sync button in your brain next time. Not just for your ipod. :p
@Saint Gasoline - Ghetto atheism anthem. I like it. Can't wait to see your post on it.
Check out Live your life by T.I.
"Your values is a darrayed, prioritizing horribly.Unhappy with the riches cause you piss-poor morally.Ignoring all prior advice and fore warning.And we might full of ourselves all of a sudden aren't we?"
@orcofdoom - Not bad. Good suggestion.
Ben