The blog formerly about a daily dose of mostly Minnesota sports rants and raves with a sprinkling of general sports commentary and a pinch of jaded-malaise regarding the world around us

February 2, 2012

Biggest Guilty Pleasure Song


I am willing to absolutely humiliate myself for this blog in an attempt to spark conversation. I am going to throw down my biggest guilty pleasure song. I hope you guys will follow with your own. I guess if someone threw Tubthumping or Right Said Fred out there, those would qualify. But I am really looking for that song that will make me spit out my drink when I read it. Something that is off the beaten path of fluff. I think my song is of that caliber. Are you ready? I might have built this up too much. Anyway, here goes:

Sundown by Gordon Lightfoot. I actually purchased this and have it on my iPod. This is completely out of my wheelhouse compared to what I normally listen to. Maybe all those car rides to Cleveland listening to Neil Diamond had a role in my liking of this poor man's version of the Jewish Elvis. The song is actually hilarious if you think about it. Whose ass is Gordon Lightfoot going to kick? I certainly would not stay away from his woman based on his threat of "I better take care." A good skit for Robot Chicken would be Lightfoot threatening Diamond after he just made sweet love to his woman.

Lightfoot: "Hey Diamond, I can see her lyin' back in her satin dress, in a room where ya do what you don't confess. Sundown you better take care if I find you been creepin' round my back stair."

Diamond: "And what the fuck are you going to do about it, you Canadian?"

Lightfoot: "She don't always say what she really means."

Diamond: "Oh she told me alright, told me all night long. Let's just say she was not Forever in Blue Jeans."

Lightfoot: Rolls up one sleeve. "Getting lost in her love was your first mistake."

Diamond: "It definitely did not feel like a mistake. I might write a song about her, Sweet Caroline."

Lightfoot: Rolls up the other sleeve. "She's a hard lovin' woman, got me feeling mean. Sometimes I think it is shame when I get feelin' better when I am feelin' no pain."

Diamoind: "Alright enough is enough Gordo. Back off or you will be feeling some serious pain. I will wreck you like the Edmund Fitzgerald."

Lightfoot takes a step forward and is immediately dropped with a straight right. He crumples to the ground. As he lies there, Diamond gives him a gratuitous shot over the head with an acoustic guitar.

6 Comments:

Blogger BG said...

Wow...good stuff RTS. This is a tough one for me, as I have SO many guilty pleasures. A quick brainstorm:

1. More than a feeling - Boston
2. This Love - Maroon 5
3. Since you've been gone - Kelly Clarkson
4. Teenage Dream - Katy Perry

OK...I need a cold shower. Can I offset it by saying I saw Wilco on Sunday night and I'm going to Jayhawks on Friday? Okay, good.

February 2, 2012 at 11:46 AM

 
Blogger Jan said...

Take on me - A Ha

I love this song, I love it so much. It makes me happy and remember 6th and 7th grade parties when I was still borderline socially relevant. I love the video, it may be a worn out phrase but we lived in the future with that video, if only for a moment.

Firework - Katy Perry

Only because BG threw out "Teenage Dream." This song pumps me up, i own it on iTunes and I turn it up like I'm a 17 year old girl living in California with a boyfriend and a red VW bug, and I have lots of flowers in my hair and my boyfriend wants to have - hey, wait, nevermind.

February 2, 2012 at 7:48 PM

 
Blogger MCA said...

That's funny - I've never thought of that song as anything other than a pretty decent song, not a guilty pleasure. When you shine the disinfectant spotlight on the lyrics, though, yeah, it's pretty wuss.

Also, BG, that Kelly Clarkson song? LOATHE. Fucking awful song. It's like a screeching chimpanzee.

Hilarious that two of you listed Katy Perry songs, and neither of them is the one of hers that I was going to put up ("Last Friday Night"). So, let's veer off on that one: can Katy Perry actually be elevated from empty teeny bopper to something an adult can listen to without feeling shame? On the one hand - she writes her own songs (or at least collaborates on them); she mostly focuses on self-esteem and happy vibes as opposed to telling kids to despair or that life is worthless; there's a uniformity in production on her songs that establishes something of a recognizable sound; she's not a fucking clown, ripping off Madonna with overproduced pretentious crap like her rival at the top of the pop charts. Not many pop divas can claim these things. On the other hand - her singing is competent but she's not exactly threatening Adele; there's a distinct lack of seriousness to the music; everything about her just feels geared toward commercial success and presentation; she seems like a bit of a narcissistic trainwreck, although clearly not in the class of Amy Winehouse. Somehow, for me at least, there's enough to the hooks in a few of her singles to overcome the fact that I know damned well it's a product put out for the primary purpose of charting and making money. When that happens once, it's a guilty pleasure. When it happens three or four times, it's a pop songcraft that perhaps deserves some begrudging respect.

Anyhoo, guilty pleasures that popped into my head. This is in no way a definitive list, or even the tops. Just what I thought of without scrolling my iPod:

- Christopher Cross, "Sailing"
- Midnight Oil - "Beds Are Burning"
- Hall and Oates - "You Make My Dreams." Actually, not a guilty pleasure; this is a great damned song, and I'll fight anyone who disagrees.
- Doobie Bros. - "Listen to The Music"

February 7, 2012 at 11:30 AM

 
Blogger Jan said...

I love that we are talking Katy Perry. I will now be downloading "Last Friday Night"

February 8, 2012 at 7:37 AM

 
Blogger MCA said...

Incomplete spectrum of some more popular female pop singers, from most loathsome, to guilty pleasure, to mostly guilty pleasure, to actual quality:

Lady Gaga
Britney Spears
(gap)
Carrie Underwood
Beyonce
Rihanna
(small gap)
Katy Perry
Kelly Clarkson - my negative comment on her big hit song notwithstandiing; she makes up for that by actually singing the national anthem the way it was written at the Super Bowl
(huge gap)
Amy Winehouse, R.I.P.
Adele
Janelle Monae

This is not inclusive of Kesha and others whose songs I've never heard or wouldn't recognize them. Also, obviously not inclusive of people not on the radio, like Sharon Van Etten, Kathleen Edwards, and Neko Case.

February 8, 2012 at 11:22 AM

 
Blogger RedTigerShark said...

MCA throws out these names and either I flat out do not know who they are or I know who they are but could not name their songs. The exception being the ones that get airplay on Radio Disney. I have to admit I am a fan of Katy Perry as well.

Everyone of you listed a song that
prompts my cat like reflexes to change the radio station (More Than a Feeling, Aha and Listen to the Music, I am just going to pass over the Hall and Oats song as there seems to be some rather strong feelings about it). I guess mission accomplished.

February 9, 2012 at 8:04 AM

 

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