The Dancing Thumb (aka: music recommendations)

[tegan]

My favourite thing about "Word Crimes" is that it's consistent with Weird Al's previously-established views on grammar.

 

[ariskany_evan]

(also, The Stooges' Raw Power, but that is for a different post)

 

First things first, Funhouse is better than Raw Power.  Now I guess you have to write your post.  

 

 

Is anyone a fan of The Grateful Dead here? 

 

I would say I'm a lapsed fan.  Was VERY into them and Phish, etc about 15 years ago.  My dad is a devoted Deadhead.  Saw his first show in '71 and saw them over 100 times.  He STILL cries about Jerry Garcia's passing.  It was a huge deal for his middle-schooler son to be interested in his passion.  I never got to see the Dead, but he took me to about 30 Phish shows between '96-'03.

 

I grew disillusioned with the druggyness of the scene (not that I was a teetotaler) and my musical tastes were shifting to "cooler" things, so I moved on.  Still have a soft spot for early-to-mid '70s Dead lineup (no Mickey, no Donna, just Keith).  Dick's Picks 14 captures it really nicely (it's on Spotify!).  When they still had a really beautiful balance between americana, acid band, and creative jamming.

[James]

I very much enjoyed the turn that one took in its second half. It took me a moment to work out where he was going with it.

[tegan]

I like the inexplicable Patton Oswalt cameo.

[TheLastBaron]

My middle school science teacher was really into the Dead, he was in the 100+ camp I believe. His name was Mr. Hippie as in his degree he had on the wall was made out to Paul Hippie. I recently watched a documentary on Netflix about the history and development of the glass pipe scene and basically every person they talked to originally started out by following Dead tours and selling pipes there.

One thing about this Weird Al album, I've never actually heard any of the songs being parodied besides Blurred Lines and things in the polka. That doesn't mean it isn't enjoyable, but it feels weird.

[Twig]

Haha that's the exact same experience I'm having, Baron. Blurred Lines and some things in the polka medley. Still funny, though. The last track is especially great. Jackson Park Express.

[Brannigan]

Blurred Lines and Royals for me, hadn't heard much else

[osmosisch]

I'm running my electro-swing broadcast over on Grooveshark for anyone interested:

http://grooveshark.com/#!/osmosisch/broadcast

[N1njaSquirrel]

I Still have a soft spot for early-to-mid '70s Dead lineup (no Mickey, no Donna, just Keith).  Dick's Picks 14 captures it really nicely (it's on Spotify!).  When they still had a really beautiful balance between americana, acid band, and creative jamming.

 

Dick's picks 14 is ace. Listening to it now I really like 'The Music Never Stopped'. Conversely, I'm not such a great fan of 'Drums' and 'Dark Star' esq stuff. It's certainly the most commonly skipped song when I play the only live set I own. (Veneta, OR 8/27/72 (also on spotify)) I feel that it's probably better appreciated if you were actually there? I do appreciate it musically, just not always my cup of tea. 

 

Yeah, Donna's kinda annoying in later shows. She kinda feels like she's forced her way into the line up (she's married to Keith right?) 

 

I'm liking everyone's stories though. I have yet to meet a fan of the Grateful Dead in England yet, so I never hear of these stories. It's cool how more than one person knows of someone who have gone to 100+ shows. England doesn't have these kinda of rock fables, just mods and rockers. There are memorable gigs, but there wasn't a whole movement and community around bands like the Dead ever got. That people reminisce and romanticise this era and the shows is really cool for me. 

 

 

I'm running my electro-swing broadcast over on Grooveshark for anyone interested:

http://grooveshark.com/#!/osmosisch/broadcast

 

I listened!

 

I was going to suggest Caravan Palace or Swingrower's, but I didn't want to create an account with grooveshark to do so. :S

[osmosisch]

Thanks

I've got a bunch of Caravan Palace in the playlist, it's over here:

http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/Swing+Dance/61215591

Additions welcome!

[Stuart]

[Dinosaursssssss]

I only discovered this yesterday, so I apologize if it's actually widely known...

 

Here is a 15 minute funk/disco medley of tunes from Star Wars. Highlights for me are Princess Leia's theme played on what sounds like a theremin, and an extended xylophone solo in the Cantina Band song.

 

[Erkki]

Mouth Silence (Mouth Sounds 2) is out http://www.neilcic.com/mouthsilence/

[RubixsQube]

Mouth Sounds and Mouth Silence are a perfect expression of Humor on The Internet. They're both delightfully weird referential nonsense smoothies. You just feel gross listening to it, but you can't stop. Eventually, the entire internet will be pulled into a Niel Cicierega mashup album, and then the world around it, and eventually time and space will fold over on itself, turning and turning in the widening gyre

 

the pokemon cannot hear the pokemon trainer

 

things fall apart; the center cannot hold; 

 

Somebody once told me, the world was gonna roll me

[Dinosaursssssss]

Mouth Silence (Mouth Sounds 2) is out http://www.neilcic.com/mouthsilence/

 

It's been a while since I listened to the first one, but Mouth Silence strikes me as kinda bizarre in comparison. There's a lot of fun dance-y referential stuff there too, it, but I thought the Loveshack mixes and a few other spots were sorta unsettling. I don't think it's bad, just a different vibe. All that said, Mouth Silence is still great, and in particular I love Crocodile Chop (which

).

[Stuart]

[Bjorn]

Okay, so I apologize if this is a derail, or puts a damper on people's enjoyment of Weird Al's new album, but I kinda hate Word Crimes.  I'm a grammar Nazi, no question.  My education is in journalism, and I made my living for awhile off writing and editing, it's hard not to be that way after years of dedication to the written word.  But I've lost all taste for humor that depends on mastery of the English language.  Between 5 and 17 percent of the population has some degree of dyslexia.  It's really hard to know how many people are, because a lot of people are never tested.  They learn to compensate on their own, struggle through school, cheat, skate by or drop out. 

 

Fuck, the more I think about this the angrier I am at Weird Al.  Look at the fucking words he uses:

 

Moron
Dumb Mouth Breather
You write like a spastic
Get out of the gene pool.
Try your best to not drool.

 

These are the kinds of words that silence people. The words that keep them from being engaged in class.  That keep them off forums.  That keep them from posting on Facebook.  Interesting, intelligent people with something of value to say choose to stay quiet every single day because of a history of hearing words like that.

 

My wife, my daughter and (more than likely) my father-in-law are all dyslexic.  Going through junior high with a dyslexic kid is fucking heart breaking.  The level of frustration, anger and humiliation she could feel just because she didn't learn like other kids.  My wife doesn't like making text posts to social media because she's still self-conscious about her spelling and grammar, because every once in awhile some clever asshole just has to correct a misspelled word, or grammar, or something. 

 

Those are the kinds of things that were said to people I love, the kinds of things said to millions of people because they were born slightly different, because the written word and sound doesn't match up the same to them.  It's like making fun of the kid with leg braces because he's not as fast as captain of the track team.  Real fucking clever.  Go ahead and make fun of the black kid for having big lips next.  Maybe work in a Jewish nose joke while you're at it.  I mean, those should be fair game as well, right?  They were just born that way.

 

And that's not even getting into the territory of the problems with our education system, underfunded and understaffed schools, the problems that inner city schools have, etc.  Everything about grammar elitism is rooted in being shitty to other people without bothering to consider why that person is the way they are. 

[Twig]

I think the song is great and I don't think it's fair to be angry at Weird Al for making a song mocking the degradation of language. He's not making fun of dyslexics. He's making fun of people who type "u r 2 kewl" legitimately.

 

Though when I first heard the spastic line I knew that'd be a problem for some people, since that's apparently an offensive word in England, but in America it's not even remotely.

[Stuart]

There's also a whole discussion of him appropriating and repackaging songs by people of color musicians for the purpose of satire and parody, but I don't want to get into that right now and in this thread.

 

Here's fancy schmancy Arvo Part. One of my favs!

 

[Bjorn]

I think the song is great and I don't think it's fair to be angry at Weird Al for making a song mocking the degradation of language. He's not making fun of dyslexics. He's making fun of people who type "u r 2 kewl" legitimately.

 

He is, quite literally, making fun of dyslexics, people with other learning disabilities, people from impoverished backgrounds, etc.  Regardless of what his intent was.  Take a look at the lyrics, and tell me it's about making fun of the "u r 2 kewl" crowd:

 

[intro:]

Everybody shut up, WOO!

Everyone listen up!

Hey, hey, hey, uh

Hey, hey, hey

Hey, hey, hey

[Verse 1:]

If you can't write in the proper way

If you don't know how to conjugate

Maybe you flunked that class

And maybe now you find

That people mock you online

[bridge:]

Okay, now here's the deal

I'll try to educate ya

Gonna familiarize

You with the nomenclature

You'll learn the definitions

Of nouns and prepositions

Literacy's your mission

And that's why I think it's a

[Chorus:]

Good time

To learn some grammar

Now, did I stammer

Work on that grammar

You should know when

It's "less" or it's "fewer"

Like people who were

Never raised in a sewer

I hate these word crimes

Like I could care less

That means you do care

At least a little

Don't be a moron

You'd better slow down

And use the right pronoun

Show the world you're no clown

Everybody wise up!

[Verse 2:]

Say you got an "I","T"

Followed by apostrophe, "s"

Now what does that mean?

You would not use "it's" in this case

As a possessive

It's a contraction

What's a contraction?

Well, it's the shortening of a word, or a group of words

By the omission of a sound or letter

[bridge:]

Okay, now here's some notes

Syntax you're always mangling

No "x" in "espresso"

Your participle's danglin'

But I don't want your drama

If you really wanna

Leave out that Oxford comma

Just keep in mind

[Chorus:]

That "be", "see", "are", "you"

Are words, not letters

Get it together

Use your spellchecker

You should never

Write words using numbers

Unless you're seven

Or your name is Prince

I hate these word crimes

You really need a

Full time proofreader

You dumb mouth-breather

Well, you should hire

Some cunning linguist

To help you distinguish

What is proper English

[Verse 3:]

One thing I ask of you

Time to learn your homophones is past due

Learn to diagram a sentence too

Always say "to whom"

Don't ever say "to who"

And listen up when I tell you this

I hope you never use quotation marks for emphasis

You finished second grade

I hope you can tell

If you're doing good or doing well

About better figure out the difference

Irony is not coincidence

And I thought that you'd gotten it through your skull

What's figurative and what's literal

Oh but, just now, you said

You literally couldn't get out of bed

That really makes me want to literally

Smack a crowbar upside your stupid head

[Chorus:]

I read your e-mail

It's quite apparent

Your grammar's errant

You're incoherent

Saw your blog post

It's really fantastic

That was sarcastic (Oh, psych!)

'Cause you write like a spastic

I hate these Word Crimes

Your prose is dopey

Think you should only

Write in emoji

Oh, you're a lost cause

Go back to pre-school

Get out of the gene pool

Try your best to not drool

[Outro:]

Never mind I give up

Really now I give up

Hey, hey, hey

Hey, hey, hey

Go Away!

 

I know that there is danger in taking parody too seriously, but I don't see any parody here.  It's not parodying Blurred Lines, and Weird Al's history of having a bunch of grammar pet peeves goes back years and looks to be as much him as it is the character of Weird Al.  It's the series of insults that take this from being anything remotely funny to insulting and degrading.  Because that is literally what people with learning disabilities deal with throughout their lives. 

[Twig]

I don't see what you're seeing but also I regret making my post because at its root this fucking argument - is it okay to make jokes?! - is my least favorite argument to ever have. So I'm bailing out. Feel free to be angry with him. I think the song is hilarious.

[osmosisch]

At its root the thing is: if you feel the song is aimed at people who are not able to language good, it's offensive and denigrating. If you feel it's aimed at people who are not willing to typ wel, it's a justifiable put-down.

[Twig]

Nah that's the surface argument! I like arguing about what arguments are though!

[TheLastBaron]

I agree that the song is in no way a parody of Blurred Lines.

[Erkki]

It's been a while since I listened to the first one, but Mouth Silence strikes me as kinda bizarre in comparison. There's a lot of fun dance-y referential stuff there too, it, but I thought the Loveshack mixes and a few other spots were sorta unsettling. I don't think it's bad, just a different vibe. All that said, Mouth Silence is still great, and in particular I love Crocodile Chop (which

).

Yeah, Crocodile Chop is my fave. I wouldn't actually listen to most of Mouth Silence in sincerity, but I also liked the Want You Back/Pokemon thing.

 

Here's fancy schmancy Arvo Part. One of my favs!

 

Hehe, seeing Arvo Pärt's name spelled without the umlaut is funny (but understandable of course) because it translates to something like "Arvo the Duck" or Arvo's duck.