Thursday, June 09, 2011

You Can Call Me Al

Both music and lyrics so fresh and lively, even today.



(What is funny is that the thing which really makes the video funny is their size difference. Which isn't really a funny thing when you think about it.)


Who'll be my role-model,
Now that my role-model is gone, gone,
He ducked back down the alley,
With some roly-poly, little bat-faced girl.

9 comments:

danaigh said...

Classic nobodys. Bridge over Troubled Waters, 50 Ways to leave your lover. Such tunes and rhymes that are clever and catchy.

But how sad they are, from a generation that is a blip on history's record, and that's all. Nothing worth saving or remembering.

I see them every day. Now in jeans, then with canes, never understanding anything at all. Forever children. Tall or Short, so what?

Miserere said...

Paul Simon is thought to be 5'3", while Chevy Chase is 6'4". I'm sure they chose him for the comedic effect, Eo. That, and him being funny :-)

Anna said...

I've heard this song when I was a kid, I really like it. Then I didn't speak English. Now I googled the lyric... and I still don't get what it's about!

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Ha, no. It's typical for song lyrics to be, uhm, opaque. Or maybe even confused.
For me it seems to catch the general feeling of a man caught in an emotional crisis, maybe mid-life crisis, where he's lost the things he used to count on and believe in.

What "Betty" and "Al" have to do with it is anybody's guess.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure if danaigh is just unfunny or astonishingly stupid. Maybe both?

Anna said...

Ok, that's an explanation. :)

English lyrics are usually so opaque... to me. But maybe they are also opaque to the native speakers! And that's weird. :)

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Bear in mind that they are usually written by artists who have sacrificed much of their potential intelligence on the alter of right-brain intuitive creativity.
And listened to by people who have sacrificed much of their actual intelligence on the altar of alcohol and Ecstasy.

Anonymous said...

Eolake isn't a native speaker, and no genius, so take that with a grain of salt. Right brain creativity...hahahahhaah

TC [Girl] said...

There are actually musicians who write very good lyrics; Don Henley comes to mind. Just a matter of deciding what you want to listen to: thought-provoking music or not.

'Gimme What You Got.' or others.

(too funny: captcha: "bible" That works, too! The Book of Psalms has a boatload of David's lyrics! :-)