Posts Tagged ‘songs’
Thanks America
It’s that time of year again, Chickens.
You just survived the most gluttonous of American Holidays: Thanksgiving.
Oh wait, that’s not the most gluttonous . . . there’s another one coming up.
Yes, that would be Christmas.
For some of us, it’s about the baby Jesus. For a lot of us it’s about being with family. And for Atheists and Agnostics everywhere it’s about . . . well, time off work or school?
Many Americans go into debt at this time of year. We need money to fuel our ‘roid-rage holiday. And, while I have not personally gotten into any Wal-Mart Fist-fights (ever), I have worn the letters off my debit card more than once.
But what do you expect from America?
We are the teenagers of the world. Though we aren’t fighting hundred-year wars, we have a lot of teenage qualities:
We have no concept of our own mortality as a nation.
We have no connection with history (it doesn’t apply! Our parents don’t know anything!)
We throw temper tantrums (The original Boston Tea Party)
A lot of times, the joke is on us, and we don’t even know it.
Give 5 – Or “Why the Aliens are Going to Eat Us”
I’m writing this to make a plea to Americans everywhere. Give just five minutes of your time. Not for the homeless or the hungry, not for the children or for any charity. For all of us.
We all know those things our parents and teachers told us: Do it right the first time. Go the extra mile. But a lot of us don’t. And the issue is this – that extra mile, that ‘getting it right’ is often only about five extra minutes of time.
Think about the words to Kanye West’s “Stronger”. This song was immensely popular and spawned several covers. Though Kanye is often great with the words, he owes us that extra five. Did he really think it was okay to leave us with rhymes like “since OJ wore isotoners” and “Klondike”? They appear to be the only rhyming words within his reach at the time. But an extra five minutes could have resulted in so much more. Clearly he’s capable, but no, we get left with what could have been a truly great song had he put in the extra five.
While we’re on the topic of music, think about what it would have meant if Alanis Morrisette had taken an extra five minutes and made friends with a dictionary. It wouldn’t even have to be a big one. Even a small, elementary, pocket dictionary would have contained all she needed to know that not one thing in that stupid song was actually ‘Ironic’. “Isn’t it ironic?” No, Alanis, it wasn’t.
