The Hottest Hit On The Planet:
“All I Wanna Do” by Sheryl Crow
“This ain’t no disco,” Sheryl tells us, quoting Talking Heads, for some reason impossible to discern.
“It ain’t no country club either… this is L.A.!”
The way Sheryl pronounces ‘L.A.’ kind of makes you anticipate something exciting is about to happen. Perhaps something fun? Or, if not fun, perhaps some sort of film noir movie script about how, beneath all of the Hollywood glamour, L.A. has an underbelly of sleaze. Sadly, that is not what we get. Sadly, this is not, I dunno, “Screenwriter’s Blues” by Soul Coughing, which was also out about this time. (“Screenwriter’s Blues” is a 9)
Instead we get the exciting story of Sheryl and Billy in which… what am I saying? Absolutely nothing of any interest happens. Rarely has so little been described in so much detail.
Here for example, is the second verse:
“I like a good beer buzz early in the morning (well, who doesn’t?)
And Billy likes to peel the labels from his bottles of Bud
He shreds them on the bar then he lights every match
In an oversized pack letting each one burn
Down to his thick fingers before blowing and cursing them out
And he’s watching the bottles of Bud
As they spin on the floor”
Sorry, are we STILL talking about Billy peeling labels from his bottles of Bud? This is not captivating stuff. This does not have me enthralled.
Peeling labels from bottles of Bud is what people do when they are bored.
This begs the question: is Sheryl Crow actually having fun? We know that Sheryl wants to have fun, but does she know how? Has Sheryl ever had a day of fun in her own life? Is “All I Wanna Do” a fun song? Also, did Sheryl inspire that other iconic 90s memoir of the mundane, Jewel’s “You Were Meant For Me”? “
“I brush my teeth and put the cap back on, I pick up a book and pull the sheets down, I put on my pjs and get into bed…” I mean, I know not a lot happens in Alaska, but c’mon! (Despite all of that “You Were Meant For Me” is a 7.)
Sheryl doesn’t have that excuse. Sheryl is in L.A.!
And yet, despite being in L.A., Sheryl is spending her day quietly judging the people spending their lunch breaks washing their cars in their skirts and suits, at the GIANT car wash :
Likely either the Santa Palm Car Wash or the Quick Splash’n’Dash – across the street.
Sheryl and Billy seem convinced that they are having more fun than the people at the car wash. That’s ridiculous! Everyone knows that car washes are heaps of fun. Better than digging a ditch anyway. You never know who you’ll meet. A movie star, perhaps, or even a leader of the Native American community!
Car washes certainly sound like more fun than peeling labels from bottles of Bud. Also, these car washing drones apparently work at record stores. That’s a fun job!
“But they’re nothin’ like Billy and me” Sheryl snorts. Yeah, Sheryl. That’s because they have lives!
The lyrics and general plot outline of “All I Wanna Do” – such as it is – weren’t necessarily Sheryl’s fault. After all she didn’t write this twaddle. The lyrics came from a poem by Wyn Cooper:
A man famous for… writing the poem that Sheryl turned into “All I Wanna Do.”
Wyn called his little poem “Fun.” He put it in a book, a collection of his poems. He got the book published. They printed about 500 copies. Sheryl picked up one of those copies one day in a second-hand store. I like to think she picked it up because she thought it was written by Winnie Cooper, a character in television’s “The Wonder Years.”
Since that appears to be the sum total of Wyn’s accomplishments in life, it only makes sense that the poem is all about Wyn and Billy sitting around, wasting their life, drinking beer all day.
“All I Wanna Do” hits different when you realize that it’s about two guys with so little direction in their lives that they are drinkin’ beer at noon on Tuesdays. In an empty bar.
Sheryl recites “Fun” pretty much word for word. Her main deviation from the text is in the third verse. That happy couple who enters the bar, danger-ously close to one another (I do like the way she says “danger-ously”, that bit’s good)? Sheryl doesn’t tell us anything more about them, but Wyn does: The couple are so close to each other it’s as though they think it’s a motel.
Wyn and Billy aren’t too pleased about this, and so they give the couple “a look.” This look – I picture it as something akin to a glare – is apparently so off-putting that the couple only have one beer and then they scurry away. Was it the look? Or did they just wanna go to an actual motel? To peel off each other’s clothes, instead of peeling off labels from bottles of Bud?
Now, I am previously on the record for giving “All I Wanna Do” an 8. I was more generous back then. Less jaded. More inclined to wanna have fun. I was letting myself be seduced by the undeniable bluesy-jazzy gorgeousness of the recording, and the charm with which Sheryl and her goofy crooked smile sells the whole story… such as it is. I had listened to the song fewer times and had not yet learnt to get angry at it.
Learnt to get angry the Bud label peeling verse.
Learnt to feel miffed that the song is called “All I Wanna Do,” thereby not sufficiently differentiating itself from all the other songs called “All I Wanna Do.”
I realise we all have some complicated feelings about songs with parenthesis, but “All I Wanna Do” really needs a “(Is Have Some Fun)” attached to the end of it.
Even the tiniest things, such as “apropos of nothing, he says his name is William” have started to bug me. Given that they just met, introducing himself as William feels absolutely apropos. Within the source poem it’s more obvious that “apropos of nothing” is in reference to the previous line, the one about Billy wanting to have a bit of fun before he dies. That makes more sense. In the song though, it’s not so clear.
“All I Wanna Do” did not emerge on the pop scene apropos of nothing. Sheryl had been Michael Jackson’s back-up singer on his Bad tour. On that tour she played the hot girl with big hair that Michael attempts to seduce by grabbing his crotch a lot on “The Way You Make Me Feel.”
“All I Wanna Do” also featured another ex-Michael alumni, Bill Bottrell, the guy who co-wrote and “rapped” – badly – on Michael’s “Black Or White.” Sheryl and Bill started jammin’ together on Tuesdays. At night time, if the album title Tuesday Night Music Club is to be believed. This left plenty of time for Sheryl and Billy to go out and have a beer buzz early in the morning.
For such a well-connected act, Sheryl Crow’s Tuesday Night Music Club album took a surprisingly long time to find its audience. About a year. “All I Wanna Do” was its fourth single. Only one of the previous singles – “Leaving Las Vegas” – could really be described as a hit. The video was directed by the same guy – David Hogan – who directed “All I Wanna Do” and once again, there are lots of close-ups on Sheryl’s mouth. David was obsessed with Sheryl’s mouth.
“Leaving Las Vegas” isn’t hugely exciting or anything (it’s a 6,) but at least something happens. Sheryl is leaving Las Vegas. Where is she going? Hopefully not L.A., since, as we have now established:
Nothing whatsoever happens there!
“All I Wanna Do” is a 5. (“Strong Enough” is quite good though, it’s a 7.)
Meanwhile, in Nerd Land:
“Buddy Holly” by Weezer
“Buddy Holly” is the definitive Weezer hit.
Weezer may have had higher charting hits. They may have a handful of hits with more streams. But “Buddy Holly” is the big one. It’s the hit that most people think of when they think of Weezer.
Naturally then, it is also the song that Rivers Cuomo had to be nagged and nagged and nagged about – with producer, Ric Ocasek from The Cars, going as far as leaving scraps of paper around everywhere with “WE WANT BUDDY HOLLY” scrawled on them – before he finally cracked and agreed to record it.
“Buddy Holly,” therefore, provides solid proof of The “Creep” Golden Rule Of Alternative Rock: that the song the artist considers to be complete and utter throwaway garbage, is, almost without fail:
That song that becomes their Big Crossover Radio Hit!*
But there was another reason Rivers Cuomo wasn’t too keen on recording “Buddy Holly.”
Recording “Buddy Holly” would mean airing some of Weezer’s dirty laundry. For “Buddy Holly” is virtually a diss-track. Why is “Buddy Holly” virtually a diss-track? Because the homies that were dissing Rivers’ girl were… THE OTHER MEMBERS OF WEEZER!!!
WHYYYYYYYYYY?
Why were the Weezer-homies dissing Rivers’ girl? Why did they gotta front? What did Rivers and his girl ever do to those guys, that made them so vi-o-lent?
So many good questions, but sadly, I have no answers.
I can tell you, however, what those disses were, as they are included in the “Buddy Holly” lyric sheet.
The Weezer-homies were dissing Rivers’ girl because her “tongue was twisted.” That is, she spoke with a funny accent. Also, because her “eyes were slit”. In short, she was Asian. More specifically, she was Korean. Her name was Kyung-He. Despite the impression you may get from the song, Rivers and Kyung-He were not actually dating, although Rivers probably would have liked to.
That’s right: “Buddy Holly,” that catchy little jingle with the Happy Days video:
In which Rivers doesn’t wear glasses, and thus, for once, doesn’t look like Buddy Holly – is all about the non-Rivers members of Weezer being racist assholes. I guess you can kind of understand why Rivers might feel a little hesitant about recording such a song. It might have been awkward.
This means that “Buddy Holly” is more than just Weezer’s most definitive hit. “Buddy Holly” is also the hit that introduced the world to the defining aspect of the Rivers Cuomo public persona: that of the white nerdy boy who likes Asian girls. This does not appear to be a pop-cultural role that Rivers particularly cherishes. He once asked fans to edit a section of his Wikipedia page that claimed he had “an affinity for Asian women.” He wrote a big, long blog post about it.
So, how had we gotten here? It’s time for the Rivers Cuomo backstory!
Rivers Cuomo was raised in a Hindu commune called, and I’m not making this up, Yogaville.
Yogaville had been established by Swami Satchidananda Saraswati, who was well known in yoga-circles – as well as the wider free-lovin’ hippie community:
For having given the opening address at Woodstock.
At Yogaville, children were encouraged to be creative but forbidden to swear. So, when their parents broke up and they left Yogaville behind, Rivers and his brother – whose name was Leaves – had to teach themselves how to swear. Also, how to interact with regular people. Also, rock’n’roll.
It was a steep learning curve. But in relation to the last of those goals at least, Rivers quickly got the hang of it.
Soon he was putting together a band and heading across the United States to make it big on the L.A. hair metal scene.
Inconveniently for Rivers, this was in 1989, which was a little too late to be making it big on the L.A. hair metal scene.
The world had reached peak-L.A. hair metal the year before, with Guns’n’Roses and Poison.
All that L.A. hair metal had to look forward to were power ballads, “Cherry Pie” and Nelson.
Having discovered that his fantasy career path as a poodle rocker had become obsolete, Rivers got a job at a Tower Records, which no doubt helped with his rock’n’roll education. At some point he formed Weezer and they had their first gig, with Keanu Reeves’ band, Dogstar, at Raji’s on Hollywood Boulevard. Keanu played first. Once Weezer started playing, all the hot girls left. This feels appropriate.
Rivers also enrolled at Santa Monica College, introducing another reoccurring theme running through Rivers’ career: the importance of further education.
Rivers has always lived a double life; university student by day, living on Harvard campus at least some of the time, a mild-mannered rockstar by night. Once again, this feels appropriate.
Rivers also appears to have an appropriately nerdy interest in joining choirs. He joined the Santa Monica College Choir. This is where he met Kyung-He. Which led to the non-Rivers members of Weezer dissing her. Which led to “Buddy Holly.” And now we have come full circle!
Kyung-He probably doesn’t look an awful lot like Mary Tyler Moore, even if:
– At least when wearing his glasses – Rivers does look quite a bit like Buddy Holly.
Once the “ooo-wee-ooo I look just like…” hook popped into Rivers’ head, Buddy Holly was the obvious lyrical-choice.
Buddy Holly was not, however, Rivers’ original choice. Rivers’ original choice was Fred Astaire. “Buddy Holly” could have gone “ooo-wee-ooo I look just like Fred Astaire.” Rivers Cuomo, it’s worth pointing out, looks nothing like Fred Astaire!
I feel that Weezer’s entire career trajectory would have been very different if Rivers had claimed that he looked like Fred Astaire. Their videos, for example, would have featured much more dancing.
The video for “Buddy Holly” does feature dancing of course, but it’s not Rivers that’s shakin’ his stuff. It’s The Fonz.
“Buddy Holly” is a 10!
* Oasis are the exception that proves the rule, and that’s only because they believe that everything they do is genius.
Meanwhile, in Kylie-Land:
“Confide In Me” by Kylie Minogue
Kylie was named after the Nyungar word for “boomerang.” Maybe that’s why she keeps coming back.
Whoever would have thought, back when it all began, upon first hearing Kylie’s debut single – her hi-NRG cheez-fest cover of 60s party starter “Locomotion…”
…That, almost four decades later, she would still be one of the most famous Australians in the world, that she would still be having hits?
Kylie has gone down the dumper, and come back, returned to the dumper, and come back again, so many times that I’ve simply lost count!
“Confide In Me” was Kylie’s first comeback, following a couple of years during which it felt as though she was drifting away into irrelevancy. There had been an entire year – 1993 – where she had not featured on the cover of Smash Hits even once, a scenario that had previously seemed unthinkable.
Even before she tumbled down the dumper for the first time, Kylie had been scoring hits for far longer than anyone could have reas,onably expected.
“Locomotion,” “I Should Be So Lucky” and “Especially For You” may have been hits simply because she was on Neighbours all the time.
But Kylie continued to have hits even when she wasn’t on Australian and British television screens five nights a week! What’s more, the hits became better! By the time she was dropping “Better The Devil You Know”, followed by “Step Back In Time”, followed by “Shocked”, followed by “What Do I Have To Do?”..
Kylie had become so cool that Nick Cave was spotted sporting a Kylie tote!
Then, all of a sudden, things started to go wrong. Kylie’s hits began to disappear.
Kylie’s problem was that her songwriters, Stock Aitken Waterman – three geezers who had manufactured so many hits they referred to themselves as ‘The Hit Factory’ – were rapidly running out of ideas.
Even the geezers themselves realized that their time was up: Matt Aitken leaving in 1991, having found himself agreeing with those critics who claimed that all their songs sounded the same.
By the end of it, Kylie was forced to resort to tacky covers of “Celebration,” a record that competed with sister Dannii’s single of about the same time – “This Is It” – for the title of The Worst Record A Minogue Has Ever Made.
Kylie knew she had to do something, but what? For a little while, it looked like “nothing,” as she disappeared for a year to try and figure out her next move. Also, to panic. “This is it”, she told the “Daily Mirror”, probably not intentionally quoting her sister. “I’m washed up.”
Eventually she decided to sign to Deconstruction Records.
This was widely regarded to have been a courageous move.
Deconstruction Records were mostly famous for putting out monster Eurotechno bangers.
Stuff like Felix’s “Don’t You Want Me” and U.S.U.R.A.’s “Open Your Mind,” the latter of which was a mash-up of Simple Mind’s trance-like “New Gold Dream” and some dialogue from Total Recall, whilst the video showed Joseph Stalin’s face morphing into Margaret Thatcher’s. Compared to “Especially For You,” this was some next level freaky shit! With collaborators such as this, who knew what might happen next?
What happened next was “Confide In Me,” performed by a Kylie from the not so distant future.
“Confide In Me” appears to exist in a primitive version of what people believed The Internet would look like. Although it’s not impossible that they were aiming for a CD-ROM.
You need to remember that 1994 was the year that The Internet was born, or at the very least the year that it became accessible to anyone who wasn’t a total geek.
Nobody really knew what The Internet would look like, but everyone felt sure that it would feature loads of porn.
“Confide In Me” isn’t just a music video, it’s a zeitgeist-capturing time capsule containing our futuristic dreams. We truly thought that we would soon have instant access to the Kylie of our choice. An infinite array of Kylies offering the listener immediate understanding, salvation, a solution to our anxiety, “stick or twist,” the choice was ours … and all in a range of different flavours!
There was also a phone number flashing on the screen – 1-555-CONFIDE – in case you needed to speak directly with a human-Kylie.
At least one of those Kylie flavours – and quite possibly two – appears to be a dominatrix. Another is playing an ingénue. Whilst yet another seems to think she’s a comedian. Then there are a couple where I’m not sure what it is they are aiming for, other than to remind you that you are watching this in the 90s.
This whole idea of there being multiple versions of herself seems to have triggered something in Kylie’s psyche, since she’d return to that very theme a few years later with “Did It Again,” one of only a few Kylie songs that Kylie actually wrote.
This time the different Kylie’s – identified as Sex Kylie, Cute Kylie, Indie Kylie and Dance Kylie– start pushing each other around and pulling each other’s hair and hitting each other over the head with furniture and handbags. Methinks they need to sit themselves down and talk their issues through. Methinks they need to call 1-555-CONFIDE!
All of this came as a bit of a surprise 30 years ago, but not so much of a surprise as the music.
Musically, “Confide In Me” is virtually uncategorizable. What could you possibly call this stuff?
- There were futuristic trip-hop beats bubbling underneath gypsy violins!
- There was apparently – and quite appropriately given that Kylie was named after a boomerang – a “gated didgeridoo” in the mix!
- And the thing is virtually six minutes long!!
That’s about twice as long as “Step Back In Time!” Pop princesses do not make six-minute-long soundscapes filled with futuristic trip-hop beats and gypsy violins!! The Big Violin Hook We All Know And Love doesn’t even come in until the 50 second mark!
Before we get to that, Kylie offers to us, as an appetiser, a selection of spine-tingling, scene-setting, sound effects.
Kylie doesn’t even open her mouth until the one minute and twenty-five-seconds mark! Most Kylie songs would be halfway over by then!
This was not the Kylie we thought we knew. This was something better. This was a new and improved – and oh, so much cooler – model!
And with that, Kylie was back!
- Back at Number One on the Australian charts!
- Robbed of a Number One on the UK Charts! Angry face emoji!!!
If you need yet another reason to hate Wet Wet Wet’s turgid “Love Is All Around,” add that to the list.
And back on the cover of “Smash Hits”… The Australian edition, anyway.
And back in the middle of the pop cultural conversation! It would not be long before Nick Cave came a-calling.
“Confide In Me” is a 9.
Meanwhile, in Urban Legend Land:
“What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?” by R.E.M.
“What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?” was named after that time in October 1986, when famous news anchor Dan Rather – apparently researching the Iran-Contra Scandal at the time, although surely that’s just a crazy coincidence – was attacked on Park Avenue:
By two guys shouting, “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?!?!?”
Turns out that one of the attackers’ names was William Tager.
He believed that “television networks were beaming signals into his brain.”
He may also have believed that he was a time-traveller from the future – 2265 to be precise – and that he needed a certain frequency in order to get back home. A frequency that he thought Dan Rather might know, because he looked exactly like Kenneth Burrows.
Who is Kenneth Burrows, you ask?
Well, he’s the Vice President (of the United States? Of A Global Government? Of An Intergalactic Empire? Who knows?) in 2265!
In the future, William Tager was a criminal but had been sent back in time to go on a secret mission in return for his freedom. Geez, thanks future. Sending us your riffraff!
“What’s The Frequency Kenneth” is an 8.
Anyway, here’s Dan Rather singing “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?” with R.E.M. at Madison Square Garden.
Let the author know that you liked their article with a “Green Thumb” Upvote!
Editor’s note:
Re: the missing videos: As of 09.29.2024, Alphabet, the parent comapny for YouTube, and the music licensing rights organization known as SESAC have been unable to reach a standard royaty payments agreement. As a result, YouTube has indefinately blocked thousands of music videos from viewer access.
Many of our past articles are affected by this impass, and will result in a “video unavailable” message.
Statement from YouTube:
We have held good faith negotiations with SESAC to renew our existing deal. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to reach an equitable agreement before its expiration. We take copyright very seriously and as a result, content represented by SESAC is no longer available on YouTube in the US. We are in active conversations with SESAC and are hoping to reach a new deal as soon as possible.
We’ll hope for the best, and for now, let all of our Contributing Authors’ content stay as is. Updates to follow this week.
-mt58
Thank You For Your Vote!
Sorry You have Already Voted!
Views: 102
You may be wondering, what does a guy turn out like, after being raised in a yoga-cult? Have you even seen Rivers being interviewed? Let’s just say that Project-Fitting-Into-Normal-Everyday-American-Society has not exactly gone seamlessly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2TLEgDeIaI&t=447s
When I finally paid attention to the lyrics of “All I Wanna Do,” I was thoroughly impressed. What seemed like an easy “girls night out” radio romp was in fact a desperately pathetic character study; a snapshot of deep loneliness and social dysfunction. That was so cool to have as a Top 10 single!
It’s gotta be up there among the most misunderstood hit songs, quite close to “Every Breath You Take.”
But I didn’t know that she had taken the lyrics wholesale from someone else’s poem. Having assumed she’d written the lyrics herself, I am disappointed to learn about that. But still, people set poetry to music all the time. If it’s good enough for Billie Holiday, surely it’s good enough for me and Sheryl Crow. And Bill, or Billy, or Mack, or Buddy.
1994 was in fact the first year I had any exposure to Kylie Minogue. I am disappointed that you didn’t mention her greatest feat of cultural ascendence. Namely, playing Cammy in the film adaptation of the Street Fighter game!
Of course, I didn’t know it was her until years later. I just knew her as the hot Australian actress who played Cammy.
(my first exposure to her name was a not-so-flattering name drop in KMFDM’s “Sucks.” But I fell in love with “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” some years later)
Also, published the year before R.E.M.’s Monster was Daniel Clowes’ Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, which features “what’s the Frequency Kenneth?” as a recurring motif. Simultaneously funny and freaky stuff:
I had no idea of the source material for All I Wanna Do. Checked the writing credits and Wyn is one of five names listed.
Maybe it’s because I haven’t overdone it but it’s an easy 8 for me. I like the detail and the lack of purpose of the protagonists. Gives me the feeling of two people at peace with a lack of ambition, happy just to pass the days by doing their own thing but attentive to what’s going on around them.
Confide In Me was the first Kylie song I enjoyed. I Should Be So Lucky, The Loco-motion and all those other early ones were so incessantly chirpy but memorable it took me years to get over them. One of the credited writers of Confide In Me is Owain Barton as it borrows the tune from his 1983 track; It’s A Fine Day. Which was originally an a capella performance by Jane though is better known the hit dance music version by Opus III.
https://youtu.be/4vgcYBwyw28?feature=shared
I did enjoy the Smash Hits reference: down the dumper. Many is the faded pop star that they dismissed as taking the journey down the dumper. A phrase which it is claimed was coined by Neil Tennant in his pre-Pet Shop Boys career as Smash Hits Assistant Editor. Fortunately for Neil he never met that fate. Though the magazine itself sadly did.
Smash Hits used “down the dumper” so often that I sometimes forget that it’s not actually a commonly used or understood term.
Nonetheless, I’m happy to – to use another Smash Hits-ism – bring it back, Back, BACK!!!!
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/feb/03/pressandpublishing.popandrock
I progressed from Smash Hits to NME and the monthlies like Select and Q but looking back Smash Hits in the 80s was the best of the lot.
Didn’t matter how big a star they were, everyone was treated with the same irreverence and humour. Whereas NME put their heroes on a pedestal and could take a sneering attitude to anyone they didn’t like, with Smash Hits it was done with good humour and pricking the pomposity of any acts that got above themselves.
I agree with Phylum, JJ, and your first impression about “All I Wanna Do.” It’s an 8-ful of fun.
As for the SESAC kerfuffle, if you use a VPN, set it to another country. That might allow you to get to the videos.
Leaving Las Vegas is what prompted me to buy Tuesday Night Music Club; for me, it’s up there with My Favorite Mistake as her best single. All I Wanna Do is….fine. Certainly catchy as hell, definitely better than later things she released (heard Soak Up The Sun in the wild just yesterday and was reminded how much I can’t stand it).
Confide In Me was the first Kylie song I was familiar with beyond The Loco-motion (of course I’ve since gone back and am overly versed with her SAW era). I like that first Deconstruction album quite a bit and I suspect many would consider Confide In Me her finest hour (at least unto Can’t Get You Out of My Head) though I actually prefer second single Put Yourself In My Place over that one. That whole album was a much-needed left turn.
I get that the lyrics to “All I Wanna Do” are interesting, and I know more about them now than I did before.
But for me, it was all about the music. I was not overly into pop music in 1994. And then this song dropped and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn’t believe how much I loved its retro sound. I couldn’t believe anybody wanted to make music that sounded so retro…or that it could even become popular. It sounded like someone wanted to sound very much like Steelers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle with You”. The song remains fun for me, and it’s easily a 9…sometimes a 10.
Good thing too, since Quentin Tarantino had recently turned “Stuck In the Middle” into an anxiety trigger thanks to his torture scene in Reservoir Dogs…
I don’t have the bandwidth myself, but that would make an interesting article:
“Movie Songs That Are Adorably Upbeat (That Celebrate Total Mayhem)”
Any takers?
Unlike the good folks at SESAC, I will not be seeking royalties.
I refuse to see Reservoir Dogs, having been warned about the song’s usage. I want that bouncy, cheery song to remain that way with me.
I like “All I Wanna Do” and knew it was based on a poem but I had never seen the poem in print before. It’s funny how that little shift in “Apropos of nothing” changes the whole perspective and makes it much more aimless and endearingly pathetic.
I believe the poem’s author, Wyn Cooper, is the same as the high school friend of Madonna who once shot a Super 8 video of her called The Egg where he cracked an egg on her stomach. So he’s famous for that, too! (Not really.)
“Confide in Me” is a 9 and one of my favorite Kylie songs. I don’t know if anybody’s ever made better use of her breathy vocals. It’s a beguiling song.
It’s not mentioned on his Wikipedia page, but he was from Michigan.
And The Independent refers to the “Egg” Wyn Cooper as “one of Madonna’s former boyfriends” and a “poet who lives in Vermont.”
And “Fun” Wyn Cooper taught poetry at a college in Vermont!
Wrote “All I Wanna Do” and dated Madonna! What a life!! Maybe he wasn’t a loser after all!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TywAqB9Ty_0
I like a lot of Sheryl Crow songs but I never really liked “All I Wanna Do” – it’s like someone trying too hard to convince me they’re having fun.
“Buddy Holly” reminds me of a guy I liked in 1994 – he didn’t actually look like Buddy Holly, but he was nerdier than my usual type and I did get compared to Mary Tyler Moore a fair amount in those days, so it worked.
The Kylie song made no impression on me – I remember liking “I Should Be So Lucky” when it came out and I remember she was a superstar everywhere but in the US, but I missed that song. I was usually listening to the “alternative” stations a lot in ’94, so that probably explains that.