I was discussing...more like debating...with a friend the merits of Cee-Lo's hit song, "Fuck You!" I personally think it's an awesome song. I think the profanity perfectly exhibits that frustrated high school sentiment of sitting in your room learning that the girl you have a crush on is going out with the biggest douche bag in your class. We've all been there. My friend disagrees. Though he likes the music and the tone of the song...even the sentiment, he thinks the profanity ultimately ruins the timelessness of the song. It goes from potentially be a smash hit to a novelity. He used the example...imagine if Michael Jackson's "Beat It" was really called "Fuck It." Would the song be huge? For sake of conversation, let's say he meant "Fuck off" not fuck it...since Fuck it and Beat It have two totally different meanings. That said...how would that affect the song? It's a valid question. I don't think the song would be as good. But that's because that song didn't need the profanity to be a good song. Just as the Beatles "I Want To Hold Your Hand" didn't need it. Or U2's "Pride" didn't need it. But there are times that profanity actually makes a song better. Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" is just that much better because of the speed-mumbled line "harmless little fuck." And that's a classic. Rage Against The Machine uses the line "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" for the song "Killing in the Name Of..." and turns that phrase into a timeless anthem. And NWA's "Fuck Tha Police" is a cultural battle cry. Would the song have been better if it went... "Screw the police, coming straight from the underground, young brother got it bad cuz I'm brown?" Just not the same.
Here are the 11 Best Songs By Cee-Lo Green:
1. Getting Grown (Perfect Imperfections)
2. When We Were Friends (Soul Machine)
3. Let's Stay Together (Soul Machine)
4. What Part of Forever (Twilight Eclipse)
5. I'll Be Around (Soul Machine)
6. Closet Freak (Perfect Imperfections)
7. Georgia (Single)
8. Ophidiophobia (Snakes on a Plane)
9. Die Trying (Soul Machine)
10. Under The Influence (Perfect Imperfections)
11. Stranger in the Crowd (Coke Single)
Buy Cee-Lo Green's new album, The Lady Killer. Now!!!
1 comment:
There's a radio edit version for the public anyhow.
The real radio stations that play things how they are, however, play the original version. (like Triple J if you know them) So in a sense it also separates the media as well.
Anyway, I agree with you. Mumford & Son's song Little Lion Man wouldn't really be the same without the line "I really fucked it up this time, didn't I my dear..." so you have a very valid point. It's like... Raw emotion, where you just forget all "proper classiness" and you just say it how it is. Goddamnmotherfuckingstraight! xD
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