A question for Elton John...

Be honest now. Have you ever in your life used a little muscle to get what you need?

If so, which little muscle was it?

Lyrics to Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting) here.


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A question for Pete Townshend...

re: Who Are You?

I took the tube back out of town

Back to the Rollin' Pin

I felt a little like a dying clown

With a streak of Rin Tin Tin

So, how exactly does that feel?

Straight off the bat, I’ve got to think that a dying clown would have some profound regrets about his or her career choice. (A clown, for god’s sake…one chance at life and this is what I came up with…). Overlay that with the bitter irony of an entertainer dying alone, on the tube, heart like a broken cup, greasepaint smeared, big floppy shoes stained with God knows what. All I ever wanted was to make the children laugh…

But, HEY! Wait a minute…what’s this feeling??? It’s a twinge of something…something different. Can’t be sure but…woof! WOOF! Whoa. Hey! I feel like…like…like a Teutonic Hero Dog! YES! "Achtung! Fellow riders of the London mass transit…It’s me, Rin Tin Tin! To the rescue!!... What’s with the drunk clown over there?"

I guess, Pete, maybe what you’re really saying is, you were feeling a little conflicted. I understand completely.

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 Who Are You? From The Kids Are Alright (’78)

“Dying clown” line at 1:44

“F-bomb” dropped at 2:04

Silly handclapping at 4:33

Keith Moon being a goofball throughout. His last studio performance. Damn.

 

A follow-up question for Bob Seger...

Sorry to bother you twice in one week, Mr. Seger, but this one has puzzled me for a long time...

"Like a rock, chargin' from the gate."

Seriously? You couldn't think of anything else to rhyme with "standin' arrow straight" (which rocks also don't typically do)?

A few alternatives for your consideration...

Like a rock, hard to penetrate.


Like a rock, puttin' on some weight.


Like a rock, very much like slate.


Like a rock, pointless to debate.


Like a rock, from the granite state.


Like a rock...crushin' scissors is my fate.

That's it for now. We'll discuss Turn The Page another day.

Really need to see the lyrics to Like A Rock? Here.

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A question for Kevin Cronin, from the subject of "Keep on Lovin' You"...

Kevin, you make it perfectly clear that you’re going to keep on loving me, that it’s the only thing you want to do, that you don’t want to sleep, etc. I appreciate that.

That said, do you really think it was necessary to remind me, again, that you know “all about those men” and allude to me as a snake in the grass “all coiled up and hissin(g)?”  In other words, even though I’m a whore and snake, you’re gonna keep on loving me. Thanks. Love you, too. Ass.

Do yourself a HUGE favor and watch this vid w/in a vid. It will be the best 3 minutes, 51 seconds of your day. Trust me. 

 Kevin Cronin=Least Masculine Rock Frontman Ever (Freddie Mercury included.)

Keep On Lovin' You lyrics here.

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Where Night Moves loses me...

It actually starts pretty well.

I was a little too tall

Coulda used a few pounds.

A concise, evocative summation of adolescent self-doubt. I like it.

(Also, I too was a little too tall and could've used a few pounds.)

Next line:

Tight pants points hardly renown.

Wha? I keep reading those words trying to make them make some kind of sense. Can't do it. I'm not even sure which word is the verb. Or if there is a verb.

Do the tight pants have points? Are they pointing at something?

Have they earned points?

Hmm...

"Renown" means acclaim, honor, or fame. At the very least, if the word is modifying "pants," it should be "renowned." But that doesn't really help much either. Maybe he's saying his pants are hardly famous. Maybe it's a veiled (really veiled) allusion to Leonard Cohen's famous blue raincoat. Bob Seger's non-famous tight pants.

As the oldsters say, it's Greek to me. So I translated it into Greek, and then back into English. I actually like it better the way it came out.

Original line:

Tight pants points hardly renown.

Greek translation:

τα σφιχτά εσώρουχα δείχνουν μετά βίας τη φήμη.

Retranslated to English:

the tight underwears show afterwards violence the fame

Huh. Ain't it funny how the night moves?

lyrics to Night Moves here

Bob Seger, more recently.

(no longer in need of a few pounds)

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