In response to Lex Green’s post, I give this video of what I consider a love song from one of the few bands I would pay to see if they play anywhere in this hemisphere, the White Stripes:
Lyrics:
Fell in love with a girl
fell in love once and almost completely
she’s in love with the world
but sometimes these feelings
can be so misleading
she turns and says “are you alright?”
I said “I must be fine cause my heart’s still beating”
She says “come and kiss me by the riverside, bobby says it’s fine he don’t consider it cheating”
Red hair with a curl
mellow roll for the flavor
and the eyes for peeping
can’t keep away from the girl
these two sides of my brain
need to have a meeting
can’t think of anything to do
my left brain knows that
all love is fleeting
she’s just looking for something new
and I said it once before
but it bears repeating
Nothing too deep, just great rock and roll and a nice set of lyrics. Meg White is just one of those women who “does it” for me. I can’t explain it, I must be hardwired that way.
Hey, thanks for making me feel like an old man. My “youth” goes back to the era when a grad student studying for his MBA at NYU could spend far too much time at the Fillmore East enjoying Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Allman Brothers, The Grateful Dead and Jethro Tull. Pardon me but, even with those bona fides, this sounds like noise – amplified.
Nice. Solid.
But, does the music work with the words to make it a compelling love song as well as a rock song?
It is hard to make a real rock song that is also a real love song. The Rock calls for emotions which are more primitive, lust or anger or exhileration. Pop is where the love songs are. Rock and Pop have a complicated relationship. They are not the same thing, nor are they antithetical (contra the brilliantly argued case made by Mr. Carducci) but they can overlap fruitfully. And, in fact, my favorite stuff is that very intersection, e.g. The Muffs, e.g. this, if we must pick just one.
I can think of another card to play, seeing and raising your White Stripes. But that is another post.
Ah I await your raising the ante Lex. I also have a few more aces up my sleeve.