Hit Song Review: "Good Time" by Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen

            In “Good Time,” Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen declare “we don’t even have to try,” and then proceed to prove it. Owl City are probably best-known for their hit single “Fireflies” from 2009, which was a decent (or at least pleasantly mellow) song. As for Carly Rae Jepsen, she is responsible for “Call Me Maybe,” an inoffensive puff of cotton candy mediocrity that the nation has apparently clutched to its easily-impressed bosom.

            But at least Carly Rae has the virtue of consistency. Like “Call Me Maybe,” “Good Time” is bright and catchy but indistinguishable from the legions of other bright and catchy songs on the market right now. Lyrically, the song is more or less “Glad You Came” but without the advantage of being buoyed up by an interesting arrangement. Into this mix Carly Rae intermittently injects a wailing “Whaoaoh.” Is it just me, or does it sound eerily familiar?

           Oh dear god, a second-rate pop act has ripped off Katy Perry—we have hit the unoriginality singularity.

            Let’s talk about plagiarism. In music, it is a necessity, the only question being who best to steal from. Say what you like of Andrew Lloyd Weber (and who doesn’t) but at least when he steals, he steals from great composers. Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen, on the other hand, decided to steal from Katy Perry’s least tolerable hit until “Part Of Me” hit the charts, but that’s for another day.

            So congratulations, Owl City, you’ve won first place in the great generic sweepstakes. Your prize is to get punched in the face so hard you’ll have to change your name to Ow City.

Great Songs in Okay Shows: "Grandma's Song" from Billy Elliot

            It was said of Gary Cooper that you could never catch him acting on set, that only on film did his performances spring to life. Billy Elliot is a show in a similar vein. On record, it isn’t a particularly special score. Between disappointingly conventional melodies and frequently clumsy lyrics, the songs depend entirely on powerful staging and choreography to bring them to life. The result is a show that is a good bit of fun to watch, but not much fun to listen to, with one exception; “Grandma’s Song” is the number I keep returning to even after all the other songs have worn out their charm.

Pop Song Limericks 8/17/2012

Some poetry this week, a series of limericks about the current top ten songs on the Billboard Hot 100. Why? Who knows...

1. Whistle by Flo Rida

As subtle as sci-fi Jane Fonda,

Flo’s song has still proved a golconda.

And although it’s not earned,

It’s still nice that he’s learned

The art of the single entendre.

2. Lights by Ellie Goulding

A song without deafening drumming,

But that still leaves the listener humming?

Oh, never before

Has this yank been more

Glad to say, “the British are coming!”

3. Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen

It’s had more than its share of success,

And yet stays in the charts nonetheless.

But you’ll find nothing’s there

But a wisp of hot air,

It seems we’re not hard to impress.

4. Wide Awake by Katy Perry

Though once she had hits in her hat,

These days it just tends to fall flat.

You could bear the buffoon

With a hummable tune,

Now she doesn’t even have that.

5. Payphone by Maroon 5 ft. Wiz Khalifa

Now, “Payphone,” inept as it is,

Has more whining than all of Les Mis,

And it all goes to pot

When we reach the guest spot,

An incongruous rap verse from Wiz.

6. Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye ft. Kimbra

In springtime it won all our hearts

With its mix of emotion and smarts.

It got played too much,

But it’s still great, as such

I’m happy it stays in the charts

7. Titanium by David Guetta ft. Sia

With music so thoroughly canned,

No surprise that it’s by Guetta’s hand.

But I’ll say this for it:

It’s been months since a hit

Has been quite so terribly bland.

8. Some Nights by fun.

Some thought fun.’s first hit was a gem,

But it was less flower than stem.

“Some Nights” is well-sung,

But unlike “We Are Young,”

This one sounds much more like them.

9. Home by Phillip Phillips

Now it’s been used as a theme

For the U.S.A. gymnastics team.

So the song’s won the day,

But the huge overplay

May dash Phillips’ Olympic dream.

10. Where Have You Been by Rihanna

Though in the past she’s been admired,

This hit leaves much to be desired.

Thing is, it’s no fun,

And you ask what they’ve done

To make her sound so uninspired.

Stage vs. Screen: Cabaret

(note: in places where embedding has been disabled, I provide the link so you can click through to the video on youtube, which I strongly encourage you to do; believe me, it's worth it.)

I ought to preface this article with the statement that I like the movie adaptation of Cabaret far better than the stage show. If that happens to be a dealbreaker for you, feel free to read no further. If you’re open to the idea, read on and I’ll attempt to explain my view.

No revolution in the musical theater has burst, fully grown, from the ranks of its ancestors like Athena from the head of Zeus. We didn’t go directly from Ziegfeld to South Pacific, or from Promises, Promises to Sweeney Todd. Even the shows that have come to be recognized as milestones bear the hallmarks of their forbears. I like to think of these more as transitional shows than anything else, mature shows equipped with training wheels just to be safe. Pal Joey introduced one of the first antiheroes in the musical theater, but it still had to keep him somewhat likable by casting Gene Kelly in the part. Oklahoma introduced a new storytelling aesthetic, but had to keep the get-lose-get girl elements and jolly chorus numbers. West Side Story broached new subject matter and even killed a character onstage but had to insert a comedy number (“Gee, Officer Krupke”) into the second act in order to break up the unbearable dramatic tension (whatever its faults, the movie version did manage to fix this by swapping “Krupke” with “Cool” as lyricist Stephen Sondheim had originally wanted, but that’s for another day).

            All of which brings us to Cabaret, which wound up serving as a companion piece of sorts to West Side in terms of changing Broadway’s view of what was acceptable in terms of subject matter for the musical stage. However, like West Side, Cabaret also had to dilute its dramatic value in order to reach its audience. The muddy color of compromise is painted all over the show (read the rest after the jump).

#2: On Rhymes That Need To Die

A Pleasant Surprise, or I've Still Got A Long Way To Go

I freely admit to being someone so constitutionally averse to risk and the unexpected that the concept of  pleasant surprise seems comparable to the idea of being hit in the head with a brick covered in felt--you are forced to acknowledge that your circumstances are not as bad as they could easily have been, but you had still made rather definite plans not to be hit with a brick today.

But that is my cynical side speaking. With the benefit of hindsight, I am frequently forced to admit the extent to which I relish discovering a great musical number or track in a work that I thought I knew back to front. I knew all my favorite numbers in Fiorello, for instance, and yet until I listened to the score again, I had failed to spot a clever and terrific eleven o'clock number called "(I'll Marry) The Very Next Man." (note: the version below is performed at an unusually fast tempo, but it is also very well-played and captures the spirit of the song quite nicely)



Similarly, on re-listening to Elvis Costello's album My Aim Is True, I realized that between the hits like "Alison" and "Less Than Zero" was a charming little song called "Sneaky Feelings."



I particularly love how well the music and lyrics coordinate on the line "but I've still got a long way to go..." As felt bricks go, this one was relatively gentle. I would also like to add that "Felt Bricks" sounds like the title of an Elvis Costello album.

Musical Site Recommendation: BlueGobo.com

One of the best things about the theatre is also one of the worst things about the theatre; once a show has closed, it’s gone. It can be revived, of course, but only rarely (like with South Pacific) does a revival manage to recapture the spirit of the original. For this reason, BlueGobo is a godsend, collecting rare videos of musical number performances from variety shows, Tony performances, promotional recordings and the like. As might be expected, the site has very little content from before the 1940s and 50s, since prior to the advent of television there was little to be gained from filming a stage performance of a song. That said, some videos go back surprisingly early and the site makes full use of the nostalgic musical numbers from the 1971 Tonys, featuring Tom Bosley performing a number from Fiorello.
http://www.bluegobo.com/