Repetune - The Songs of our Heads

Dance like there’s no one watching and live like it’s heaven on earth. Music. The sensational feeling you can get from just the sweet, harmonious, and pleasing sounds such as the waves that crash into the rocks except it isn’t the rocks, its colors of appreciation.  It’s the luxury of having your very own sweet and harmonious sound that may be criticized by others, but that is the magic. No matter what makes YOU tick is the glory. You move and step outside yourself into something no one can take from you unless you are a coward and care if other’s find what makes you happy. Lame.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The sounds of Cat Stevens, If you Want to Sing Out, makes me dance. I dare you to put it on in the morning while getting ready for work, and I guarantee it will be your coffee. Your work out in the morning. Yours. Be bold. Sing, dance and listen as if it is heaven on earth. The happy tune, the corresponding lyrics and the spark in your step that makes your normal drowning walk to your car seem not as dreadful or lonesome. It makes you smile like you mean it and Tick.Tock.Tick.Tock. Makes you want to not just sing out, but get out!

Though I am far more familiar with the Beach Boys version, Ronnie’s comes to mind a lot because I believe it captures the true feeling of the song. With a title like Don’t Worry, Baby, how can it possibly be a cheerful song? The Beach Boys didn’t create a cheerful song, but they merely have that California sound and slightly depressing harmonics in their voice. But at the same time, it might as well have been sung by the Mamas and the Papas.

Ronnie Spector, formerly of the Ronnettes, delivers the lyrics with such emotional precision, I cannot help but feel a little pain in my heart every time I listen to or think of the song. There are times when anyone can feel down, and you try to tell someone not to worry. It doesn’t matter; no words can help. I sense the same hopelessness in Ronnie’s delivery. It is as if she wants desperately to help the boy through his hardship, knows the futility of saying, “Don’t worry, baby,” but is so affected she must try something. Even if it is ineffective.

But with her voice, maybe it isn’t as ineffective as I think it should be. It delivers a tenderness that only Ronnie’s voice can provide. The voice that made her a strong instrument of strength and confidence in “Be My Baby”,” gives the listener a momentary bit of bliss.

Coincidentally, it is “Be My Baby” which Brian Wilson points to as inspiration for writing the song Don’t Worry Baby. And now, here I am believing that Ronnie Spector took Don’t Worry Baby to heights even greater than Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. It is with this song that the Beach Boys began building like a symphony and producing the harmonies that would eventually lead to Pet Sounds.

Ronnie… you’ve done so much for my ears.

Usually, far too many songs have the same beat.  Then there are some songs with beats so different, they are catchy in their own way.  The first one that comes to my mind is White Horse by Laid Back.  But, I shall save them for another day.  This post is dedicated to a song I find equally catchy for the exact same reasons.

Reminiscient of a disco beat, Baby Wants to Ride takes me on a trip through Prince’s Erotic City, makes a quick stop at Laid Back’s White Horse, and drops me off at a brothel to finish it off. It goes back and forth between Frankie and Jamie, and the banter builds slowly. I am reminded of being with someone and knowing the inevitablity of the final act. In a strange way, it is the buildup that matters. This track is nothing but buildup.

That being said, it is a little gay. But, aside from that, a bass line and synths brood the background as Jamie speaks seductively.

Somewhere along the line, some percussion comes in as well as some political speak about discriminating against gay people. But that part never sticks in my head. Instead, it is the smooth, cool sounding riffs and breathy vocals. It sets a mood. It is the mood. Eye of the Tiger may make me want to beat the crap out of everything around me… Baby Wants to Ride makers me want to… ride everything around me.

Before I heard this song, I knew Radiohead for that song Creep and for making a video where people lie down for no good reason. Then I heard this song, and I had to know who was singing it. Lo and behold, it was Radiohead. And a minor love affair with Radiohead continued, until I realized the band was worshipped to the point where they could fart into a microphone and the fans would love it.
I was never into them that much, and did not want to be so into them that my judgement would be clouded. That being said, I think they make fantastic music, but Karma Police is where it all began.
Much like remembering firsts with a girlfriend, I distinctly remember the first time I heard Karma Police. I was in a dorm room and someone had his mp3 collection on shuffle. The opening chords hit, and the voice… oh, the voice. I don’t remember that much after it, but if I ran out and bought the album immediately after, it would not surprise me.

Though it would be really easy to lean towards Killing in the Name of as the repetune for rage against the machine, I have decided to go with Bullet in the Head because it is a true repetune, without relying on the gimmick of using the word fuck 17 times. Instead, it creeps in with a brooding bass line, gets invaded by de la Rocha’s raps, then explodes into guitar mastery, along with DJ sounds coming out of a guitar.

They say jump
you say how high?

This song captures more of what rage against the machine is about better than Killing in the Name of and I think it has far better longevity in the head as well. If ever, there was a soundtrack to Thich Quang Duc’s self-immolation (as shown on the album cover), it is this song.

However, this song is about government using media to control the population. Looking at it, now, I doubt the government truly has the control over the media that is implied, but that is beside the point.

Play it again jack and then rewind the tape
And then play it again and again and again
Until ya mind is locked in

In the same vein, the media continually spits out images we accept as true. The easiest to point to is the war in Iraq. I am not in Iraq. I do not know anyone in Iraq. The only images I get are what the media will give me, and whatever I will seek out. Who do I believe?

This is the message which repeats in my head because of this repetune. Yes, the song rocks. But, more importantly, it has given a life lesson to me which I follow constantly. And if I need to spell the lesson out, perhaps you just need a Bullet in the Head.

This repetune is truly one of the greatest inspirational songs of all time.  Though perhaps, I speak a bit strongly. It is truly one of the greatest montage songs of all time. When I listen to the song, I cannot help but picture Rocky training to beat up Mr. T. From its opening chords, which is really all one needs to hear, the song whips you through any possible hardship you can possibly have. After all, the song was created specifically for Rocky III, and thus was created specifically for that underdog triumph, where David slays Goliath.

Because of this, whenever the song is stuck in my head, any activity I am doing at the time will suddenly become dangerous to anyone that comes within proximity. Imagine it for a moment, I am at the office making some copies, and Eye of the Tiger begins to play in my head. Suddenly, making copies becomes exercise, my heart starts racing, and I yell for Adrian after every clean copy. By the time I’m done, I look around and find the bodies of co-workers, covered in paper cuts, begging for their lives. After sparing them, I kick down my office door and make hot, sweet love to every woman I run into… unless they’re ugly, but then again, with this song playing, anything is possible.

And might I add, having this song playing in my head as I’m rolling a condom on about to invade a woman…

Eye of the tiger, baby.
Eye. Of. The. Tiger.

To many people, Led Zeppelin is really a blues band.  After all, they took a riff from Willie Dixon and made Whole Lotta Love out of it.  They also ripped off the following Anne Bredon, Jake Holmes, Eddie Cochran, Bukka White and Sleepy John Estes, Howlin’ Wolf, Blind Willie Johnson, Moby Grape, Spirit, and Davey Graham for the songs Babe, I’m Gonna Leave you, Dazed and Confused, Communication Breakdown, Custard Pie, The Lemon Song, Nobody’s Fault But Mine, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Stairway to Heaven, and White Summer. They were also really big geeks, because aside from the supposed rock facade, they had many J.R.R. Tolkien references, though not really as many as you probably thought.

That brings us to Immigrant Song. Aside from making me go Ah-ah-ahhhh-ah! Ah-ah-ahhhh-ah! and making me feel like a Viking, I’m not really sure what else to say about it other than, THEY RIPPED OFF THE BROADWAY MUSICAL SOUTH PACIFIC.

The song Bali Hai is where my favorite part of Immigrant Song comes from. No, seriously. Try it right now. Sing the words “Bali Hai” to “Ah-ah-ahhhhh-ah!” Really. Try it right now. No one is looking. Slow it down and pretend you’re in the 1940’s, and you’re now singing Bali Hai.

But, returning to repetune, the song is undoubtedly about the

Ah-ah-ahhhh-ah!
Ah-ah-ahhhh-ah!

I could run around screaming that all day. And sometimes, I do, but I limit those times to when I’m at home all day, lest the horde come and find me.

Immigrant Song is also one of those songs where I just don’t know the lyrics except for a select few. In a way, this is my karaoke song. The song I will see on the karaoke list, request to sing, then get up there and realize I don’t know any words other than

Ah-ah-ahhhh-ah!
Ah-ah-ahhhh-ah!
……
The hammer of the gods

And thus, I am stuck with what is a classic repetune for my head. A driving rhythm, incomprehensible lyrics except for a bit in the chorus and one line in the verses. Perhaps that’s it.

The hammer of the gods, are these songs that stay in my head.

Ah-ah-ahhhh-ah!
Ah-ah-ahhhh-ah!