Baby Are You Down Down Down Down Down: Summer

Summer is the best time for pop music.

In fact I would even venture to say that it is THE time for pop music, and pop music at all other times of the year is just trying to recreate the feeling of summer.

I should clarify my terms: in this case I mean "pop music" as in the stuff of the current day (and oh what a day it is currently).

I've thought about why summer is the best time for pop music and I think it's because summer is the season of the body, while winter is the season of the mind. Summer weather, whether it be pleasant or terribly terribly humid (my own kryptonite), irretrievably reminds us that we are physical beings and that those physical beings need attention and care.

So that's why summer is the season of pop: because you're not supposed to think, you're just supposed to move.

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I've said before that I don't think there should be such a thing as a guilty pleasure song, but let me tell you about this thing I do. Sometimes I say something that even I think is too extreme for how I actually feel, but I just say it and hope my reasons will fill in behind it. That works occasionally but other times, mleh.

So yes, I understand why people have guilty pleasure songs but for me personally I can't hide what songs I like because otherwise what am I even doing here?

That's why I'm going to tell you today about one of my favorites in a genre that, for all of us, is extremely personal by design: the songs we work out to.

I am intrigued by this genre because it's one of the few that has no infusion of ego. It's private, and meant to motivate you at a vulnerable time, and meant to be sheerly enjoyable. So I think you can tell a lot about someone by what they like to listen to when they work out, and I've never been less than charmed by this knowledge of another person.

Here's one of mine:


The song: Jay Sean ft. Lil Wayne, "Down"; 2009

You have to admit it is catchy as hell.

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Other things I like about this song:

1. Lil Wayne: Like many rappers, Lil Wayne looks super tough but is, I suspect, about as actually tough as a toasting marshmallow. And his verse on this is so short and weird that it's hard to even process that it's him before it's over. My favorite lines: "got me look like baby Cupid shootin' arrows from above" (see previous point about toughness) and "And honestly I'm down like that economy" (which, points for topicality I suppose? but not many points for clarity, WAYNE.)

2. It's all about wanting to actually do things and having an adventurous spirit. Which is something I have struggled with in the past, but that I increasingly see is probably one of the most important ingredients of a happy life. This revelation was really hammered home for me when I caught Up on TV over the weekend. But then AFTER I watched Up I did go out and ended up being whistled at at 2 in the morning by a biker gang which is just one of those things that I never knew how much I wanted to happen to me until it happened to me. So, lesson learned, Pixar. Lesson learned. And when I work out I see it as training for the general adventure that is life, hence the connection to exercise with this song.

Makes sense? Does this topic intrigue you as well? I always welcome comments and stories over e-mail.

I hope it is beautifully summery where you are too.

Yrs,
AW

inbedwithamywilson@gmail.com

So I'm Back To The Velvet Underground: Communication

Music is a form of communication that is sometimes direct and sometimes ineffable as heck. For instance, this particular song has been for the last few months something I listen to when I want to feel like myself again, after not feeling like myself. (Which is a distressing feeling as I am sure you understand.)

And it always works. So imagine my surprise to find out that Stevie Nicks actually wrote this song to remind HERSELF about herself, in the aftermath of mega-fame with Fleetwood Mac. "So I'm back to the Velvet Underground" -- her favorite used clothing store -- "back to the floor that I love" -- she used to keep her mattress directly on the floor -- "to a room with some lace and paper flowers" -- the way she decorated -- "back to the gypsy that I was."

And I pinky-swear that I only knew that background just now, today, long after I decided this was the song to listen to when I felt shaken-up and wanted to feel like Amy Wilson.

Isn't that kind of incredible? There is something encoded in this song beyond what the words actually say and beyond what the music actually sounds like. And that's what makes music something we can use to express to others what we can't figure out how to express.

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The song: Fleetwood Mac, "Gypsy"; 1982

I just want to make a quick sidebar here about Stevie Nicks, the person, because I happen to admire and respect her a lot. And so do many of the women of my acquaintance -- there is something about her that seems to speak to us.

Which makes me wonder why Stevie Nicks is the butt of quite so many jokes as she is. I understand that I wasn't alive when she was in her full prominence, so maybe there is something I am missing. But in my perception, her main crimes seem to be that she dresses kinda flamboyantly, she uses grandiose allusions to nature and magic in her lyrics, and she seems to lack a certain amount of self-awareness.

To which I say, so what? That's rock n' roll, baby. Or at least the kind of rock n' roll that I want to hear.

But I'll go ahead and say the word I am thinking, which is sexism. Sexism is the force that reveres David Bowie for wearing skintight leggings and reviles Stevie Nicks for wearing lace sleeves. Sexism is the force that assumes that an artist like Katy Perry can't possibly be the architect of her own aesthetic, and of her own success. (See also: "At the Movies with Amy Wilson: Katy Perry Part of Me 3D") Sexism is the force that makes a list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time and puts two women on it, and neither higher than 75th place. (Bonnie Raitt - 89; Joni Mitchell - 75. Which offends me deeply. DEEPLY!)

(And actually this force is a certain prominent rock magazine but I will not defile this blog by naming it here.)

Sexism in music, and music criticism, is a real thorn in my boot. It's something that I hope to address on an ongoing basis, with a light touch naturally, and mostly by Being The Change That I Wish To See -- which in my case involves posting here the music that I like, and that touches me, and not worrying that it is too "silly" or "girly".

Because why is it even still possible to use "too girly" as an insult? I ask you.

(Previous Fleetwood Mac: Rumours

Previous Stevie Nicks: "Leather and Lace")

Yrs,
AW

inbedwithamywilson@gmail.com

I Know A Place: "I'll Take You There"

I love soul music.

For many reasons. It's historically and culturally interesting (as I learned indelibly when I visited the Stax Records Museum in Memphis). It's a truly American art form (and I am very interested in those). It's emotional and interpersonal (like me). It's filled with strong personalities and sassy ladies (like country music, another one of my great passions).

But mostly, I love soul music because it's fun and it makes me want to dance.

And I'd never really liked this song but I've gained a new appreciation for it recently because I've realized just how magical and charming the phrase "I'll take you there" really is. That is, if you have any sort of lust for life at all, but I am sure you do if you love soul music.

Let's go!

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The song: The Staples Singers, "I'll Take You There"; 1972

Previous Staples Singers: "Let's Do It Again"

Yrs,
AW

inbedwithamywilson@gmail.com

I'm Just Trying To Find A Decent Melody: For the Anxious

There is a particular topic that I want to start writing about more often.

Want is maybe not the right word. I mean something more along the lines of "don't really want to at all, but feel I should in order to stay true to my own personal values" (but that doesn't condense well). 

In this case the personal value is authenticity. 

And the topic is mental illness.

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Usually I write very quickly. Too quickly for my own good in many cases. What translates as confidence in professional and public writing often seems aggressive in a personal context. 

But yes, as people who follow me on Twitter can attest, I've often compared the way I look and feel while writing to the Phantom of the Opera. With the same hunched posture, same "don't look at me I am a TORTURED MONSTER!" sort of attitude, many fewer candelabras, and a slightly less intense desire to kidnap people and bring them back to my lair.

(I do have sort of a real Thing for interesting lamps, so I suppose that's my equivalent of the candelabra thing.)

Although I know this to be true about myself, I'd have a hard time with anyone trying to describe me this way because of how closely it adhers to the archetype of the "crazy creative" mind. It's not so much being called "crazy". . .it's more my desire to not associate anything mystical or special to the quality. I think anyone who knows what it really feels like will say the same.

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I just want to pause a moment here and say that I feel very lucky to have this venue in which to explain myself, and to have experienced an audience that's been incredibly sympathetic and kind. Wonders of the modern world.

Also to say that this is one thing I am writing very slowly.

There are so many things I want to say about mental illness, and very many things holding me back. A reluctance to be personally vulnerable is certainly one of them, but I also sometimes wonder if it's even worth trying to write about it or if the territory has already been too well-covered. (Which is something I have been sensitive about ever since my junior year of college, when a manuscript of mine was returned from an award committee with the feedback that Jewish identity narratives have had their time already. Which is probably true, and I should get over it, but I gotta tell you it was a real slap in the face.)

But I'll keep slogging away at figuring it out. Every piece of writing is just a draft.

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Whew. Well, I think I've got it left in me to talk about what I came here to talk about: the nature of obsession. 

More precisely, the nature of being an obsessive person. It's my experience that what separates a really scary obsessive person from just your garden variety lovably neurotic obsessive person is the ability to diversify your obsessions.

I certainly know this has been the case for me, which is why at the age of 25 I have a mind like a REALLY cluttered attic and am seriously considering renting additional storage space somehow. I just have this really relentless desire to acquire knowledge, and I realize that sounds like what the kids are calling a "humblebrag" but what I mean to emphasize here is the word relentless. Sometimes I would really like it to relent.

But it doesn't, and that's what makes me an obsessive person. That's all it ever is. Just too much of a (maybe good, maybe neutral) thing. 

This quality of mine doesn't usually scare me, because it's just the way I live. But I know that it does scare other people occasionally. The word "obsessive" in itself is an insult, not to mention the many associations of Fatal Attraction and Misery that come with it when you happen to be a woman, as I am (in case you hadn't realized). 

That's why I've learned to conceal it in my general life. Not because I am ashamed, but because it's not a good feeling to scare people. 

And if you'll let me indulge my melodramatic side for a moment plz plz, even the Phantom of the Opera wears a mask. 

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The song: U2, "Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of"; 2002

Yrs,

AW

inbedwithamywilson@gmail.com

And I Love Everybody Since I Fell In Love With You: "Everybody Loves A Lover"

Get ready, because this song is just ADORABLE.


The song: The Shirelles, "Everybody Loves A Lover"; 1962

So adorable in fact that I put it on a mix CD I made a few months back for a friend's birthday. (She was turning one. It seemed momentous enough for a mix CD.) And because this friend happens to be what most people would call "a baby", I wanted the songs on this mix CD to be only the sweetest and best I could find.

I can't remember what all I put on there but I know it had Paul Simon's "Loves Me Like A Rock", Jackson 5 "I Want You Back", Miriam Makeba "Pata Pata", and Jackson Browne "Somebody's Baby" (I couldn't resist).

In any case, I can highly recommend any of the above songs if you find yourself in an ebullient mood now or at some point in the future.

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(Previous Shirelles: "Will You Love Me Tomorrow"; I also discovered this Bryan Ferry cover of that song recently [and it's good!])

And "Everybody Loves A Lover" is in fact ebullient, perhaps as ebullient as it gets. I just love the phrasing of "I should worry, doo be doo be do, not for nothing, doo be doo be do" for its unique blend of early 60s un-self-consciousness and what one might term "Yiddishkeit". Which is the ineffable essence of what makes a Jewish thing Jewish, which is something I have had cause to think about a fair few times over the course of my life. I don't know my own personal answer but I am pretty sure it has something to do with having expressive eyebrows. (All jokes aside, "Everybody Loves A Lover" was written by the Jewish lyricist Richard Adler, known mostly for his work in musicals.)

The Shirelles cover is actually a re-work of an original by Doris Day, which is also pretty snazzy in a much different way.

But I find the Shirelles version just killer. Only the sweetest and the best.

Yrs,
AW

inbedwithamywilson@gmail.com

And It Could Work For You: "Something Good Can Work"

Here's a nice summery song that will make you want to participate in a montage of fun activities with a group of attractive people:


The song: Two Door Cinema Club, "Something Good Can Work"; 2011

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I am still on this kick of songs about happiness, because I am beginning to put together my own theory of happiness.

Sometimes I wish I didn't have to make a theory about everything before I can truly accept it, but this is the way my mind works. It hurts sometimes because it never shuts itself down -- my mind, that is. But I've learned I've just got to keep feeding it things to think about so it doesn't turn on itself.

In fact, keeping my mind from turning on itself is one of my main occupations.

I was born with a very heavy genetic predisposition toward mental illness. I don't talk about this much because I don't like to. But a genetic predisposition is a genetic predisposition, and a life is a life, and mine has made me into a person who can be obsessive, moody, impulsive, despairing, and/or nervous in turns.

My brain is my best friend and my worst enemy.

In my life I spend a lot of time thinking about things that seem like they don't bear that much thinking about. Like popular music, and Dancing with the Stars, and why there are so many flavors of gum right now. (Seriously though, why?)

Happiness is one of those things, but only for people who know what it is instinctively. Just like mainstream culture is not worth thinking about for those who have never felt themselves to be alienated from it.

I don't know what happiness is, or at least I haven't known it. That's not to say I've never been happy in my life: I've been white-water rafting, and played Risk, and gone to the mall with friends -- I've had good experiences and relief from the darker sides of life, certainly. But I wouldn't call my past self a happy person, in the sense of being able to fall asleep knowing I would be happy again in the morning.

I think this is because happiness is like any other meaningful pursuit, and it takes time and a level of self-knowledge to create. But happiness is among the more challenging of meaningful pursuits, not only because it is so ineffable but because humans seem to be willing to accept a base level of unhappiness as their punishment for being alive. That's a big statement I know, but I also know I can't be the only person who has ever thought something like "man this chair is REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE but eh, it'd be too much work to move."

So I hope you'll bear with me as I try to work this out, and I hope you'll occasionally find something of worth for yourself in the various thoughts I share about this issue. I just want to say, more to myself than anything but also to you: I know it seems like happiness should be self-evident, and I know it seems like there's something wrong with you when it's not. But that's the beginning of the theory, not its end, and something good can work.

Yrs,
AW

inbedwithamywilson@gmail.com

Once I Figured It Out You Were Right Here All Along: Modern Love

Usually I would just link to the entry where I said this, but for the first time in my life I am feeling the urge to quote myself and I kind of want to ride this wave into shore.

"1. There are two schools of thought in this world: "People are stupid. So if a lot of them like something, it must be stupid."; and "People are stupid, but if a lot of them like something, it could actually just be SO good that it penetrated the stupidness of people."

Because, yes, people are stupid and never more so than when considered in large groups. BUT people are also innately musical AS A SPECIES and programmed to love love AS A SPECIES, so it's not like even large groups of people can't recognize a good pop song (which is nothing simpler and nothing more complicated than a piece of art appealing to those two qualities of people).

2. Yes, pop music uses a lot of computers. Sometimes in ways that are stupid. But ALSO sometimes in ways that actually enhance the overall sound of the song.

and FURTHERMORE, it's not like someone has invented a Pop Music Song Creating Program.

It's still all humans, all human thoughts and human words and human tastes when it comes down to it. We use tools! And a computer is a REALLY GREAT TOOL.

So for every song that comes on the radio that makes you want to roll the windows down and turn it UP

there was a human in a studio somewhere who felt that feeling too and was smart enough to recognize it for what it was.

and god damn it aren't we all brothers and sisters????????????????"

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So here's a song that you have a one in five chance of hearing with ten seconds of turning on a radio:

The song: Justin Timberlake, "Mirrors"; 2013

I think this song is amazing. I even love the more conceptual coda, and I am usually very much NOT into "more-conceptual codas". 

"Mirrors" is a great example of the neo-funk sound that's really coming back (notably with Daft Punk's  "Get Lucky", Chris Brown's "Fine China" [which I won't link to because I am trying to lose my crush on it because Chris Brown is truly a reprehensible person], and Justin Timberlake's own "Suit and Tie" [I usually would shy away from Speaking For My Generation, but on this issue I can say with confidence that Jay-Z's involvement in this song does not make it better]). 

My feelings about this neo-funk trend are 100% great, but what I think is even more encouraging is that "Mirrors" is a positive song. It's calm, and happy, and it describes a relationship that is stable.

I've written before about the fetishization of pain in popular music, particularly as it relates to romance. But seriously, life and love do NOT have to be painful to be meaningful. In fact, can we agree that it's much easier to live a meaningful life when you can focus on things other than yourself?

Like music, and dancing, and food, and interesting nonfiction, and pictures of baby exotic mammals, and sharing good experiences with good people. 

It can be easy.

Yrs,

AW

inbedwithamywilson@gmail.com