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Tiny Subgenres

Jack Fear

12:18 / 23.10.04

I have kind of a running joke with D: whenever a particular song comes on—say, The Church’s song "Feel," I’ll say, “If this isn’t the best pop song ever written about reincarnation, it’s definitely in the top three.” The joke, of course, is that I can only think of to other songs about reincarnation and the transmigration of the soul—the Fixx’s "Secret Separation" and Jane Siberry’s "Bound By The Beauty."

Now I’ve been listening to the Golden Palominos’ This Is How It Feels album, and on listening carefully to Lori Carson’s lyrics for “Bird Flying” (which I can’t find online, alas) I think we’ve found a fourth in this ridiculously small subgenre.

Anyone else have examples of tiny subgenres like this—at least two (but no more than five) songs on the same esoteric topic?

subcultureofone

13:45 / 23.10.04

hmmm. 'feel' is in my tiny genre of 'songs that feature the word suss'. the other one is 'we both know why you're here', also by the church. i really like that word. 'two places at once' off of 'sometime anywhere' also seems to be about reincarnation. lyrics here

'transmigration' is one of the tracks from isidore, a newish project between jeffrey caine [formerly of remy zero] and steve kilbey of the church, but 'the memory cloud' seems to be more about reincarnation/transmigration. as does 'written in sanskrit'.

i always thought 'celebration of the birthday of the elephant god' from remindlessness [steve kilbey solo] was about reincarnation, among other things.

can you tell the church is my favorite band?

Alex's Grandma

05:25 / 25.10.04

Isn't Various Times by The Fall about reincarnation ? I stand to be corrected here.

rizla mission

07:49 / 25.10.04

I was quite pleased with my top 5 list of popular radio hits with lyrics about prostitution, from an earlier Barbelith thread..

Sax

10:57 / 26.10.04

Songs about homeless old men men, or featuring samples of homeless old men singing:

Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet - Gavin Bryars
Joe - The Inspiral Carpets
Streets of London - Ralph McTell

Kit-Cat Club

11:36 / 26.10.04

'Mr Wendell'? Wasn't that about homeless old men?

Jack Fear

22:44 / 26.10.04

Dunno about "Mr Wendell," but Spearhead's "Hole In The Bucket" definitely was, and featured an old man singing on the chorus, too.

And there a priceless moment where Franti worries about giving the old man any coin, seeing as he might spend it on--gasp!--a pig's foot. Better he should starve, I guess. In the name of Allah, the all-compassionate.

Bed Head

00:12 / 27.10.04

Oooh, ‘Wharf Rat’ by the Grateful Dead is about a homeless old man, isn’t it? And also fits into my fat file of wine-related songs. That’s the excuse I use for my ears pricking up/my conversation tailing off whenever a singer mentions burgundy, or whatever. I’m not embarrassingly fixated, I’m collecting songs for a not-so-tiny subgenre. It’s research.

Also, on a sort of Dead-related note, I think maybe ‘Death and Destruction’ by the New Riders of the Purple Sage is supposed to be about reincarnation. I think. But it does vaguely meander around, so it’s difficult to tell. Hippies, y'know? It’s not terribly profound, anyway: in fact, as religious texts go, it’s a hell of a mazy steel guitar space-noodle.

De Selby

06:14 / 27.10.04

Tool's parabola is kind of about reincarnation.

"we are eternal, all this pain is an illusion..."

or maybe not.

Sax

06:57 / 28.10.04

Well, that's blown my homeless old man subgenre, then. Six songs at least. Not counting that crappy old Phil Collins song (was that about a man or a woman?).

Chiropteran

12:28 / 28.10.04

I'm partial to songs about The Gill-man (AKA The Creature from the Black Lagoon).

So far I've only got three:

The Brickbats - Na Na Na Na (The Creature)

Boney Fiend - Night of the Creature

Iced Earth - Dragon's Child

Some say "obscure," some say "elite."

I say "obscure." :|

~L

Chiropteran

12:31 / 28.10.04

Well, that's blown my homeless old man subgenre, then. Six songs at least.

And that's before you even start on Tom Waits (who, incidentally, sings on Jesus's Blood...). He could blow the whole thing with (any?) one album.

~L

grant

20:05 / 28.10.04

Lepidopteran: I wonder if the Cramps' "Goo-Goo Muck" would count. It's hard to say what that song is about, but it's some kind of woman-hungry swamp creature, I think.

I know I've run into this idea of micro-genres before, but for some reason they're all running out of my head right now.

Sax

12:17 / 29.10.04

Songs Called "The Power of Love":

The Power of Love - Frankie Goes to Hollywood
The Power of Love - Jennifer Rush
The Power of Love - Huey Lewis and the News

Saveloy

13:36 / 29.10.04

Alex>

"Isn't Various Times by The Fall about reincarnation ? I stand to be corrected here."

Lyrics to Various Times here (scroll down a bit). Looks to be about a single life at, well, various times, but the story goes - according to one member of Fallnet, anyway - that: "Smith once claimed in an interview to be a reincarnation of a concentration camp guard because he watched a documentary about it and thought he recognised some of the faces. The daft twat." Other people have suggested Wings but that one's about time travel.

Ooh, yeah - how about songs about time travel? I suggest Wings, by the Fall.

grant

17:21 / 29.10.04

I can't think of one offhand, but I'd lay money that George Harrison has a reincarnation song.

Time travel -- hell, I know I've got a couple mp3s off mp3.com, but I can't remember them. Ooo -- actually "Cleveland" by Burnside Project. I first heard that one there. It's about the chronosynclastic infundibulum in Kurt Vonnegut.

And there's that Sonic Youth song "Hey, Joni" which *feels* like it's about time travel, with that strange litany of out-of-order years. "It's 1957. It's 1963." and so on.

grant

17:33 / 29.10.04

Gloria- U2
Gloria- Laura Branigan
Gloria- The Doors

Char Aina

17:36 / 29.10.04

and van morrison.

madfigs #32, now with wasabi

04:02 / 30.10.04

"Galileo" by the Indigo Girls is also most definitely about reincarnation, it even has a reincarnation-themed video!

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