Music Poetry Post 12/3

I have to be honest, I had difficulty being honest about the choice of song and musicians to select for this post. You see, going into high school I liked heavy rock music like Guns' N Roses and Led Zepplin, which graduated to alternative grunge with Nirvana (I still like both to some extent). But something weird happened to me when I was a senior. I became an obsessive Beatles fan (over a girl), and that may have been the start of a movement towards a more chilled adult contemporary, who knows? As I have gone through my 20's and now early 30's, it seems I have mellowed out a bit - at least with respect to music. (There was a stop in Techno, and pop, soul, and blues music have long been a standby as well).

Today, you are more likely to catch me listening to Ben Folds Five, Rufus Wainwright, Mason Jennings, or Regina Spektor. The song I chose to discuss is Regina Spektors' "Laughing With". The truth is this is a new song, so I don't really have a sentimental attachment to this song like I do others. However, what I like about Regina's songs is that she uses different vocal functions (such as the glottal stop (sp?)). Additionally, she writes her own lyrics, and they often include fantastical stories or in the case of "Laughing With", riddled social commentary that can be interpreted in different perspectives.

This song is about God, and the idea that people take God for granted until they are in dire straights or want something. It's unclear if she is pointing out the hypocrisy of this behavior, her questioning the existence of God, or if she is merely commentating on what she observes as our peculiar social relationship with the God. She lists all the reasons when "no one is laughing at God" such as:

When they are starving, freezing or poor.
When the doctor calls after some routine tests
When they see the one they love, hand in hand with someone else And they hope that they’re mistaken

But then returns to the dismissive nature of God in postmodern American cultural context:

But God can be funny
At a cocktail party when listening to a good God-themed joke, or
Or when the crazies say He hates us
And they get so red in the head you think they’re ‘bout to choke


So this is why I like Regina. She has a compelling personality, melody, and appearance. Her music is upbeat (even in minor), her songs are full of wit, and she has developed a cult following as a kind of humble, shy, entertainer with this great energy.

Which leads me to answer the larger question. Why do I like this genre of music? Well, I would say that race/culture (Regina is from a Jewish heritage), education, political ideology (she is most definitely, liberal), perceived socio/cultural-economic status all play a role as well. Not that everyone at her concerts is a young 30 something, non-married, white, Jewish, liberal, academic media librarian - but I would suspect that if I were sitting at a table with fellow fans, I would certainly relate to them more so than say, country music lovers...Though through Taylor Swift we might be able to find some middle ground! :)