Song: Why the Butterflies
Album: Piano & A Microphone 1983
Year: 2018
From the first posthumous album release, this entire album is an intimate glimpse into the working mind of a musical genius. The album title says it all . . . this is just Prince at the piano singing into a microphone. The recording is unpolished but not all that bad and the microphone allows for some vocal dynamics which, now that I think of it, may have some applied production to them. This track is a meditation on a relatively simple chord progression with occasional vocals. It feels like the creative mind at work; Prince seems to be trying out some ideas which, while not really coming together into a complete song are pleasant enough to explore along with him.
Verdict: 3/5 stars
Would I sing it at karaoke? What an absurd thought.
Song: Teenage Wildlife
Album: Scary Monsters
Year: 1980
AllMusic suggests this track as a perfect one for the closing credits of a teen film, citing that the song is a celebration of adolescence. It's difficult to verify without printed lyrics because Bowie's vocal intonations make the words difficult to understand. Having read through the lyrics I still don't really grasp the whole thing. Here's what songfacts.com has to say on it:
David Bowie (from the Mail on Sunday June 29, 2008): "So it's late morning and I'm thinking: 'New song and a fresh approach. I know, I'm going to do a Ronnie Spector. Oh yes I am. Ersatz, just for one day.' And I did and here it is. Bless. I'm still enamored of this song and would give you two 'Modern Loves' for it any time. It's also one that I find fulfilling to sing onstage. It has some nice interesting sections to it that can trip you up, always a good kind of obstacle to contend with live. Ironically, the lyric is something about taking a short view of life, not looking too far ahead and not predicting the oncoming hard knocks. The lyric might have been a note to a younger brother or my own adolescent self."
I'm actually not buying this . . . I think someone over at the website got mixed up and applied a quote about the song "Heroes" to "Teenage Wildlife." But this is a moot point. The song itself is perhaps too artsy for my tastes. I can't sink my teeth into anything either musically or vocally, making this one extremely difficult for me to get into.
Verdict: 2/5 stars
Would I sing it at karaoke? It really is quite a difficult song vocally, so no.
Winner: Why the Butterflies
Running Score: Bowie 6, Prince 4
No comments:
Post a Comment