Tu Es Bueno!
This is a Diet Dr. Pepper fueled entry...
So following the advice of many intelligent people, including my wife, I have made a feel-good kind of playlist. A "come on and buck up little camper" kind of thing that I based on B's "You Are Great" playlist title.
It is called "Tu Es Bueno", which is probably grammatically incorrect, but since when has that stopped me from mangling another culture's language (and maybe even our own)? There are 29 genres and 315 songs representin'. One song that just got added is Christina Aguliera's "Beautiful".
What an interesting phenomenon this song is!
I think it is more popular now than it was a year or two ago. Maybe it is our generation's Wind Beneath My Wings. It is definitely an inspirational song in the style of that Easy Listening hit. And easy listening is prejorative, so, how can I give in to this pablum, you ask, highly sophisticated reader. At first I was impressed by what a savvy move it was to follow up "Dirrty" with "Beautiful". The video was so brilliantly designed to reach an audience that isn't existing in the conventional stereotype of glamorous American youth (The OC, Paris Hilton, Christina). And, it did seem like a message that needed to be said at that time. It was just smart. And I'm sure it was the main reason that album sold so many copies.
Plus the songwriting is just bulletproof. Check out the second verse:
To all your friends, you're delirious
So consumed, in all your doom
Trying hard, to fill the emptiness
The piece is gone, left the puzzle undone,
Ain't that the way it is
It builds and then settles. She does do all that crazy up and down stuff, but not too much. It uses a Beatles-ish descending chord progression. It's good.
"Beautiful" has gotten a lot of attention too, especially with her new album coming out. Check out what Sasha Frere Jones just wrote in the New Yorker about it:
Aguileras second album, Stripped contained several tracks written with Linda Perry, originally of the dull nineties rock band 4 Non Blondes and now one of pop musics reliable hired guns. (She is responsible for some of this decades best radio hits, including Pink's Get the Party Started) Aguileras irrepressible voice brings out the schmaltz in Perry. On Stripped Perrys most significant contribution was Beautiful, a barn burner for everyone who has ever felt less than cute on a Friday night. I am beautiful, no matter what they saywords cant bring me down, goes the chorus. The way Aguilera hits the last five wordswhich Perry wrote as a descending line, momentarily slowing the rhythm, in a motion that pulls against the lyrics prideful claimproduced her Rocky moment. You know shes going to raise her fists and jump when she reaches the top of the steps, but you get goose bumps anyway.
Well Said Sasha.
Anyway, I put on my list and listened to it on my way to work on Tuesday.
The main reason I created the playlist was to help me deal with my evil, evil boss. Sure enough, that afternoon, when my boss started asking me if I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, I calmly said to her, "Maybe."
Thank you Linda, Thank You Christina.
We Did It!
We kicked her ass!
I am Beautiful in every single way!
MP3: Beautiful - Christina Aguilera
Special Bonus!
MP3: Beautiful - Clem Snide
Mp3: Beware Of Darkness - George Harrison
So following the advice of many intelligent people, including my wife, I have made a feel-good kind of playlist. A "come on and buck up little camper" kind of thing that I based on B's "You Are Great" playlist title.
It is called "Tu Es Bueno", which is probably grammatically incorrect, but since when has that stopped me from mangling another culture's language (and maybe even our own)? There are 29 genres and 315 songs representin'. One song that just got added is Christina Aguliera's "Beautiful".
What an interesting phenomenon this song is!
I think it is more popular now than it was a year or two ago. Maybe it is our generation's Wind Beneath My Wings. It is definitely an inspirational song in the style of that Easy Listening hit. And easy listening is prejorative, so, how can I give in to this pablum, you ask, highly sophisticated reader. At first I was impressed by what a savvy move it was to follow up "Dirrty" with "Beautiful". The video was so brilliantly designed to reach an audience that isn't existing in the conventional stereotype of glamorous American youth (The OC, Paris Hilton, Christina). And, it did seem like a message that needed to be said at that time. It was just smart. And I'm sure it was the main reason that album sold so many copies.
Plus the songwriting is just bulletproof. Check out the second verse:
To all your friends, you're delirious
So consumed, in all your doom
Trying hard, to fill the emptiness
The piece is gone, left the puzzle undone,
Ain't that the way it is
It builds and then settles. She does do all that crazy up and down stuff, but not too much. It uses a Beatles-ish descending chord progression. It's good.
"Beautiful" has gotten a lot of attention too, especially with her new album coming out. Check out what Sasha Frere Jones just wrote in the New Yorker about it:
Aguileras second album, Stripped contained several tracks written with Linda Perry, originally of the dull nineties rock band 4 Non Blondes and now one of pop musics reliable hired guns. (She is responsible for some of this decades best radio hits, including Pink's Get the Party Started) Aguileras irrepressible voice brings out the schmaltz in Perry. On Stripped Perrys most significant contribution was Beautiful, a barn burner for everyone who has ever felt less than cute on a Friday night. I am beautiful, no matter what they saywords cant bring me down, goes the chorus. The way Aguilera hits the last five wordswhich Perry wrote as a descending line, momentarily slowing the rhythm, in a motion that pulls against the lyrics prideful claimproduced her Rocky moment. You know shes going to raise her fists and jump when she reaches the top of the steps, but you get goose bumps anyway.
Well Said Sasha.
Anyway, I put on my list and listened to it on my way to work on Tuesday.
The main reason I created the playlist was to help me deal with my evil, evil boss. Sure enough, that afternoon, when my boss started asking me if I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, I calmly said to her, "Maybe."
Thank you Linda, Thank You Christina.
We Did It!
We kicked her ass!
I am Beautiful in every single way!
MP3: Beautiful - Christina Aguilera
Special Bonus!
MP3: Beautiful - Clem Snide
Mp3: Beware Of Darkness - George Harrison
posted by jEFF at 6:10 PM
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