I've realized that when it comes to music, some people are lyrics people and some are not. Some people think the lyrics make or break the song; some say it's the beat; others, the melody.
It may not surprise you that I'm a lyrics person. If I can't understand the lyrics, it drives me crazy. If I do understand the lyrics, and the grammar is bad, that's even worse.
Anyway, I get frustrated by the fact that a large percentage of the new top-40 songs these days is about going clubbing and/or partying without regard for consequences. That in itself wouldn't prompt me to blog, but J-Lo's new-ish song "On the Floor," with its catchy rhythms and dance-able beat makes me think some people may need to pay just a leeeeeetle more attention to lyrics.
The song is about going out partying at some club or other, and about all the things that happen on the dance floor. I had assumed she was trying to make such partying attractive and trying to get more people to party like her. But then I looked up the lyrics.
Here is a list of all the things the singer encourages her audience to do to - or on - the floor:
gotta get on the floor
step on the floor
tear up the floor
Break a sweat on the floor
work on the floor
Pick your body up and drop it on the floor
Let the rhythm change your world on the floor
running [poop] tonight on the floor
Live your life, and stay young on the floor
Grab somebody drink a little more
gon’ be it on the floor
clap your hands on the floor
keep on rockin’, rock it up on the floor
kill it on the floor
Steal it quick on the floor
It's getting ill, it’s getting sick on the floor
never quit, never rest on the floor
probably die on the floor
She has it all: nonsense (be it on the floor, stay young on the floor), destructive behavior (tear up the floor), felonies (kill it on the floor, steal it quick on the floor), irresponsibility (drink a little more), pain (pick your body up and drop it on the floor), completely disgusting stuff (sick on the floor, [poop] on the floor), and death (probably die on the floor).
Well, all except anything actually attractive about clubbing/partying. My conclusion: it's a tongue-in-cheek song poking fun at people who dance wildly at parties without paying attention to anyone around them.
Although I'll say this: J-Lo's latest song makes more sense than anything Ke$ha's ever sung.
2 comments:
Oh, come on! You're too hard on Ke$ha--how can you not like lyrics like "Go insane, go insane, throw some glitter, make it rain on 'em / let me see them hands, let me, let me see them hands!"? The profundity kills me every time.
And those two songs are angelic compared to Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night."
Why do the lyrics remind me much about "planking?"
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