Some have called this a power ballad. I can't accept that. You don't call Romeo and Juliet a romance novel. You don't call Air Force Ones "sneakers."
Amy Lee's angelic crooning over that agressive metal guitar and backup vocals from Paul McCoy - it's like Linda Ronstadt meets Ronny James Dio. You wouldn't think that would work, but here it is. Get the album version of this song and listen to the moment just before the first chorus - it sounds like a depth charge. Very cool.
As a person, Kanye West's a bit of an ass. As a writer, he's astounding:
We at war
We at war with terrorism, racism, and most of all we at war with ourselves
(Jesus Walks)
God show me the way because the Devil trying to break me down
(Jesus Walks with me) with me, with me, with me
You know what the Midwest is?
Young and Restless
Where restless (N*ggas) might snatch your necklace
And next, these (N*ggas) might jack your Lexus
Somebody tell these (N*ggas) who Kanye West is
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death is
Top floor the view alone will leave you breathless Uhhhh!
Try to catch it Uhhhh! It's kinda hard
Getting choked by the detectives - yeah now check the method
They be asking us questions, harass and arrest us
Saying "we eat pieces of sh*t like you for breakfast"
Huh? Yall eat pieces of sh*t? What's the basis?
We ain't going nowhere, but got suits and cases
A truck full of crap, rental car from Avis
My momma used to say only Jesus can save us
Well momma, I know I act the fool
But I'll be gone 'til November I got packs to move, I hope
[chorus]
(Jesus Walks)
God show me the way because the Devil trying to break me down
(Jesus Walks with me)
The only thing that that I pray is that my feet don't fail me now
(Jesus Walks)
And I don't think there is nothing I can do now to right my wrongs
(Jesus Walks with me)
I want to talk to God but I'm afraid because we ain't spoke in so long
To the hustlers, killers, murderers, drug dealers even the strippers
(Jesus walks with them)
To the victims of Welfare for we living in hell here hell yeah
(Jesus walks with them)
Now hear ye hear ye want to see Thee more clearly
I know He hear me when my feet get weary
Cause we're the almost nearly extinct
We rappers are role models - we rap we don't think
I ain't here to argue about his facial features
Or here to convert atheists into believers
I'm just trying to say the way school need teachers
The way Kathie Lee needed Regis that's the way I need Jesus
So here go my single, dog - radio needs this
They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus
That means guns, sex, lies, video tapes
But if I talk about God my record won't get played... Huh?
Well let this take away from my spins
Which will probably take away from my ends
Then I hope this take away from my sins
And bring the day that I'm dreaming about
Next time I'm in the club everybody screaming out
[chorus] ------------------------- Just to be clear, I'm also not here to convert Atheists, only to appreciate great songwriting. Almost everybody else in Hip-hop is writing self-aggrandizing, misogynistic, shallow, mass-appeal drivel, and Kanye's turning the mirror on all of them. His songs make you uncomfortable because they make you question yourself, expose myths and ugly ironies, and ultimately tell hard truths. He's an ass. I wish more were like him.
The backup vocal on this sultry Latin-Pop ballad is the guitar itself, "played by Carlos Santana," of course.
I'm a sucker for a song with a sound that fits the lyrics. I could imagine this very song playing outside in the streets, in the dead of summer, asphalt baking, people trying to find a little shade, a little water. Kids in swimsuits playing in the sprinklers and hoses in their front yards.
People from outside the area might call it a dangerous neighborhood, but for the people who live there, it's home, and you make the best of it. Life is hard, money is tight. Mostly you live for your family, love, good home-cooked food, and great music.
This might be the most important song about shoes since Blue Suede Shoes. Nelly and his boys love their Nikes the way Carrie and Samantha love their Manolo Blahniks.
Some of my favorite lines:
Nelly: The last person that touched 'em, I damn near shot 'em
Kyjuan: Now if you look and see lime green Forces, it's Kiwi
You couldn't get this color if you had a personal genie
Murphy Lee: We up in Foot Locker, I'm looking like I need those 10-1/2, and if you got 'em, give me two of those I can tell she's never seen Murphy Lee befo' 'Cause she just standin' there as if I'm shootin' free throws I said, "Excuse me, miss, I only wanna buy shoes" She said, "I love you, Murph, especially in the white and blue" I said, "The white and blue? Sounds nice, make it twice" Then I signed an autograph, "Thanks for the advice"
Have you ever had a conversation with your younger or older self? What would you say to yourself if you could go back in time? What would that person think of who you became?
The fifteen-year-old I used to be is a close friend to me, at least in my mind. I talk about the world and my life to him, and he reminds me of all the passion, dreams, and ideals I had and still try to have.
Mostly, like this song does, I urge him not be in such a hurry. Few of us realize how time accelerates until we get into our late thirties and can really see each year passing faster than the last. That's when you appreciate what you really had when you were fifteen: time.
Eminem is an important figure in modern music history, mainly because his work is the reason that the very idea of a white rapper isn't a joke.
But I think we're past that now. He's one of the great talents of our time - forget the color of his skin or the genre he works in.
Lose Yourself could be the first act of a play:
...a piano exudes melodrama as the curtain opens. The narrator asks the fateful question to be faced ("If you had one opportunity...would you take it?"). The piano gives way to a short guitar riff - a beating heart - really a pounding heart...
Right away, in that opening moment, our main character falls flat on his face, overcome by stage fright ("he opens his mouth, but the words won't come out").
In the next scene, he has some success, but he causes so much trouble for himself and his family that it's hardly worth it, and then it all slips through his fingers anyway.
Just when it seems time to give up on him, it's that third scene where the audience finally gets inspiration to root for the hero. He runs the emotional gamut, from anger to passion, frustration to helplessness, to realization, and finally to resolve:
No more games, I'ma change what you call rage
Tear this motherf**kin' roof off, like 2 dogs caged
I was playing in the beginning, the mood all changed
I've been chewed up and spit out and booed off stage
But I kept rhyming and stepped right into the next cypher
Best believe somebody's paying the pied piper
All the pain inside amplified by the fact
That I can't get by with my 9 to 5
And I can't provide the right type of life for my family
Cause man, these goddam food stamps don't buy diapers
And it's no movie - there's no Mekhi Phifer - this is my life
And these times are so hard, and it's getting even harder
Trying to feed and water my seed, plus
Teeter-totter caught up between being a father and a prima donna
Baby mama drama's screaming on and
Too much for me to wanna
Stay in one spot, another day of monotony
Has gotten me to the point, I'm like a snail
I've got to formulate a plot or end up in jail or shot
Success is my only motherf**kin' option, failure's not
Mom, I love you, but this trailer's got to go
I cannot grow old in Salem's Lot
So here I go it's my shot - feet fail me not
This may be the only opportunity that I got!
Songwriters seldom expose a raw nerve like this, especially considering how much of it we all know to be autobiographical. But that's what greatness takes. "Write what you know," the old saw goes. If you have the courage to lay it all out there, it really works.
Music-wise, this is a nice Pop song. Lyrically, it's a thing of beauty.
Pat Monahan was inspired to write this song after the death of his mother; some of the lyrics came to him in a dream. The song is essentially a fantasy of her coming back to see him, and it laced with lots of metaphors about a trip through the cosmos. I expect there's a little more to it than that, but that's the gist of it.
Drops Of Jupiter is such a visual song. Think back to the lyrics of Don McLean's Vincent:
Starry starry night, flaming flowers that brightly blaze Swirling clouds in violet haze reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue...
and compare:
Tell me did you sail across the sun?
Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded
And that heaven is overrated?
The lyrics turn words into light and color, and the listener gets two different stimuli: one in sound and the other in pictures in the mind. Great writers, whether they're songwriters or book authors or (cough, cough) bloggers, strive to inspire images in the mind of the reader. A song like this can really transport you to another world.
It slides into the music at the club right alongside Brick House, Super Freak, September, Rock With You, Get Down On It, Ladies' Night, Billie Jean, and on and on... (and it's better than most of them)
...and people out on the floor in their forties and fifties just keep on dancing, thinking it came out in 1983.
Mary J. Blige floats back and forth from singing Soul to Funk to Hip-hop like there are no boundaries between them - perhaps there aren't for her.
If you've been in cave somewhere and don't know this song, get to know it. It's that important, and it's that good. I don't care if you're 17 or 70, there's no excuse for not knowing and loving this song.
However, if you are 70, you may need some help with the vocabulary:
"Crunk" - (adj.) Past tense of 'crank,' as in "Crank up the music."
"Dancerie" - (n.) Place where people get together to dance, such as a club.
"Hateration" - (n.) Act or attitude characterized by negativity.
My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It) - En Vogue (1992) Mysterious Ways - U2 (1992) Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover - Sophie B. Hawkins (1992) If - Janet Jackson (1993) Come Undone - Duran Duran (1993) All I Wanna Do - Sheryl Crow (1994) Kiss From A Rose - Seal (1995) Here Comes The Hotstepper - Ini Kamoze (1995) Strong Enough - Sheryl Crow (1995) December - Collective Soul (1995) Keep Their Heads Ringin' - Dr. Dre (1995) Change The World - Eric Clapton (1996) Who Will Save Your Soul - Jewel (1996) Counting Blue Cars - Dishwalla (1996) You Learn / You Oughta Know - Alanis Morissette (1996) Mo Money Mo Problems - Notorious B.I.G. (1997) Everyday Is A Winding Road - Sheryl Crow (1997) Gettin' Jiggy Wit It - Will Smith (1998) Sex And Candy - Marcy Playground (1998) Genie In A Bottle - Christina Aguilera (1999)
You have to already be a member, or sign up - there's a free version, which is what I'm using. Once you're signed up, you should have access to all the playlists I've made so far.
Please comment and let me know if it works - thanks!
