I had a little time today, and was thinking about it, so I looked up the song. It's called
"Heartbeats" and it is performed by a certain Swedish fellow named Jose Gonzalez. I have embedded it here for your listening pleasure.
An interesting bit of trivia. Jose Gonzalez is not the writer or original performer of this song. It was actually written by a band from Stockholm called "The Knife". Apparently they are extremely eclectic. Their website looks like it could be the broadcasting source for the execution of the next american contractor by Taliban militants. For fun I looked up the original song as they performed it and I was completely blown away. It was way different, and kind of annoying. Here it is.
I maintain that the 80's was an awkward time for music. For some reason The Knife decided to recreate this time period of time periods, when all this synthesizer technology, still in its developing stages, was abused to almost criminal proportions. Unfortunately i think it ruined a lot of good music and has made me and others closed minded to a lot of wonderful songwriters. I realize now more than ever that songwriting is a largely unappreciated art form. People, myself included, can easily get distracted by the production of the recording and totally miss the fact that someone has actually composed an amazing contribution to the craft.
If you listen to Daniel Johnston, or even something a little more contemporary like Sufjan Stevens, sometimes it is hard to get passed the unpolished nasal singing, or the strange arrangements of the instruments, and understand the poetry in the actual creation of the song. I'm grateful to guys like Jose Gonzalez who can help me see the beauty in the midst of the technology overload and whiny melodramatic vocals that sometimes come when talented songwriters have a little too much freedom in the studio.
oh yeah... happy valentines day.
3 comments:
It was definitely interesting to compare the two versions of the song. I think Jose did a fantastic job. You bring up a good point -- it's hard to separate the quality of the songwriting from the quality of the production and performace. If you hear an annoying sounding song then it's hard to keep listening yet alone decide that it's a "great song". It must take a very special talent (one that I don't think has a clear name) to be able to be able to point out great songwriting when the sound itself is terrible. I never broke it down like that before... but it's a good point. Thanks for making me thinkg :)
And who knows, maybe you'll soon begin to think that some of those Ukrainian songs are "good songs".
I also really appreciated this post. What an awesome perspective to be able to see art even when it was hidden. The other day I was watching Friday Night Lights and heard a song that sounded familiar, but unfamiliar all at the same time. I went in search of the artists only to find it was a cover of, before mentioned, Daniel Johnston. Although Daniel does a fantastic job, he can present it in a way that is not always... music one can enjoy in any setting. Come to find he has been covered by a lot of artists.
Anywho, cool observation and cool post Zach, Thanks a ton.
Love your analysis here Bro. I laughed out loud when I heard the original. I thought "synthesizers not bad, kinda cool beat... oh my gosh what is wrong with her voice!" Anyway, keep these posts coming!
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