I've been listening to Crash Test Dummies lately... like for the past few days. I haven't heard them for a long time... since probably my freshman year. I always think it's funny how many of their songs I know just because David used to listen to their CD's all the time. They're good. I like the style of their music, and also the lyrics because they are so weird. I've been making Frik listen to them, too, and I don't think he's quite sure whether or not he likes them. He laughs once in a while (I think he especially likes the Superman song)
You know Solomon Grundy isn't just a bad guy in comic books? there's a poem about him:
Solomon Grundy,
Born on a Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday.
This is the end
Of Solomon Grundy.
I don't like it. Some old nursery rhymes are so creepy. Why would you tell that to a kid? yuk...
Anyway, I'm going to go sleep. I've been staying up way to late for no good reason.
I'd actually never heard of Solomon Grundy except for in that song until I started looking up super-heros and super-villians on wikipedia a while ago. Apparently, he usually didn't go toe to toe with Superman but with Green Lanter or Batman.
ReplyDeleteThe rhyme itself is a riddle of sorts, where you try to answer how he could do all of those things within a week (the answer is that the days mentioned in the riddle fall on different weeks throughout Solomon's life).
I think the Superman song is kind of sad. If you think about it, it just points out how very gruelling the kind of work that Superman does is. Tarzan, conversely, doesn't have to live in such a morally challenging world because the nature of his society is simply kill or be killed, no question of rights, privilege or authority.
ReplyDeleteOf course, it also just points out how much more of a strong man Superman really is; he could break in to any bank in the United States but he doesn't. He has the power, and no law enforcement agency in the world could really stop him. He has the power to simply take whatever he wants. Perhaps, above all else, it is a testament to good parenting that Clark chose to live a life so simply and within the confines of our societal norms.
It really is a very complex song, lyrically, when you start thinking about all the meaning. I haven't even scratched the surface.
ooh, I know. That's the thing about a lot of the Crash Test Dummies' stuff is that it sounds silly because they use such random examples... (Why sing about a kid who got in an accident and it turned all his hair from black to white?) but they are also very full of more serious meaning. It's cool.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the things I don't like about the Solomon Grundy poem is that if all of the lines were to rhyme, all of the days of the week would be pronounced "dee" instead of "day" (Sundee, Mondee, Tuesdee...) That's how we always made fun of Dad for saying it, and even though it is technically acceptable in the English language, it just seems wrong.
ps, Theorb... How can I get a username or whatever so I can comment on your blog??
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should change the pronunciation to "Grunday."
ReplyDeleteOr maybe not.
Agreed that Superman Song is good, and sad.
I knew that you would comment on this post, by the way. :o)
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