2Pac's Do For Love

Today class we will discuss love and it always without exception comes in a two-pack form.  Now scratch that, Jimmy Hendrix told us love can come in a form of a guitar, so perhaps the loneliest number is not one, after all.  But that means we've now applied the filter of sex upon life as for that greatest experience one needs another one and an equal sign and a plus and so we have two.  About this aspect is what this little beat of heart is all about.  And I will use the song Do For Love by 2Pac as an example.  For two reasons.  First, I never met 2Pac and while being a musician that is important.  I do not run in the circles of music business nor am I privy to have even had a single date with a woman by my fortieth (40) birthday as it seems I was born disabled (low vision) so I have a different view on life from the rest of you.  And second, I have been in a relationship with a woman who seems to have treated me identically to what 2Pac describes.  Now this second fact might conflict with me never having dated.  That woman I was with because she said she was a victim of abuse and I dated her exclusively to give her time with someone, namely myself, whom could never harm her ever, and I never did harm her, and from the sounds of it she has moved on and has never been harmed since.  So some say that is dating, but as it was not a woman I chose but one whom I was rescuing, therefore my free will was not a component in our relationship - it was a love forced upon me by the reported cruelty of another man.  Had she not cried all over the web of being beaten I never would have even shown any interest in her.  Dating to me, is when those involved willingly are participating, when their minds aren't altered nor are they pushed nor influenced nor physically coerced.  Even though I am forty I have never had such a relationship.  I have only dated women who cried of being victims of abuse and never has a woman shown interest in me and offered her phone number nor hung out with me and took interest in my hobbies, let alone played ball with me or a game of chess.  So while I am obviously no expert on women, I also am, as I know what a woman does not want, ever, in her whole life.  And that my dear fellows, is more than any of you will ever grasp.  For I am a high school drop out who mastered what you all can only dream of and had the money and means to be what none of you can ever hope to achieve.  And yet no woman ever desired me.  Ever.  But let's move onto 2Pac's Do For Love.  Because unliek you all, I'm not willing to even lift a finger for love.  Some of you may think that this is the reason no woman dated me.  One must work hard for love.  But this is now getting into my song analysis.

To T-Shirt or Disc It?

There are days when I wonder why music stores are not around.  And then I find a playlist of Jenkees’ music and I sorta kinda know.  It is not because we could not have the exact same discovery experience and kept the stores, but simply because Blogger, YouTube and even Spotify look the way they do - the people in power want things this way and no other way.  Me, personally, could have found a way for record stores to be cool and hip despite the cyber assault on the music industry.  In fact, the very term I used assault is derived from the RIAA warfare on our tech culture and is the exact opposite of how things should have evolved: record stores and streaming and downloading are all complimentary.  There are days when I still listen to CDs and I still have my walkman, it’s a different experience that MP3s can not replace adequately.  Flipping the CD booklet is not the same as flipping through a PDF.  Never will be.  I can only enjoy digital media when there is power and equipment works - but in a zombie apocalypse the booklet is at least a fun thing to enjoy with others.  I know end of world isn’t exactly the ideal scenario to prove my point and yet it is.  Music is about life.

Love and Golddiggers

As a young teenager in Canada, after fleeing the cruel balkan-style Yogurt, err, I mean warfare that tore Jugoslavia apart, though it could've been the bad yogurt, I'm not yet sure, I realized something very interesting.  Heaven can be on Earth.  The house we moved into in Toronto was so beautiful, and the neighbourhood so pristine, clean, manicured, and void of graffiti, all the houses looked brand-spanking new, that I honestly thought I was in another world.  Not only that, but at twelve it was the first time in my life I had a bed in my own bedroom.  I know for most North Americans this is interesting as you all grew up with a room of your own and toys and clothing and so forth, but I did not.  At most I had a converted kitchen pantry that had a bed hanging from the ceiling so that I'd have space to pretend to be a bad ass Run DMC breaker.  Though after rotating on my knee once I gave up as it hurt like a cop.  So I never learned to dance, and I still don't know how.  But back then I noticed how in all the MTV videos and even in TO on Much I saw how love, masterfully crafted and dressed up better than a supermodel's salad, seemed to exist only for the super rich.  At least that's what I thought of this big white world.  I knew better though, but still I wondered if it existed beyond that landscape.  The role models for love in my life thus far could not provide even a Ferrari toy to push around as a kid, let alone a non-school related vacation.  So whlie love existed, I didn't see those whom truly loved rewarded by their society anywhere other than on American television.  Clearly celebrities had love.  Clearly.

How Sting Gave Weird Al A Run For His Money

One can listen to many songs and not experience laughter but not so with Weird Al’s music.  It is designed especially for this fine emotional outlet and it achieves it nearly perfectly.  Unless you’ve heard more than twenty of his songs and listen to them often, they’re mostly bound to bring joy to your life.  However, Sting rarely writes humorous tunes, depending on your bend in life of course, though that changed with Big Lie, Small World.  It may not have been meant as a humorous romp through romantic escapes of two people, but to me it is a deeper sort of humour than what Eezikiel did in some paradise.

How A Society Rocked Another Dream Away

Perhaps like most I perceived the song by the band Queen, the anthem of so many hockey nights, We Will Rock you, as a happy, inspirational song, and in a way it still is.  But I found an interpretation that I feel suits every lyric and word and perhaps even the powerful melody.  The lyrics to this song are quite easy to grasp and yet I think they still elude most.  Many modern song productions have complicated psychoacoustics to such an extent that people mistake a word here and there or entire phrases.  Some artists twist our ears even by purposely playing word games.  Queen's track does no such thing.  The lyrics are plain and easy to hear, and even to understand for non-English speakers.  So it is a wonder that many do not understand the song to be sad and describing quite a cruel situation.