(13) Dead Can Dance, "American Dreaming"
This is going to be a weird matchup of affects here facing off in this first round match. Here the incomparable Dead Can Dance (who also do a lovely cover of another one of our contenders, This Mortal Coil's "Song to the Siren") bring us a gloomy love song, or a statement of love until all is washed away, anyway, with a political bent. Brendan Perry's vocals here are soaring, though the song's ultimately sad. We appreciate the intelligent combination of open chords, complicated instrumentation (especially toward the end), and the ambitious diction: clearly this is the only entry in the bracket to work in "somnambulistic," which means maybe this isn't the right song for an election year. Can't we talk about pain and secrecy and disillusionment and the ascendance of entropy for a little while? Here we go: "I'm in love with an American girl / Though she's my best friend / I love her surreptitious smile / That hides the pain within her / And we'll go dancing in the rings of laughter / And live along by the shores/ Yeah-ee, on the lea the rising wind blows / Fay-hee, on the lea the rising wind blows / How long how long?"
vs
(4) Alphaville, "Forever Young"
* Iconic even to the point that it's used to soundtrack all kinds of lovely moments in television, for instance this weirdly tender one in the otherwise bleak-as-shit It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Well, 109 million views on Youtube tells you something about just how iconic* and of its time this song is. Basically a one-hit wonder (we're ignoring you, "Big in Japan"), Alphaville had this, their one massive cold war in-the-face-of-nuclear-devastation lament. First, killer jumpsuits, right? And you have to admire the hair and how much this song just fuckin means it. There's no room for irony in this sort of sadness, friends. So much so that my editor's husband makes her shut it off when it comes on the radio because it's just too much, too sad. We concur. Don't spend too much time with the weirdo sort-of-Wizard-of-Ozzish video? Why is this heavily-made-up ragtag band assembled in a church? Why does a sudden lit-up smoky diamond suddenly appear? Why does everyone just walk into it like a bunch of tools? Are they now in space? So much about this is confusing, but not the sweet yearning of the lyrics: "Do you really want to live forever / forever and ever?" I can't yearn any harder than this song asks me to. Can you?
* Iconic even to the point that it's used to soundtrack all kinds of lovely moments in television, for instance this weirdly tender one in the otherwise bleak-as-shit It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Which is sadder? Vote by 9am, 3/9
As I was cynically told during my MFA years, put "American" in front of anything and it'll instantly sound like it's part of the conversation. Not so with this song, especially up against a gem that distills 80s bombast so magnificently. I'm already looking forward to how it will face up against other songs in the bracket. But, as Duke and North Carolina often find out, never count those chickens.
ReplyDeleteMy money is on Alphaville to win this one in overtime, perhaps with a long-range three-pointer. Lord knows they can't bring their sissy business hard in da paint against Dead Can Dance's Brendan Perry, who seems like he could throw around some serious elbow. I wouldn't cross him, at any rate.
ReplyDeleteI do admire DCD's affiliation with 4AD, a brilliant label, and whose This Moral Coil supergroup should by all accounts take this tournament with “Song to the Siren.” In fact, if they don't advance, I will DDoS this blog. And I've never even done that. I know damn well enough to be dangerous when it comes to defending my favorite, special bands. Heed these words: I'll bring the whole thing to ruin. Also, I like what's going on here.
So, yeah, I voted “Forever Young.” Can't figure what transpired in that video, though. Sadness devours us like a diamond wormhole? And other inexplicable things?
I'm imagining Charlie Kelly's spider in his soul is choreographing this Alphaville strut. "Go Fuck Yourself" has got to be Charlie's saddest song, by the way, what with the ring of spray paint around his nose and it being the final gesture of an episode called "The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4c9T2k42MIE
ReplyDeleteYES.
DeleteBoth songs too proud of themselves to be the type of sad you claim to adjudicate.
ReplyDelete