Cage the Elephant's "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked"

One of the purposes of this blog is to give a little more love to some songs which many might have missed the first time around. One such song is Ain't No Rest for the Wicked by Cage the Elephant, from 2008:



The music is somewhat simple, with a fusion of bluegrass and rock, with a hint of blues.

The song was a mildly popular song, reaching number 3 on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart.

The lyrics are a standard three verses with three choruses, all telling the story of a narrator who encounters three people, all of whom are "wicked": a prostitute, a robber, and a preacher who steals from his church. All of them have the same excuse, as provided by the chorus:

Oh there ain't no rest for the wicked
Money don't grow on trees
I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed
There ain't nothing in this world for free
Oh no, I can't slow down, I can't hold back
Though you know, I wish I could
Oh no there ain't no rest for the wicked
Until we close our eyes for good

If the song has a virtue, it is that it keeps things simple. It tells the story, and leaves any judgments up to the listener to determine whether these people are truly "wicked", or just trying to survive, at least until the preacher's story:

I saw a preacher man in cuffs, he'd taken money from the church
He'd stuffed his bank account with righteous dollar bills
But even still I can't say much because I know we're all the same
Oh yes we all seek out to satisfy those thrills

 Even if you delve into Christian philosophy, it would agree with this summary. From John 8:1-7:

1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

Similarities to Christian philosophy end there, as the actions of the wicked might be considered sinful. In some Christian philosophies, the wicked in the song might even be damned for their actions, indicating that even after we (the wicked) "close our eyes for good", we might not even get rest.

This is where the song possibly contradicts itself. When it is being sympathetic to the wicked, giving their reasons for their actions:

Oh there ain't no rest for the wicked
Money don't grow on trees
I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed
There ain't nothing in this world for free

This gives their reasons as ones of survival, rather than what it said in the preacher's verse:

But even still I can't say much because I know we're all the same
Oh yes we all seek out to satisfy those thrills

But can you lump in the preacher with the others, who are merely doing what they do to survive? The fact that the preacher verse is separate from the others does leave this question unanswered, although one might conclude from the preacher's inclusion that he is no different from the others, at least in the eyes of the narrator.

If there is a lesson in this song, it is that being bad is no easier than being good. Regardless of your reasons for wicked actions, those reasons will never go away, and you will have to repeat the actions over and over again.

Kelly Clarkson's "Miss Independent"

Miss Independent is a song for which Kelly Clarkson has taken a lot of critical grief, which is undeserved. The song is a powerful expression of a woman who has cut herself off from her emotions, only to find herself drawn into a relationship.

Let's start with the critics. first, the main song they compare it to Christina Aguilera's Dirrty, which is on a level of comparing it to Can't Get Next to You, aka nothing like it:



Admittedly, Miss Independent was co-written by Aguilera, but that doesn't make it a rip-off of Dirrty.

In fact, as much as Clarkson herself credits Aguilera, note that Clarkson herself has a co-writing credit on it. One can argue how much of Miss Independent belongs to each singer, but the fact is that Aguilera dropped it from her album, and Clarkson picked it up, finished it, and recorded it.

If anything, Miss Independent is closer to Aguilera's Fighter:




Even if you make that comparison, it is a reasonable (albeit subjective) argument to call Miss Independent superior to Fighter. Miss Independent went all the way to number 1 on the Billboard Mainstream top 40 chart, while Fighter only reached number 5 on the same chart in the same year, 2003.

The true virtue of Miss Independent lies in its contrast between the mid-tempo R&B verses, and the powerful rock ballad chorus, which is enhanced by Clarkson's vocals, which are reminiscent of Tina Turner or Aretha Franklin, by Clarkson's ability to bring emotion to everything she sings here.

On the topic of the emotions presented, Clarkson sings the initial verses with an almost flirty sound to her voice, allowing the listener to imagine a life of dating without intention, just playing around while fully planning to stay single:

Miss independent
Miss self-sufficient
Miss keep your distance
Miss unafraid
Miss out of my way
Miss don't let a man interfere, no
Miss on her own
Miss almost grown
Miss never let a man help her off her throne
So, by keeping her heart protected
She'd never ever feel rejected
Little miss apprehensive
Said ooh, she fell in love

That last line explains, and leads into, the chorus, which hits some high energy notes even as it displays how love turns her world upside-down:

What is the feelin' takin' over?
Thinkin' no one could open my door
Surprise, It's time
To feel what's real
What happened to Miss Independent?
No more the need to be defensive
Goodbye, old you
When love is true

Clarkson carries the emotional heft of showing both regret at the loss of her previous life, along with a recognition of things being better than before. The "loss" is a bit tongue-in-cheek, and you can almost hear Clarkson grinning as she sings the chorus.

But the part that Clarkson specifically wrote for the song was the slow tempo bridge, which really carries the emotional heft of lifting the singer from her old life to her new, better life:

When Miss Independence walked away
No time for love that came her way
She looked in the mirror and thought today
What happened to miss no longer afraid?
It took some time for her to see
How beautiful love could truly be
No more talk of why can't that be me
I'm so glad I finally see 

This bridge is like a peak into the singer's heart, underneath the rest of this very glossy and well-produced song. The line "What happened to miss no longer afraid?" is especially poignant, as it displays how truly scary love can be. Opening one's self up to the dangerous emotional possibilities of love IS scary, but with a huge payoff when successful, as shown by the line, "How beautiful love could truly be".

The song appropriately finishes with the chorus, leaving the listener on a high note.

Miss Independent was a tentpole to Clarkson's career. While her victory in the first season of American Idol brought her to public attention, Miss Independent showed that Clarkson was more than just a great voice, showing she could bring both songwriting and heart to her music.

Captain Marvel's Trailer

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU, for short) is a cultural phenomenon, similar to the Star Wars franchise, except with superheroes. Almost as interesting as the movies themselves are the movie trailers, especially from a musical perspective, as they typically include some classic songs playing over the scenes.

There is much internet chatter about a trailer coming soon for the Captain Marvel addition to the MCU, with the film itself expected to be released on March 8, 2019. There are two aspects to the Captain Marvel movie trailer expectation: What has Marvel done musically with their trailers before, and what might they do with this one?

From the first Iron Man movie, Marvel has used popular music in their trailers, beginning with AC/DC's Back in Black:



Arguably, the best use of popular music in Marvel films was Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song in Thor: Ragnarok, where even the character is mentioned in the song (The use of the song during the fight scenes in the film itself kicked up the cool factor immensely):



However, the most famous use of music in the Marvel films was all the 1970's songs used in both of the Guardians of the Galaxy films. This started with the use of Blue Swede's 1974 cover of  Hooked on a Feeling in the first GotG trailer:



Ultimately, a movie trailer comes down to two aspects: What does the filmmaker want to reveal, without giving too much away? And how do they want to market the movie?

Just using the three films above, Iron Man was sold with the cool factor, which Back in Black contributes too nicely. On the other hand, Guardians of the Galaxy was sold with more of the oddball/comedy factor, for which Blue Swede's "ooga chaka ooga chaka" version of Hooked on a Feeling makes a nice cover tune. Somewhere in between lies Thor Ragnarok, where the Immigrant Song kicks up the cool factor, but the funny scenes are played minus the music.

So what will Marvel do with music for the Captain Marvel trailer? There are many ways to go, but this is based on the assumption they will be using existing songs to promote their film. (History suggests they will, but there is no guaranty.)

First, if I was the trailer's decision maker on this, my choice would be John O'Callaghan/Audrey Gallagher's Big Sky, which perfectly suits Captain Marvel's pilot background and space travels, not to mention the techno sound reflects the film's scifi aspects perfectly:



However, knowing Disney's history, they will want a more popular tune in the trailer. This decision will likely be based on which aspect of the film they want to emphasize.

For fun factor, Escape Club's 1988 hit Wild Wild West suits the movie, while also contributing a perfect lyrical line, "heading for the 90's", because Captain Marvel is based in the 1990's:



On the other hand, if Disney wants to follow the GotG playbook and only use music from the 1990's, then we have to limit our choices to that decade. From what I have read about the film so far, it seems to be one of the more serious entries in the MCU, with an alien invasion plot.

Since Disney seems to enjoy hard rocking songs for superheroes, one of the best from the 1990's was Melissa Etheridge's 1993 hit, I'm the Only One:



From the superhero perspective, this song works for both the music, which is serious and hard, but also from the lyrics:

But I'm the only one
Who'll walk across the fire for you
And I'm the only one
Who'll drown in my desire for you
It's only fear that makes you run
The demons that you're hiding from
When all your promises are gone
I'm the only one 

Aside from the heroic aspects of the chorus, the line "demons that you're hiding from" works on an ironic level with the movie's plot of the Skrull alien invasion, since the Skrulls do have a decidedly demonic look, although they will be the ones that are "hiding" (they are shapeshifters). From Moviefone:

On the other hand, Disney may go for some cheap politically correct points in the trailer, by propping up the fact this is their first female-led superhero film. Whitney Houston's I'm Every Woman is the perfect 90's song for this effect:



From 1993, I'm Every Woman is an ok song, but it seems a bit too adult contemporary for an action movie trailer.

If Disney wants music with a good beat, but not necessarily rock, they could go for a Britney Spears song from the late 1990's. 1999's ...Baby One More Time is a possible choice, although the lyrics don't speak to the character or the plot:



The irony of Disney using former Mickey Mouse Club member Spears to promote the first female-led Marvel film is too delicious.

Those are my choices for the Captain Marvel trailer. Hopefully, we will find out if I nailed it or missed it in a week or two.

UPDATE 9/14/18: According to this story, the Captain Marvel trailer will be released on Tuesday, September 18th. Stay tuned...

UPDATE 9/18/2018: And here is the Captain Marvel trailer. It was a musical non-factor. I missed on this one, unless the next one has some music? We'll see...

Hello It's Me

When starting a blog about music, what better song to start with than Todd Rundgren's Hello It's Me?

To those of you who don't know me, my name is Ed McGonigal, and I have been blogging for almost 13 years, covering topics like politics, football, and finances. But through it all, I have always enjoyed writing about one of my passions, which is music. While I did some deejaying in my younger days, I cannot claim any kind of special musical education, or even musical background, other than I have listened to nearly every genre of music, enjoying most music, loving some music, and despising others. (You can visit some of my previous blogs here and here.)

Lately, I have been feeling the urge to blog again, but I needed a good topic. Politics has devolved into verbal professional wrestling, financial writing is nothing more than self-promotion, and football has become more about politics than the game itself (kneeling and White House visits are more important than the games). So that leaves my other passion, music. Fortunately, there is plenty of music to discuss without entering into the silliness of politics (Will Rogers said it best: "...all Politics is Apple Sauce.")

But enough about me. Back to Rundgren's song.

Hello It's Me was first recorded and released in 1968 by Rundgren's band Nazz. But it never went anywhere until he re-recorded it with a more uptempo solo version in 1971, which was released in 1973. This time, the song reached number 5 on the U.S. Billboard charts.

Even more surprising about this song was Rundgren's inspiration. According to one Puremusic interview, Rundgren said,

"...the main influence for "Hello It's Me" was an eight bar intro that Jimmy Smith played on a recording of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." He had this whole sort of block chord thing that he did to set up the intro of the song. I tried to capture those changes, and those changes became what are the changes underneath "Hello It's Me." I then had to come up with melody and words, but the changes are actually almost lifted literally from something that was, from Jimmy Smith's standpoint, a throwaway."



Overall, Hello It's Me isn't terrible, but also isn't exceptional for any reason either. The lyrics are inoffensive, with only the tune to salvage it. But in this day and age, that kind of song still stands out, because it sings to us without preaching a message. There isn't an ounce of politics in it.

I won't promise to keep this blog a "no politics zone", but it will always be secondary to the music, when it is mentioned at all. Ars gratia artis, first and foremost. So let's enjoy some music together, shall we?


Citation: Except where linked, all information was from Wikipedia.