A Different "Shampain"

Last week, I covered Five Finger Death Punch's Sham Pain, as part of an ongoing view of musical views of wealth and celebrity. This week, the song is still a play on the word champagne, but with a different purpose than wealth and celebrity. How about getting drunk?

(hat tip to Wikipedia for the pic)

Shampain by Marina & the Diamonds is a decent song, with an infectious melody, slick production, but the lyrics don't go very deep.

Marina & the Diamonds was just another name for singer Marina Diamandis. She was not hugely successful, with her biggest hit, Primadonna, reaching #3 in Austria and Ireland in 2012.



On the other hand, Shampain only reached number 141 on the UK charts. However, at least Shampain borders on seriousness, whereas Primadonna is just flirty.

Unfortunately, the seriousness of Shampain is limited to one small verse (lyrics from Genius):

I wonder when the night will reach its end
'Cause sleep is not my friend 

Drinking champagne, meant for a wedding
Toast to the bride, a fairytale ending
Drinking champagne, a bottle to myself
Savour the taste of fabricated wealth

Even worse, this is where the depth of this song ends. Frankly, this song could have explored the feelings of the singer. Is she jealous of the bride? Was the groom a former lover? Was she an unmarried woman getting older, feeling regret? Or maybe she is the bride herself, with the "toast to the bride" being sarcastic, as she regrets her own marriage? There's a lot of ways this song could have gone, as opposed to the focus being on getting drunk on champagne.

Shampain is just a mildly interesting song that uses slick production to cover for lack of depth.

There are plenty of great songs that have dealt with the topic of being depressed and getting drunk, with the best example being One for My Baby (and One More for the Road), which was covered by just about everyone, with Frank Sinatra's version being both the most popular and arguably the best.

Five Finger Death Punch's "Sham Pain"

(hat tip to Broadway World for the pic)

Last week, I discussed a song that looked at wealth and celebrity with respect (Weezer's Beverly Hills). This week, I am flipping that view to the inside perspective from Five Finger Death Punch's Sham Pain.



The verses of Sham Pain cover a laundry list of complaints from the perspective of a rock star. For example (lyrics from Google):

I never cared about the money never really needed fame
You think it would've changed me, but I've always stayed the same
The label tried to sue me, TMZ tried to screw me
Blabbermouth can fuck itself 'cause they never fucking knew me
Everybody seems like they're waiting for me to die
Talk shit behind my back, can't look me in the eye
They say I'm overrated, that I should've already faded
Give a shit about it all 'cause I love to be so hated

However, the chorus is a reality check for the singer:

All in all it's a good life I got what I want
I can't complain (I can't complain)
I'm living the good life a toast to you now
It's all sham pain (it's all sham pain)

Of course, "Sham Pain" is a play on words, from the phrase "it's all champagne", which is a common joke, meant to say sarcastically "it's all good". In the case of this song, it's more of a poking fun at one's own complaints about their own wealth and celebrity.

Overall, Sham Pain did well, hitting number 1 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock charts this year. But the idea behind this song isn't exactly original. Consider Joe Walsh's Life's Been Good:



While Walsh, like Five Finger Death Punch, tends to poke fun at his own lifestyle, there are more serious takes on the life of a rock star, with Bob Seger's Turn the Page standing out as one:



If there is a lesson in all of this, it is that no matter what your situation is, or how good it may be, money and fame don't eliminate problems from your life. Wealth and celebrity don't make your life better or worse. They just make it different.

Weezer's "Beverly Hills"

(hat tip to Wikipedia for the picture)

It is unusual to hear music speak of celebrity and wealth with respect. Weezer's 2005 hit Beverly Hills is the rare song which does exactly that:

While it may seem to be a sarcastic take on wealth and celebrity, that wasn't the intention behind it. Per Rivers Cuomo, the song's writer (and lead vocalist and guitarist of Weezer), from the Weezer recording history page on the Wayback Machine:

"I was at the opening of the new Hollywood Bowl and I flipped through the program and I saw a picture of Wilson Phillips. And for some reason I just thought how nice it would be to marry, like, an “established” celebrity and live in Beverly Hills and be part of that world. And it was a totally sincere desire. And then I wrote that song, Beverly Hills. For some reason, by the time it came out—and the video came out—it got twisted around into something that seemed sarcastic. But originally it wasn’t meant to be sarcastic at all."

While the song contains a lot of imagery which could have been used to bash wealth/celebrity, Cuomo comes clean in the song's bridge (lyrics from Genius.com):

The truth is I don't stand a chance
It's something that you're born into
And I just don't belong

But Cuomo has no regrets about this:

No I don't
I'm just a no class, beat down fool
And I will always be that way
I might as well enjoy my life
And watch the stars play 

If it is possible to turn envy into a vicarious thrill, then Beverly Hills recommends it.

Jefferson Starship's "Miracles"

Back on September 27th, Marty Balin died. He was founder of Jefferson Airplane, and later co-founder of Jefferson Starship. 

His contributions to music history have been covered extensively elsewhere. But his most popular song, which he wrote and sang, was Miracles, featured on the 1975 Jefferson Starship album Red Octopus, which was the highest selling album of any incarnation of the "Jeffersons" (Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship). Balin later did a solo version of the song on his 1999 album, Marty Balin Greatest Hits.

(hat tip to Wikipedia for the pic)

Miracles walks a fine line between treacle and classic love song. Fortunately, the music and thoughtful chorus save it:



The music is jazz-infused pop with a distinctly 1970's sound. It has a sound that is just smooth that goes down like an over-creamed coffee with just enough sweetener.

Or maybe too much sweetener, as the verses border on sickening sweet. For example (from Google):

Every time you come by let me try (come on by)
Pretty please, with sugar on it, that's how I like it, ugh.
I can't even believe it with you
It's like having every dream I ever wanted
(Dream of a lifetime) come true.
I picked up your vibes, you know (I'm having a fine time)
It opened my mind but I'm still dreaming.
Yeah (yeah eh eh oh)
And you're right where I found you, with my arms around you! (oh baby)

Fortunately, the chorus forms an intriguing relationship between two ideas:

If only you believe like I believe, baby, (If only you believe like I believe)
We'd get by
If only you believe in miracles, (If only you believed in miracles so would I)

We could apply that logic to many conflicts beyond romantic relationships, and that could be why this song still seems relevant today, in spite of the overly sweetened verses.

The success of Miracles (which reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart) may have taken Jefferson Starship in a direction they didn't want to go. According to Songfacts:

...the very middle-of-the-road sound of "Miracles" didn't sit well with [Jefferson Starship singer] Grace Slick, who told BAM magazine in 1980: "All of that 'baby come back to me' stuff was us trying to copy 'Miracles.' We'd never been a real hot singles band. So, when 'Miracles' hit, it was all of a sudden 'better stick with that s--t.' But I felt odd doing it, felt like I was wearing a costume, a monkey suit or something."

Ultimately, the true lesson of Miracles isn't in its chorus, but rather in another lesson: You cannot replicate success. You can only hope to repeat it.