‘We Built This City’ and Other Songs That Need to Die
I consider myself a musical kind of guy. In fact, I hear a song once and I remember it. At least that was the case when I was in my 20s and 30s. Now that I’m in my 50s, I am more likely to remember TV jingles from way back in the 1970s. Nonetheless, I have a jukebox for a brain. And sometimes what plays in that jukebox needs to die.
Allow me to present Exhibit A: ‘We Built This City’ by none other than Starship, the band started by one of the former members of Jefferson Starship, who was also a former member of Jefferson Airplane. Geez, Louise. What is it with various forms of air travel and the 3rd president of the United States? Can we pick a lane already?
At any rate, the offending song is a virtual treasure trove of lyrical genius. Perhaps you remember that the song’s money line is: “We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll.” Oh, really? If that’s the case, it now looks a lot like Detroit, if you know what I mean. Fortunately for me, ‘We Built This City’s’ awe-inspiring words don’t stop there.
The 5th line in the song (or 3rd, depending on whether or not you can count) offers the following prize: “Knee deep in the hoopla, sinking in your fight.” It’s not often you hear the word ‘hoopla’ in a rock song. In fact, the last time I heard it was in 1972, when my grandfather was complaining about us making too much noise in his basement, while he and the rest of the adults we’re sitting around having a sophisticated conversation about how rotten kids are.
I’m sorry. I got distracted by the memories. By the way, Barbara Streisand’s ‘The Way We Were’ is another song that needs to die. Need proof? Here are the ever-so-intellectually-stimulating first four lines of this lyrical bonanza, and I quote:
“Hmmmmm hmmmmm
Hmm hmm hmmmmmm hmmm hmmm hmm hmm
Hmm hmm hmmmm hmmmm hmmmmm hmm
Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmmmmmm”
What depth! What profundity! It must have taken the author of ‘The Way We Were’ hundreds of seconds to write it. But again, I am distracted. Back to the previously mentioned ‘We Built This City’.
The song offers one more brain-sizzling line that only a genius could pen. It’s the first line of the pre-chorus which, by the way, sounds like an itchy condition you could catch from rummaging around in someone’s medicine cabinet. Anyway, here’s the line: “Marconi plays the mamba.” Say what?
Who is Marconi and why is he playing with a venomous snake? And while we’re at it, what does any of this have to do with constructing an entire city with a selection of notes, lyrics, and lousy bands that can’t seem to pick a name and stick with it?
‘We Built This City’ and ‘The Way We Were’ are just two examples of songs that need to die. There are many, many others including Paul Simon’s ’59th Street Bridge Song’ (Feelin’ Groovy), Neil diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’, and the heart-pounding, thought-provoking ‘Who Let the Dogs Out’ by the elegant and tasteful Baha Men.
Now if you will excuse me, I need to find another song to stick in my head before it explodes. ‘It’s a Small World After All’ should do the trick nicely.
