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Sunday, September 26, 2010

192. "A Million Miles from Happiness" by Simon F


Requested by Miles Goosens.

I should probably make it clear that this performance isn't any kind of definitive statement on religion or anything. Like everything else on 39-40, it's a cover of someone else's song, and a song selected by someone else. I know this should be obvious-- I mean, two days ago I did "God's Children", and in recent weeks I've done both "Okie from Muskogee" and a song advocating the release of a guy accused of killing federal agents-- but people get pretty sensitive about their faith. Especially these days.

This song, which I'd not heard before today, suffers from the unfortunate circumstance of sounding very much like, in more than one particular, a subsequently released and much better known song, "God Part 2" by U2, which happens to be one of my least favorite U2 songs. This one is better. It's an interesting lyric, really; it's hard to say how earnest it is, but any way you look at it, it's a bit more sophisticated than a lot of the faux-nihilist bleating that passed for deep and poetical songwriting in a recent decade which shall remain nameless, although if you want a clue, one of the prime guilty parties was a guy whose name rhymes with "Billy Corgan".

Oh, and the challenge for anyone who knows Miles is to spot the sample from a band Miles hates. It's in there! Listen also for my imitation of a Macunian purveyor of incoherent verse who is, for once, not Mark E. Smith.

Personnel: Rex



3 comments:

  1. How dare you impugn the memory of the great Willie Morgan!

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  2. I am wildly pleased by this bravura performance, which somehow came out sounding like former Mandy neighbor Kevin Gordon (this is a Good Thing). But my fatigued brain isn't able to focus enough to spot the setup... er, sample. So I'll need it to be pointed out, perhaps after a suitable interval to allow guesses from other parties.

    But, anyway - heck yes!

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  3. Actually, I don't think you hate the artist in question; they're just on your surprisingly-meh list. You might not recognize it even when I point it out, but many another pop dork would.

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