The band Foster the People has had a huge hit with the incredibly catchy song "Pumped up Kicks.' We've been listening to it on the car radio and singing along, even though we couldn't really decide what they were singing in the chorus. We got the first part:
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
they'd better run, better run,
faster than....
but then what were they singing? faster than my brother? faster than my puppy? faster than my puppet? What does it sound like to you?
Turns out that the song is really a dark little psychodrama. Ann Powers has a brilliant take on it posted in her NPR blog The Record, where she compares it to The Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer." (but Talking Heads made paranoia a musical style while this is shiny).
I looked up the lyrics, and it's "faster than my bullet."
Note the discussion of the lyrics' meaning in the comments to the lyrics post.
Yesterday I faced one of the tougher situations I've ever had to deal with as a teacher. I won't go into the details because I don't talk about my students on this blog, but let's just say that I think I handled it OK, but it left me feeling profoundly sad for all involved and really disappointed in myself for not having seen the warning signs more clearly. I did the best I could yesterday, but I'm spending some time in the next few weeks trying to figure out what I could have done differently or better, even though I recognize that when people behave badly, sometimes there is nothing I can do to prevent it.
To cheer myself up as I head into my grading marathon, I'm sharing with you these amazing parrot videos. The bird is Lolita, and her friend peachy525 has clearly taught her well, starting with the simplest of songs, and building up to more complicated ones. ("you forgot "gently down the stream!") Lolita even freestyles at the end, clearly a happy and well-loved bird.
Then.. there is this: Lolita's rendition of the alternative metal band Drowning Pool's "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor"-- a song that gets used for a lot of youtube remixes. The vocal is by Dave Williams, the band's first singer, who died of heart disease after the first album was released. Lolita's version is going viral even as we speak. my favorite part? the way "nothing's wrong with me" seems to change to "nothing cockatoo" LOL!
It´s summer, and time for the fiestas en los pueblos de Espana! But what will be this year´s hit song, that will get all the kids up and dancing in every village? This year´s song may actually be a case of musical recycling, a mash-up of flamenco pop and Beyonce´s "Single Ladies" known as "Paco Paco Paco."
¿El fenómeno que arrasó en España y que igual se convierte en la canción más bailada de las fiestas de verano es la remezcla del baile de Beyonce con una canción de "flamenco pop" de Encarnita Polo, de hace 30 años
Como dijo alguien en los comentarios al videoclip: "Ahora todo el mundo se sube al carro del paco paco jaja. Lo k hace la crisis, madre mia k mal vamos a acabar jaja."
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