Okay, so I'm driving home from work on Springdale Road, slowing down for some traffic up ahead, when one of my favorite classic rock tunes of all time, Won't Get Fooled Again by the Who, from their "Who's Next" album, comes on the radio.Perfect! This is exactly the song I want to hear in this situation. At about 8 minutes 30 seconds, it should get me through this bottleneck approaching the junction with Route 183. I crank the volume, and straighten up in my seat a bit, getting myself prepared for some serious air drum action. (And air guitar, and air synthesizer.)
But then a weird thing happens. The long, meandering, cyclical, hypnotic synthesizer intro goes about a quarter as long as it's meant to. The thing gets cut off by the entrance of Pete's power guitar and Moonie and Entwistle's power rhythm way too early. "What the hell?" I say out loud to an empty car. See, one of the ways that you show your pride as a "Who-Head," which I've been since my freshman year in college, thirty years ago, is to air-guitar and/or drum your way into this song, right on cue. Won't Get Fooled is full of these hooks that fly in through the mist of the synthesizer line, which flows the entire length of the song. (You get extra points if you can nail Pete singing "Do ya?" quietly, a few bars after Roger sings the line "I know that the hypnotized never lie.")
The question I have is one that many would probably find naive, and maybe some of my musically inclined friends (Andy L., Ken, Jem, Chino, Jess, Pete H., Dave L.) can answer it for me:
Why is this okay?
They chop the song up so much that it goes from an eight and a half minute rock meditation to a three minute piece of chewing gum. I mean I didn't even get to the traffic light by the time this version of one of my favorite songs was over. It completely changes the experience for the listener. Am I making too much of this?
My guess is that Pete Townshend must have made some loot on this deal. After all, Who songs are popping up all over the place, in commercials, and for young people of this current generation Who Are You is "the CSI song," Won't Get Fooled Again is "the CSI: Miami song," and Baba O'Riley is "the CSI: New York song." Don't get me wrong; I'm a big CSI guy, and I suppose I'll always be a Who-Head at heart. But come on, man. Won't Get Fooled Again is not a three minute song. That's like making a three-minute version of Freebird or Stairway to Heaven or Hotel California or American Pie. These songs require commitment on the part of the listener, and I was so ready for that this afternoon.
I guess in the day of 140-words-or-less tweets, I shouldn't be so shocked, right?
i know this kick in the nads all too well and yet can't get used to it. even more irritating is when radio DJs cut off or talk over a classic intro or outro! Maybe it's this Ritalin/Twitter-age we're going thru (or going thru us) ... but, man, there's a poignant scene from the movie "Amadeus" i'm reminded of:
ReplyDeleteEmperor Joseph II: My dear young man, don't take it too hard. Your work is ingenious. It's quality work. And there are simply too many notes, that's all. Just cut a few and it will be perfect.
Mozart: Which few did you have in mind, Majesty?
in the last week or so, besides "Won't Get Fooled Again", i've heard butchered versions of "Whole Lotta Love" "Voodoo Chile" "Light My Fire" & RatM's "Killing In The Name" ...
no doubt, the problem is "there are simply too many notes".
We're GRUMPY about this!! :o(
ReplyDelete140 words or less seems to rule the day!!! You could always rip or download your favs to an iPad or iPod and string it to your car and then have your cake and eat it too!!! I almost forgot you could also go onto iTunes and get your download and burn your own CD.
ReplyDeleteIn any case there are soooooo many options to hearing your own music other than the radio. However, I know that you know this...so you must just feel like kvetchin!!!
OOOOPS!!! Did I go over my 140 characters?
ReplyDeleteGood one, Jimmy! I'm a bit of a troglodyte when it comes to the car radio, though. Just love listening to classic rock on the radio...
ReplyDelete