Summertime Sadness
It’s better than the original.
The tsunami of hype told me Miley Cyrus covered Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness,” but I didn’t click through until I got personal e-mail, that’s what it takes, people we trust telling us to check something out. And what I discovered was a hauntingly beautiful, sentimental track that reminded me of nothing so much as something from the Doors’ “Waiting For The Sun,” most specifically “Summer’s Almost Gone.”
We’ve been exposed to so much mainstream mediocrity that we’re shocked when we find out what’s right in front of our eyes is exceptionally good.
You remember the Doors, right? Not the hits, the album tracks. They seemed to be made next door, not the room where everybody was paying attention. Our favorite music had a quality of being internal, as if we were hearing what was in the brains of the singers, which was remarkably similar to our own emotions, back before music became an assault.
Not that all assaults are bad. Come on, AC/DC is great.
But MTV made it all about balls to the walls all the time, all the faders turned up to 11. It was about beating us into submission.
And I will say at points in this video Miley Cyrus is oversinging, but there’s a subtle element, a quality of that summertime sadness.
Sadness.
You don’t hear it in hip-hop.
You don’ hear it in Katy Perry’s music, wherein she’s roaring about girl power.
It’s as if everybody’s a winner, but that’s not true. We all lose sometimes. And what helps us get through is music. We can watch television and films, but we can feel music.
This is a Lana Del Rey original.
Which I immediately pulled up and discovered the basic elements were there, but she needed Miley Cyrus to put it over the top.
Or Cedric Gervais. The French deejay who made it a sleeper hit this summer.
Not that I heard it. I don’t listen to those stations. Too much Howard Stern, too much SiriusXM. I used to think I was hip, but now I know no one is, we’re all foundering, constantly surprised by that which whole colonies experienced years before.
The SNL performance and the plastic surgery turned me off of Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (Lana Del Rey’s real name). We crave authenticity. And when you’re revealed to be fake, we want no more. Maybe if Lana Del Rey had been sold more like Laura Marling, hadn’t tarted herself up, hadn’t had lip injections, she could have snuck up on us. Instead, we were turned off.
But not all of us. Miley knew. And she picked this song to cover for the BBC and knocked it out of the park.
This is what Clear Channel should be doing in its Burbank studio. More live appearances for both radio and web, that will enrich and enhance our lives.
It’d be easier if Miley Cyrus couldn’t sing. If it were only about the antics.
But boy does she emote, boy does she make you feel like it’s coming from the inside.
Oh, my god, I feel it in the air
Telephone wires above are sizzling like a snare
Honey, I’m on fire, I feel it everywhere
Nothing scares me anymore
That’s the chorus. If it were better, the song would be a classic. Akin to “Wicked Game.” But it’s the musical disappointment of the song. And the lyrics are too broad, except for the concept of nothing scaring you anymore. That’s a power individual feeling.
But it’s the repeated verse that entrances…
Kiss me hard before you go
Summertime sadness
I just wanted you to know…
Whew! That’s when it’s hardest, when they go away. The regret seeps in too soon…when will I see you again?
Oh, you know that feeling. There are so many great songs with the concept of seeing someone again, from the Mamas and the Papas’ “I Saw Her Again” to Dido’s “Sand In My Shoes.” This is real life, not I’ve got a Benz and some ho’s and I’m better than you.
None of us are better. That’s the truth. Musicians used to make us believe they were just like us, only more talented. And if we could just meet them, they’d understand us.
But that concept evaporated when everybody was trying to imitate and join the club of the 1%.
You’ve just got to listen to this track.
There’s power, there’s subtlety, there’s meaning…what more could you ask for?
