So, did you download this Mike Doughty track yet?<\/p>\n
I liked it when I first heard it, and it’s been growing on me.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s the
immediacy and the honesty.<\/p>\n
And the lyrics.<\/p>\n
Did you watch that "60 Minutes" segment on the echo boomers?\u00c2\u00a0 The key, their
GOAL, is to be a member of the team.\u00c2\u00a0 All the winning of their baby boomer
parents…they just want to participate.<\/p>\n
But what if you’re left out.<\/p>\n
That’s not what MTV is selling.\u00c2\u00a0 MTV is selling inclusion.<\/p>\n
And the deejays on the radio.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re lording over a GROUP!\u00c2\u00a0 Used to be the
deejay spoke to you, individually.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what the switch from AM to FM
represented.\u00c2\u00a0 A change from fast-talking jocks to regular people.\u00c2\u00a0 The radio was a
respite.\u00c2\u00a0 It was where you were understood.\u00c2\u00a0 It was the girlfriend you desired
or had lost.<\/p>\n
And the music was too.\u00c2\u00a0 We were married to the music.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, the music is just
an ingredient.\u00c2\u00a0 Got the beer?\u00c2\u00a0 Got the babes?\u00c2\u00a0 Got the music?\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas we
were alone in our bedrooms with ONLY the music.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, there were the great AM
party tracks of the sixties.\u00c2\u00a0 But the music on FM…it was about alienation.<\/p>\n
Being a human being is tough.\u00c2\u00a0 TV tells you you’ve got B.O.\u00c2\u00a0 Your teeth
aren’t white enough.\u00c2\u00a0 Your hair color needs to be changed.\u00c2\u00a0 How can you MAKE IT in
this world unless you get with the program?<\/p>\n
And the musical acts on TV…they’re ENDORSING these products.\u00c2\u00a0 If you want
to be like them, you’ve got to buy what they’re selling.<\/p>\n
But you’re never going to be like them.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re just not that good-looking.\u00c2\u00a0
Not that aggressive.\u00c2\u00a0 Not that talented.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re just normal.\u00c2\u00a0 Is it okay to
be normal?<\/p>\n
Of course not.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to look like Beyonce and date Jay-Z.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got
to wear diamonds like Puffy.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to afford a new ride, a watch from
Jacob the Jeweler.\u00c2\u00a0 You feel inadequate.<\/p>\n
And where do you turn?<\/p>\n
You can’t tell your friends your innermost feelings.\u00c2\u00a0 Your TRUE feelings.\u00c2\u00a0
Your difficulty in coming.\u00c2\u00a0 Your anxiety over physical intimacy.\u00c2\u00a0 That blemish
on your inner thigh.\u00c2\u00a0 You hold these inside.\u00c2\u00a0 In today’s world where you’ve got
to measure up.<\/p>\n
But things were different in the sixties.\u00c2\u00a0 It was an INCLUSIVE society.\u00c2\u00a0
Thin, fat, made no difference, you could play.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, unless you look like a model
you can’t get past the velvet rope.<\/p>\n
Our music reflects this culture.\u00c2\u00a0 And this is just not reality.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not
what living on this planet is about.\u00c2\u00a0 Living on this planet is about SEARCHING
FOR CONNECTION!\u00c2\u00a0 MEANINGFUL CONNECTION!<\/p>\n
It’s so elusive.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s so frustrating.\u00c2\u00a0 You’d take Jennifer Aniston on a
date, rescue her emotionally from Brad, but she doesn’t want to know you.<\/p>\n
Who wants to know you?\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the question.<\/p>\n
You had the feeling the musicians of yore wanted to know you, they understood
you.\u00c2\u00a0 Because they WROTE about their innermost feelings.\u00c2\u00a0 Those feelings you
couldn’t tell anyone.<\/p>\n
That Cuban girl Your buds tell you she was an asshole.\u00c2\u00a0 She didn’t DESERVE you.\u00c2\u00a0 They But you just can’t get over her.\u00c2\u00a0 It was the whole package.\u00c2\u00a0 She was so right.<\/p>\n But now she’s gone.<\/p>\n And you can’t complain.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody says to get with the program.<\/p>\n Which makes you feel more lonely.\u00c2\u00a0 More isolated.<\/p>\n And I feel as if I am looking at the world from the bottom of a well<\/em><\/p>\n You can’t have a song like this on hit radio, Top Forty radio.\u00c2\u00a0 It just But you’re looking for humanity.\u00c2\u00a0 How do you cope?<\/p>\n By listening to someone who understands you, who’s making music for YOU!<\/p>\n Oh all the days You’re trying to get over her.\u00c2\u00a0 Really hard.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s so tough.<\/p>\n And then you discover a record.\u00c2\u00a0 That you play again and again.\u00c2\u00a0 Because it That record is Mike Doughty’s "Looking At The World From The Bottom Of A It starts off quiet.\u00c2\u00a0 And then you get those angry drums.\u00c2\u00a0 And that resonant Lonely Your best friend has been telling you this.\u00c2\u00a0 The one you’ve confided some of
That brought me low
She had that skin so fine and red lips rose-like now
Her mouth was wide
And sweet as well
And now relentless hours of dreaming up her smell<\/em><\/p>\n
catalogue all her faults.<\/p>\n
doesn’t fit the ethos.\u00c2\u00a0 Top Forty is all sheen and no humanity.<\/p>\n
That I have run
I sought to lose that cloud that’s blacking out the sun<\/em><\/p>\n
makes you feel good, it has energy, it gives you HOPE!<\/p>\n
Well".<\/p>\n
guitar.\u00c2\u00a0 And the guy’s voice.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not perfect.\u00c2\u00a0 Which makes it all the more
BELIEVABLE!\u00c2\u00a0 And, as he tells his story the band picks up behind him.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s a
one man army.\u00c2\u00a0 At this very moment, he gets you believing his message.<\/p>\n
And the only way to beat it is to bat it down<\/em><\/p>\n
your feelings to.\u00c2\u00a0 But it didn’t work.\u00c2\u00a0 He just didn’t get it.\u00c2\u00a0 But Mike
Doughty gets it.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s been hurt.\u00c2\u00a0 By someone he loved.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s doing his best to
crowd her out of his mind, listening to his music your body starts to move,
suddenly you’re optimistic.\u00c2\u00a0 She wasn’t that great.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ll find somebody again.\u00c2\u00a0
Who’s BETTER!<\/p>\n