I was doing a surgery yesterday, and this Bruce Springsteen classic was playing on our online radio.  I started singing along with the lyrics, and was pleasantly amused when one of my labmates was shocked by what I was singing.  Under normal circumstances I wouldn't be surprised that my singing would cause the people within hearing range to drop their collective jaws; my singing voice is an unpleasant cross between Biz Markie and Peter Brady when he went through puberty while singing the song Time to Change.

 

Despite the shortcomings of my voice, I do enunciate the words when I sing a song, unlike Springsteen with his trademark gravelly voice.  My labmate had never really heard the words before, and was floored when she learned that Bruce’s supposed patriotic anthem extolling the virtues of American life was really a sad tale of American hardship.  For tonight’s Stories Behind the Music, I will tell the true story behind the song.

 

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Bruce Springsteen:  Born in the USA

Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up

CHORUS
Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man

CHORUS

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says, "Son if it was up to me."
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said, "Son, don't you understand now."

Had a brother at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there he's all gone

He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms now

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Now here to run ain't got nowhere to go

CHORUS

I'm a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A.

Edited from Wikipedia, and other sources

Born in the USA is the seventh studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1984.

In contrast to his previous album, the critical favorite, Nebraska, Born in the U.S.A. featured anthems, radio-friendly arrangements, and 1980s production incorporating Springsteen's first use of synthesizers.  The album reached Number One on Billboard's 200 Chart on July 7^th, 1984 where it stayed until August 4th.  It spawned a record-tying seven Top 10 hit singles in the United States, and is by far the best-selling album of Springsteen's career with over 15 million copies sold in the U.S. alone.  It was also a critical success, being voted as the best album of the year in The Village Voice’s Pazz & Jop critics Poll.  In 2003, the album was ranked number 85 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.  In 1989, it was rated #6 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s.

Despite the song’s commercial and critical success, the song was commonly misinterpreted as a patriotic American anthem.  Instead, the song tells the story of a Vietnam veteran, who returns to America to find his brother had died in the war.  The veteran is unable to get a job, and eventually has to resort to crime to make ends meet. 

The general public was not the only ones who misinterpreted Bruce’s striking, bitter lyrics.  Based solely on the song’s chorus, in the mid-80’s Ronald Reagan went so far as to publicly praise Springsteen as a great patriot; several days later at a concert Springsteen introduced the song Johnny 99 (about a laid-off factory worker who kills a store clerk and is sentenced to 99 years) by saying that he didn’t think Reagan had really listened to Born in the USA.

In 2004, Senator John Kerry used "No Surrender" as his campaign theme song during his presidential campaign.  Springsteen performed the song at several Kerry rallies during the campaign.

 

Nine Inch Nails:  Capital G

I pushed a button and elected him to office and a
He pushed a button and it dropped a bomb
You pushed a button and could watch it on the television
Those motherfuckers didn't last too long ha ha
I'm sick of hearing 'bout the haves and the have nots
Have some personal accountability
The biggest problem with the way that we've been doing things is
The more we let you have the less that I'll be keeping for me

Well I used to stand for something
Now I'm on my hands and knees
Traded in my God for this one
He signs his name with a Capital G

Don't give a shit about the temperature in Guatemala
Don't really see what all the fuss is about
Ain't gonna worry bout no future generations and a
I'm sure somebody's gonna figure it out
Don't try to tell how some power can corrupt a person
You haven't had enough to know what it's like
You're only angry 'cause you wish you were in my position
Now nod your head because you know that I'm right—all right!

Well I used to stand for something
But forgot what that could be
There's a lot of me inside you
Maybe you're afraid to see

Well I used to stand for something
Now I'm on my hands and knees
Traded in my God for this one
He signs his name with a Capital G

"Capital G" is a single by Nine Inch Nails, the second from their 2007 album Year Zero. It is the seventh track on the album. A promo CD was released on April 2, 2007, and What Records stated the single and was released on June 11 on vinyl.  As of May 2007, Trent Reznor has no plans of releasing the single in CD format.

The song was first played on radio on April 4, 2007.  As of April 27, 2007, "Capital G" is listed on the Mediabase Jump! and Taking Off charts, which record the track's increase in radio airplay over 7 days. "Capital G" officially became available for airplay on May 14-15, although it received the most adds in the alternative category during the week of April 27, according to Radio & Records.

Many reviewers have assumed that the song is intended to be a slam against president bush.  Using this interpretation, the fact that the ‘G’ is capitalized is an allusion to the fact that the ‘G’ in God is always capitalized;  i.e. george bush sees himself as divine.  The lyrics are certainly a sardonic depiction of a stereotyped republican viewpoint from a more liberal perspective.  However, in most interviews Trent Reznor has maintained that the ‘G’ stands for greed.  This interpretation is consistent with theme of the rest of the album Year Zero, which is set fifteen years in the future, when bush will no longer be president.  However, as some have pointed out, Reznor may be employing the same method used by George Orwell in his novel 1984.  Orwell wrote the book several decades before 1984 but incorporated World War II into the story. 

Reznor said of the record Year Zero on Gigawise: “When it came to write the words I really wanted to focus on something that was at the forefront of my consciousness which is, as an American, I’m appalled by the behaviour of our government and the direction that it has taken and the direction that it’s taken everyone else in the world and its arrogance.”

Trent Reznor’s has a previous history of anti-bush stances.   In 2005 the New York Times related the following story:

Nine Inch Nails has dropped out of the MTV Movie Awards after clashing with the network over an image of President bush that the band planned as a performance backdrop, The Associated Press reported.  The image was to accompany the song "The Hand That Feeds," which obliquely criticizes the war in Iraq. MTV said in a statement to its news division that the network was disappointed that the band would not perform at the awards, to air on June 9, but had been "uncomfortable with their performance being built around a partisan political statement."  The Foo Fighters will perform instead.  Trent Reznor, the leader of Nine Inch Nails, said on the band's Web site that the image of the president would have been unaltered.  "Apparently, the image of our president is as offensive to MTV as it is to me," he said.

I posted this story on my other blog here on blogstream, but as a general story it's probably more appropriate here. It's a little bit of a departure from my normal writing, so please let me know what you think. Trust me, I won't be offended if you think I missed the mark.

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The voice comes to me late at night as I twist and turn, trying desperately to calm the raging torrent of thoughts threatening to burst my brain.

 Her dulcet voice is seductive, and very familiar.

“Kip,” she reluctantly begins, her voice touched with overtones of compassion and sympathy.

“I thought it was about time for you to make an appearance…” I respond just as reluctantly.

“I just can’t stand idly by and watch you suffer.  Not when I can help…”

“That’s funny.   I thought sitting idly by was what you did best.”  I respond waspishly.  Then, immediately regretting my irritable tone “Look, I appreciate the sentiment, but we’ve been through this before; there’s nothing you can do to help me.”

“I can help! I’ve helped so many others who have been through situations like yours.”

“Really?  How have you helped others?”

“I’ve offered them answers; I’ve offered them comfort.” She replies defensively.

“You’ve don’t offer answers.  You promise that someone else has the answers, and someday they might be so kind as to let us in on them.  I can find no comfort in that.”

Always quick to discard an approach that isn’t working, she quickly changes tactics.  “Your mother and father are disappointed you won’t listen to me.  If they listen to me, aren’t I good enough for you?”

Smiling to myself, I reply almost automatically “My mother and father were debating to vote between Buchannon and Nader in the last election.  I wouldn’t consider that a rousing recommendation if I were you.”

“It’s not just your parents.  The rest of your family… your friends…. Your peers…”

Now I’m almost beginning to enjoy myself.  “I know you’re not a big fan of logic, but you’re making a common logical fallacy known as an appeal to popularity.  Instead of constructing a logical argument based in fact, you hope to gloss over your lack of supporting evidence by social pressure.”

She rallies gamely. “I am a fan of logic.  I just don’t think it answers all questions adequately.  Logic requires all the pieces in the puzzle.  Life doesn’t always hand us all the pieces, yet we still have to act.  Can logic tell you where you brother is?”

It always comes down to that, doesn’t it.  “Let me guess, you know where Chris is?”

“Yes, he’s with me.”

“Somehow I knew you were going to say that.  If that’s true, can you do me a favor?”

“Of course…”

“Give him a swift kick to the gonads… tell him it’s from me.”

To my surprise, she actually laughs.  Her laugh quickly transitions to a sigh of concern.  “You know, you’ll need to forgive him at some point.  It wasn’t his fault.  It’s genetics.”

I reply ruefully “My head knows that, but my heart is still having a little trouble with it.”

“Seems I’m not the only one who has a problem with logic,” she tosses playfully back at me.  “Don’t you accuse me of relying too much on my heart?”

“The operative words there are too much.  However, I think the analogy is apt.”

“How so?”

“My heart is in error, I should forgive Chris.  The heart is often in error.  We must base our conclusions on fact.”

“But some things don’t have a basis in fact, they need to be based in faith!”

My voice is almost dripping in sarcastic antagonism.  “I could have faith that a giant cucumber named Guido controls the universe, but it wouldn’t make it true.”

Her response is confused and angry.  “That’s insane!”

“My point exactly!” I offer smugly.

There is an awkward pause for a long moment, as she fumes, breathing quickly.  Her breathing slows, and I can almost sense a satisfied smirk replacing her anger. 

“Now who’s the one avoiding debating the facts?” she offers slyly.  “I know you too well Kip.  You’re just hoping that a flair for the dramatic is mistaken for a strong point.”

Her insight unsettles me, and I feel a bitter and hateful heat starting from my chest and radiating out to my fingertips that I can barely suppress. “You know, you’re almost like a vulture to me.  You wait and wait, hovering endlessly, always looking for a moment of weakness.   You aren’t trying to help me.  You want me to validate you.”

Another awkward pause, longer than the first. 

Out of the darkness she eventually offers “I know it’s not me your angry at.  I forgive you… I always forgive you.”

‘It’s not your place to forgive me!’ I mutter under my breath.  She always does this – condescendingly asserts her moral superiority, by forgiving me.  I find her patronizing façade galling; neither of us speak for the rest of the evening. 

The first flickers of morning break through my bedroom window, tentatively probing the darkness, and gently caress the white carpet on my bedroom floor.  I realize that I am alone.

“I’ll be back… I haven’t given up on you!” I hear her voice call faintly in the distant recesses of my skull.

“You never do.” I offer to the empty air, and fall into a fitful slumber for an hour or so. 

Eventually the raging waters inside my head settle and become more tranquil, and my fitful slumber transitions to a peaceful sleep.  

I sleep through my alarm the next morning.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ALANIS MORISSETTE:  Isn’t That Ironic?

An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day
It's a black fly in your Chardonnay
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late
Isn't it ironic ... don't you think
Chorus

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought ... it figures

Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids good-bye
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down he thought
'Well isn't this nice...'
And isn't it ironic ... don't you think
Repeat Chorus


Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
When you think everything's okay and everything's going right
And life has a funny way of helping you out when
You think everything's gone wrong and everything blows up
In your face

It's a traffic jam when you're already late
It's a no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
It's meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
And isn't it ironic... don't you think
A little too ironic... and yeah I really do think...
Repeat Chorus


Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out
Helping you out

“Ironic” is a song written by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard, and produced by Ballard for Morissette’s third album Jagged Little Pill (1995).  It was released as the album’s fourth single in 1996.  Alanis Morissette’s intent was to relay numerous examples of irony in the lyrics, to parallel the title.  Unfortunately, Alanis was operating under a common misconception about what the word irony actual means.  As a result, almost none of the examples of irony in the song were actually ironic.

In literary circles, there are 3 accepted forms of Irony:

1)       Tragic Irony (otherwise known as Dramatic Irony):  Where the character on the stage or screen is ignorant of a situation, but the audience is aware.  A common example of dramatic irony is when the heroine in a horror movie walks unknowingly downstairs into the basement, where the audience has already seen evidence of a monster.

2)      Socratic Irony:  When the teacher acts deliberately ignorant of a situation to expose the ignorance of another.

3)      Irony of Fate:  When the event or action that occurs is the literal opposite of what would be normally expected.  This is termed Irony of Fate, or Cosmic Irony, as the circumstances are so contrary to the norm that it appears that some cosmic entity is deliberately adjusting destiny for a laugh.

Although Alanis was trying for Irony of Fate, none of her story examples are the literal opposite of what one would expect to happen.  Instead, Alanis describes a series of unfortunate circumstances, which would be more aptly titled “Isn’t this Shitty?”

In no particular order of preference:

An old man turned 98, won the lottery and died the next day…

An old man dying at 98 is expected.  Winning the lottery and dying the next day isn’t the opposite of what is expected, it’s just shitty.  A better example would be someone who started jogging in the morning for their health, only to be hit by a bus while jogging.

It’s a black fly in your Chardonnay…

Again, just shitty.

Mr. Play it Safe went on a plane and died in a plane crash.

This isn’t ironic, he was well justified in being afraid to fly  The damn thing crashed.

It’s a death row pardon two minutes too late…

I believe we are all starting to see the pattern here.

One theory to explain the incongruous relationship between the title theme and the actual lyrics is that Alanis is completely ignorant of irony, and is actually asking “Isn’t that Ironic?... No?  Well, how about this?”

In actuality there are two examples of irony in this song.  Both I suspect are truly accidental…

1)      Mr. Play-It-Safe uttering “isn’t this nice” as the plane crashes.

2)      Titling a song “Isn’t that Ironic” without deliberately including an actual example of irony.  That is truly ironic… perhaps Alanis is a misunderstood genius.

In no small part thanks to this song, common misuse over the last ten years has begun to change the definition of irony in some dictionaries.  Just as ‘unthaw’, ‘irregardless’, and ‘ain’t’ have worked their way into the dictionary, some dictionaries now include ‘a seemingly appropriate twist of fate’ to the traditional definitions for irony.    

Just enough time today to finally post another Story behind the Music.  Hope you all enjoy, and as always, I’d love to hear any cool story behind a song that you know.

 

The Police:  Every Breath You Take

Edited from Multiple Sources, including Wikipedia:

"Every Breath You Take" is a song written by Sting and originally performed by The Police. It was released on their 1983 album Synchronicity.  The single was one of the biggest of 1983, topping the UK charts for four weeks and the Billboard Music Charts (North America) for eight weeks.  Sting won Song of the Year and The Police won Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the Grammy Awards of 1984 for "Every Breath You Take".

The track was written during the collapse of Sting's marriage to Frances Tomelty; the lyrics are the words of a sinister, controlling character, who is watching "every breath you take / every move you make".

However, this fact has often gone unnoticed, or is ignored, and hence the song is often taken to be a love song.  I once saw Sting discuss this song on VH1, and thought two of his quotes were really interesting:

 —Sting

 —Sting

 

Song Facts:

This was the biggest hit of 1983. It was US #1 for 8 weeks.

The recording process created a great deal of tension in the studio. Sting was very particular about his song and would not let the other members of The Police (Andy Summers and Stuart Copeland) do much with it. The Police broke up after this album.

The middle of the song was finished last. They didn't know what to do with it until Sting sat at a piano and started hitting the same key over and over. That became the basis for the missing section.

Sting knew this would be the band's biggest hit when he wrote it.

This won Grammys in 1984 for Song Of The Year and Best Pop Performance By Duo Or Group With Vocal.

At the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1983, this won for Best Cinematography.

P. Diddy (known as Puff Daddy at the time), sampled this on "I'll Be Missing You," his 1997 tribute to rapper Notorious B.I.G. Sting didn't know about the sample until after the song was released. He ended up making lots of money from it, claiming he put some of his kids through college with the proceeds. Sting performed "I'll Be Missing You" with P. Diddy at the MTV Video Music Awards, and the two remain friends.

Sting performed this on a 2001 episode of Ally McBeal. In the show, he was sued by a couple who broke up after one of his sexually suggestive concerts.

Robert Downey Jr., who was on Ally McBeal at the time, recorded a duet of this with Sting for an album from the show called For Once In My Life. Downey was arrested and sent back to drug rehab soon after it was released.

This appears on the soundtrack of the 1999 Julia Roberts movie Runaway Bride. It was also used in the movie The Replacements.

The Police performed this when they were inducted in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2003. They were inducted by No Doubt lead singer Gwen Stefani, who showed a picture of her getting an autograph from Sting when she was a chubby 13-year-old. It was the last performance of the night and the closest thing to the all-star jam that typically ends the ceremonies. The Police were joined by Stefani, Steven Tyler (who inducted AC/DC), and John Mayer, who had recently won a Grammy for his song "Your Body Is A Wonderland."

Sting re-wrote the lyrics when he performed this in 2005 at Live 8, a set of concerts organized by Bob Geldof to increase activism and demand more aid for Africa. Sting included the line, "We'll be watching you" to mean the world would be keeping an eye on the politicians making critical decisions on the fate of Africa.