Beyonce Says What? Tweener Life, Part II
Fast forward to my previous meanderings on girls and growing up too fast. I started thinking about the music that tweeners listen to. Like most old fogies, my starting point is always "how does it compare to way back when?"
Frankly, popular music was absolutely awful when I was a tweener. It was before the birth of FM radio and AM was a cesspool of mediocrity. A cesspool of mediocrity that is still taking up many memory cells in my corroding brain. We were subjected to stuff like "The Ballad of Billy Jack", "Billy Don't Be a Hero", "The Night They Burned Old Dixie Down", "Close to You" and the ubiquitous "Tie A Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree from 1973. There were almost tolerable songs from singers like James Taylor and Jackson Browne but mostly mainstream music was pure crap. Not just crappy but odd when I think about it. Remember these stirring words?
"I'm comin' home I done my time/ Now I've got to know what is and isn't mine/ If you received my letter telling you I'd soon be free/Then you'll know just what to do/ If you still want me/ whoa tie a yellow ribbon 'round the old oak tree... from Tony Orlando and Dawn, 1973 (It's a sad thought, but I wonder what Tony Orlando would have thought had he lived to see his yellow ribbon coopted to express support for the war in Iraq? He probably would have killed himself all over again.)
When I look back at the songs that were popular back then were decidedly dark and pessimistic. Here's Tony Orlando's parolee getting out of prison or perhaps Vietnam vets returning home from their own hell holes. There are plenty of screwed up characters named "Billy" in trouble too. There's the Ballad of Billy Jack, "Billy Don't Be A Hero"and "Kung Fu Fighting"--which doesn't have a Billy but is still darned strange. The characters in these songs are either fighting bad guys with fists and guns or trying not to jump off bridges. I suppose it reflects the general dourness of the time. What's that old saw--"most people don't realize the '60s happened in the '70s"?
There were also love songs by Seals and Crofts, The Captain and Tennille (way stranger than Jack and Meg White ever thought of being), Helen Reddy, and others. The focus in these songs was "love". There were also Queen songs and other "rock" songs that focused on "getting it on" but that's about as crass as it got. What was a "squeeze box" anyway? And what's so suggestive about an accordian? Or did it refer to pre-implant breasts? Who knows. Mostly there were AM love songs like this:
Diamond girl/you sure do shine/ like a diamond, glad I found you/glad you're mine
Today, the focus of "pop" music from MTV stars like Justin Timberlake, Shakira, Britney Spears and Beyonce tends to be sex, not love. Although, there are songs that talk about how sex and love aren't the same thing--which is a big relief for this mother of a tweener.
The interplay between the potty mouthed rapper and the gal pals on these songs mystifies me. Here's a line by Mos Def from Beyonce's If Looks Could Kill, You Would Be Dead/2001.
Mos Def: Ma, I got some lotion Hold ya thighs, raise 'em high and daddy long stroke you" Gee, unless he's at the old folks home helping to change his elderly mother's Depends, I'm pretty sure I know what this line's about. Gack.
But then it gets a little more interesting and this is the trend that gives me hope. Here's Beyonce again in 2003's Naughty Girl on "Year of Living Dangerously"
TONIGHT I'LL BE YOUR NAUGHTY GIRL/I'M CALLIN ALL MY GIRLS/WE'RE GONNA TURN THIS PARTY OUT/ I KNOW YOU WANT MY BODY/ TONIGHT I'LL BE YOUR NAUGHTY GIRL/ I'M CALLIN ALL MY GIRLS/ I SEE YOU LOOK ME UP AND DOWN/AND I CAME TO PARTY
But then she seems to wise up in the last stanza or so:
YOU HAD A LOTTA NERVE/ YOU TOO DAMN OLD TO BE SO IMMATURE/ I HOPE YOU LEARN/ YOU SAID I MOVE TO SLOW/ I SHOWED YOU TO THE DOOR/ YOU SAID YOU’D CALL ME LATER/ I SAID DON’T CALL NO MORE/IT’S COOL IF YOU CAN’T WAIT FOR ME/ I’M GLAD YOU LET ME KNOW/ CUZ YOU SHOW ME YOUR TRUE FACE BABY/ THE FIRST TIME I SAID NO
But then you have Shikira of "Hips Don't Lie" fame with "Don't Confuse It" with more of a "I might let you f**k me but that doesn't mean I love you kind of message....
Don't confuse it/ Don't confuse sex and love/Money makes the world go round/ I wanna make you mine/ I'd give you everything you want/ Whatever I can buy/ This is not a fairy tale/ This ain't Hollywood/You can touch me anywhere/But never get my heart
I'd never listened to a Britney Spears' song all the way through although I've seen her on TV lip synching wearing a fetching wireless mike set. Here's a little hint of why Britney is perhaps not the most stable chicklet in the hen house:
Baby One More Time
My loneliness/Is killing me (and I)/ I must confess/ I still believe (still believe)/When I'm not with you / I lose my mind/ give me a sign/hit me baby/ one more time
Ah, yes, here's a pop star with her head screwed on right. NOT. Fortunately, Britney's antics with her "Oops" kids have nixed any influence she might have had on my daughter. My 10 year old has realized that at this point, her mothering skills are more developed than Brit's. Plus, my kid knows how to install a car seat correctly.
So in the end, it's probably a toss up. I can't see my daughter who lives in a lily white world getting too caught up in the angst of a Kanye West singing about his escape from the ghetto. (Is it even called a "ghetto" anymore? Or is it all "the hood"? ) Or even Justin Timberlake singing about his love for the girl of the week. Now if she only steers clear of the really awful stuff like Andrea Bocelli and Il Divo and maybe Blake Lewis. Then I'll stay happy.
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