Taylor Swift is a guilty pleasure of mine (I think she’s a suberb songwriter and knows how to craft incredibly catchy songs) but I didn’t care too much for her version of “Bad Blood” from her hit “1989” album.
Sometimes covers are better than the originals. Indie singer-songwriter Ryan Adams (not to be confused with BRYAN Adams) did this gorgeous cover of Swift’s song, which gets played a lot on our local indie station. I like his low-keyed pop-rock arrangement of it, which sounds quite different from Swift’s upbeat dance-pop original.
Swift’s original:
Which version does everyone prefer? Let me know in the comments.
Interesting thoughts here about Taylor Swift, probably the biggest megastar he music world has ever seen. I have to confess a liking for her music. I’ve always liked her music. Taylor isn’t the best singer but I rather like the wobbly vulnerability of her vocals and no one can write catchier songs. For several years (when she was a “country” artist) she came across as this sweet, innocent victim-type of girl, a girl moms didn’t mind taking their 12 year old daughters to see. But I always suspected something a little off about Taylor–that she wasn’t quite what she seemed. Is Taylor a psychopath or is she just a narcissist? I think a little of both.
Whatever she is, who would have grokked that this virginal girl next door who sings songs about love gone wrong was really a card carrying member of The Dark Triad? But that’s what psychopaths and narcissists are best at: putting on masks.
When I was a teen, I made some gay friends. We would watch TV together and this one was gay and that one was gay. Celebrities are almost always a repository in which to dump our own “stuff.” But nobody seems to fulfill that role better than Taylor Swift. According to various opinions, she is a really nice, unpretentious gal whose talent made famous, a danger to the morale of the country, a psychopath or a member of (victim of?) the Illuminati.
Is Taylor Swift…a Psychopath? In the video on that page, Taylor Swift is quoted saying that in Blank Space, “I was really owning the fact that I’m a psychopath.” OK. I just searched for this interview and found the whole quote was “Half the people got the joke. Half the people…
This long-forgotten one-hit wonder from 1972 is a guilty pleasure, but it always makes me tap my feet and puts a big smile on my face. Happy Sunday, everyone!
Don’t let the laid back sound of Sheryl Crow’s voice and music fool you. This 1998 pop song is about a relationship with a narcissist, after she has been devalued and discarded. I heard it the other day in the car, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head, so I’m making it this week’s Monday Melody. I’ve posted the lyrics below the video.
I woke up and called this morning
The tone of your voice was a warning
That you don’t care for me anymore
I made up the bed we sleep in
I looked at the clock when you creep in
It’s 6 a.m. and I’m alone
[Chorus:]
Did you know when you go
It’s the perfect ending
To the bad day I was just beginning
When you go all I know is
You’re my favorite mistake
Your friends are sorry for me
They watch you pretend to adore me
But I’m no fool to this game
Now here comes your secret lover
She’d be unlike any other
Until your guilt goes up in flames
[Chorus:]
Did you know when you go
It’s the perfect ending
To the bad day I’d gotten used to spending
When you go all I know is
You’re my favorite mistake
You’re my favorite mistake
Well maybe nothin’ lasts forever
Even when you stay together
I don’t need forever after
It’s your laughter won’t let me go
So I’m holding on this way
Did you know, could you tell
You were the only one
That I ever loved
Now everything’s so wrong
Did you see me walking by?
Did it ever make you cry?
You’re my favorite mistake
You’re my favorite mistake
You’re my favorite mistake
There are some songs you just never grow tired of. I clearly remember the first time I heard Al Stewart‘s “Year of the Cat” because I heard it in a dream. There’s only one other song I first heard while I was asleep and became incorporated into my dream (Lifehouse’s “Halfway Gone,” 2009). There’s something magical about hearing a song in a dream that always remains with you and makes the song seem more special somehow. You almost feel like it came from inside you.
“Year of the Cat”‘s vivid imagery recalls outdoor markets in faraway Eastern places and exotic women in colorful silk dresses. In my dream, during the summer of 1977, I saw all this imagery while on some kind of safari and my male companion–a boy who I had a wild crush on–was serenading me with this song.
I woke up right at the end, during the long instrumental and couldn’t get the song out of my head. I had to have that record, so I rushed out to purchase the 45 RPM. For the next month I listened to it more times than I could count.
It’s a great song, with many layers of instrumentation–violins, piano, guitar,and saxophone, giving it a sensual, even sexy feel. The lyrics are pure poetry. You simply don’t hear lines like “she comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
like a watercolor in the rain” these days.
“Year of the Cat” has a timeless sound and doesn’t sound dated, even 40 years after its release. It could have been made yesterday.
Janis Ian, a singer-songwriter whose most well known song was 1975’s hit “At Seventeen,” recorded a much lesser known hit when she was just 16 years old, called “Society’s Child.” Sadly, this song has mostly been forgotten. The last time I heard it played on any radio station was probably in the late 1970s. Classic rock stations don’t play it because it doesn’t really qualify as rock. But the song is a masterpiece, both musically and lyrically. Fortunately, someone was able to get this technologically impressive (for its time) video of Janis singing the song live in 1967 on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
“Society’s Child” has an interesting background. Janis actually wrote the song at the age of 15, imagining a white high school girl dating a black boy and having to deal with her parents’ and teachers’ disapproval of anyone “not of our own kind.” In the song, the girl is forced to end her relationship with her boyfriend because of the prejudice so common at the time (and that unfortunately never really went away).
Janis Ian said she received death threats due to the controversial lyrics, and many radio stations refused to play the song. But she continued to perform it live throughout the years and still does to this day, at the age of 64.
I think Janis looks absolutely stunning in this video, and she really gets lost in the emotion of the song. Maybe it’s only because of the superior quality of the video but it’s hard for me to wrap my head around the fact this was taped almost 50 years ago. But there’s a definite innocence there you just don’t see in modern singers.
I think Monday’s a day everyone could use a little music, so I decided to start a new regular feature on this blog, Monday Melodies. Each Monday, I will feature one song from the past that I really like and share it with my readers. I’ll give a little background about the song and explain why I like it so much.
This week’s selection is “Walking in Memphis” by singer-songwriter Marc Cohn.
This song was a big hit in 1991 and is the only hit for Marc Cohn. He wrote it after a trip to Memphis, Tennessee in 1985 which proved to be a musical and spiritual awakening for him. Many people think Cohn is a born-again Christian because of the line at the end, “Tell me, are you a Christian, child?” in which he replies, “Ma’am, I am tonight!” This is the song’s iconic line. It grabs your attention and pulls the whole narrative together. But Cohn is and was a New York Jew. He’s describing how he felt the pull of the religious fervor (and many would say the Holy Spirit) surrounding him as he sang “Amazing Grace” with 60 year old gospel singer Muriel Wilkins playing piano. (See the Wikipedia entry for more background.)
I love this song because to me, it’s perfect in nearly every way. Cohn’s voice is powerful and emotional, the lyrics are great, and the production isn’t overdone. It’s a song you don’t forget, and I think that’s why it’s still often heard on the radio, even though it’s 25 years old. It’s timeless. The gospel choir at the end gives me chills every time. The way the song ends reminds me of waking up from a beautiful dream for some reason.
My song lists about NPD and BPD are among my most popular posts (and are so much fun to put together), so I think it’s time to post another set. There are so many great songs about Cluster B disorders!
Since it’s sometimes so hard to distinguish lyrics about people with BPD from people with NPD, I’m going to just combine 10 songs I haven’t reviewed before in one new post, and specify which disorder I think is being described in the narrative, and where I’m not sure, I’ll say so.
Wherever possible, I tried to post the lyric videos.
1. The Cars: Dangerous Type
Thanks to Mary Pranzatelli for suggesting this one! This is a great, catchy song, the Cars were one of my favorite bands back in the day. I think this describes a girl with BPD.
2. Three Days’ Grace: Animal I Have Become
Three Days’ Grace (along with Alanis Morrisette) seems to have a lot of songs about personality disordered individuals. This rocker from the early 2000s seems to be sung by a guy with severe or malignant BPD (edging toward sociopathy) who is all too aware of how sick he’s become.
3. Smashing Pumpkins: To Forgive
A dark and poignant lament from a man with either BPD or NPD about the child he was whose soul was destroyed.
4. Of Monsters and Men: Little Talks
Duet where the female singer appears to be suffering from BPD and is having a dialogue about it with her worried lover.
5. The Beatles: Run for Your Life
There are few songs from the 60s about BPD or NPD and The Beatles weren’t a band you expected to write about such dark material anyway, but this lesser known of their songs seems to be about a really jealous guy with malignant NPD or psychopathy.
Well, related to the above, maybe John Lennon had issues, because he wrote this very pretty ballad about a guy lamenting the way he hurt his lover and he seems to have BPD.
7. Halsey: Gasoline
This woman describes what could be a bad case of self destructive BPD, even though Halsey’s Wikipedia entry says she actually suffers from Bipolar Disorder.
8. Shawn Colvin: Sunny Came Home
A pretty murder ballad about a woman who suffered a BPD psychotic break and snapped. She may have been a psychopath too since the murder was premeditated.
9. Limp Bizkit: Behind Blue Eyes
The singer is clearly a self-aware narcissist. Thanks to Akram for this suggestion!
10. Sia: Breathe Me
Poignant ballad about a young woman suffering with BPD.(Like Halsey above, Sia Furler’s Wikipedia entry states she actually suffers from Bipolar Disorder)
11. Kelly Clarkson: Because of You
Emotional ballad that portrays Clarkson as a young woman who suffers from emotional problems, possibly BPD. I’ve included the regular video because of the story it tells. She meets her child (true) self, who helps her to remember her narcissistic parents who caused her to develop severe self esteem problems. The video is also interesting in that Clarkson is shown periodically in what appears to be a house of mirrors. Clarkson appears to be in tears at the end.
If you enjoyed this post, please check out my other BPD/NPD song lists:
I loved this one hit wonder song when it came out in 1984 but it didn’t receive airplay much beyond its radio life, so like so many other songs that came and went over the years, providing my life’s soundtrack, I completely forgot about it.
Just a few minutes ago, I heard it on the radio (a local indie-rock station that plays both old and new music), probably the first time in about 20 years. It’s a song from one of the happier times in my life (which there haven’t too been many of), so it brings back pretty good memories.
I love when that happens. I wish it would happen more often. There’s probably so many others songs I completely forgot about, but would remember immediately if I heard them again.
No Doubt also covered this song in 2003. Their version is just as good. On side note, Gwen Stefani appears to be portraying woman with Histrionic Personality Disorder or maybe BPD.
When I was a teen, I made some gay friends. We would watch TV together and this one was gay and that one was gay. Celebrities are almost always a repository in which to dump our own “stuff.” But nobody seems to fulfill that role better than Taylor Swift. According to various opinions, she is a really nice, unpretentious gal whose talent made famous, a danger to the morale of the country, a psychopath or a member of (victim of?) the Illuminati.
Lucky Otters Haven 