Classic songs that might be seen today as an "Oooooow"

I was driving when this came on the radio and I thought to myself....is this weird today if you read it literally.

Simon and Garfunkel's "Cecilia"

Making love in the afternoon with Cecilia
Up in my bedroom (making love)
I got up to wash my face
When I come back to bed
Someone's taken my place

 

"Cecilia" was weird back then.

 

Yeah when was that ever NOT a weird lyric? I forget who but some stand up comedian (maybe Mike MacDonald?) made a pretty good joke about it:

"He didn't leave to go to Europe and 'find himself', he got up to wash his face! Man the 60s were weird" or something to that effect

 

Listen to the opening 'rap' and then the song that follows:

 

I think Paul Simon knew exactly what he doing with that song.

 

Was Garfunkel the one who took his place?

 

What's the problem? "I get such a happy feeling, knowing that you feel the same way, too"

 

Did you listen to the opening rap? He's saying that he's not responsible for what he does when he's with his girl because she's 'too much'. And there is nothing to suggest that she ALWAYS 'feel(s) the same way, too.'

Not so subtle message: rape is totally natural and, anyway, not something the rapist is responsble for.

 

It’s weird if you read the lyrics within any sense of ironic humor.

Perhaps the classic songs of Simon & Garfunkel are partially to blame: Bridge Over Troubled Water, The Boxer, Only Living Boy In New York, Sounds Of Silence and others can resonate to the emotional core, with earnest honest lyrics. Inspirational. Iconic.

At the other extreme, Cecelia and At The Zoo and Punky’s Dilemma all have a certain silliness... but they’re not as well known.
Whimsical. Fun.

Perhaps both modes are a reflection of how literature and poetry have strongly influenced Paul Simon’s song compositions.

In general, I think some musicians get Boxed (pun intended) into “Serious Artiste” and any departure from that aspect is seen as strange.
(I myself plead guilty to occasionally placing that constricting line of thinking on a musician or band.)

 

Not a classic song, but Peter Wyngarde makes a bid for most tasteless song of all time with this little niumber, where he proceeds to tell the listener how utterly amazing it is how many different kinds of rape there are. YouTube has the song's title as Golden Throats, but on the original LP it was called Rape, to the best of my knowledge. Released by RCA Victor in 1970, so the company presumably had no problem with it. Didn't anyone find this offensive back in 1970?

 

.................WTF

 

Given Petunia Winegum was mostly known as an actor, maybe the record company assumed it'd be quickly forgotten. It does read like a 2000s parody of neanderthal 60s attitudes though.

 

Exactly.

 

Lord have mercy...

 

There's a long and interesting history behind this album. It was commissioned in 1970, in the wake of various other actors (Richard Harris, David McCallum, Edward Woodward) releasing albums and singles. RCA was apparently looking to post a tax loss and they thought this would be a good way to do it. Wyngarde was reluctant, as he was not a singer. But when they basically gave him a blank cheque to do what he liked with whomever he wished to collaborate, he saw no reason to refuse. The Peter Wyngarde album was the result.

To RCA's horror, it attracted immediate notoriety (apparently, a version of Rape was performed on tv for promotional purposes) and copies began to fly out of the shops. Suddenly, it looked like it was going to be a tax GAIN, not the planned and hoped for tax loss. As a result, the album was pulled from RCA's catalogue and the A&R man who commissioned it was (reportedly) fired. This makes original copies of the LP so desirable.

I love the album: it's a skewed, hilarious piece of work (it also features some great players backing PW up). As to Rape.....it's a deadly satire on 'smooth man' (who'll be a gent to all intents in purposes but has only one objective in mind). A real classic of the period.

 

In this, as in many things, Wyngarde was way ahead of his times.

 

Extraordinary story! Like a record company version of "The Producers"

 

The lyrics are taken too literally.
All he means is she cheats on him so often that it seems that way.
He exaturating.

 

Exactly: with PW combining the roles of Bialystock and Liebkind!

 

And we won't even discuss what was going on with Julio in the schoolyard.

 

And a sampler 45 was pressed, the credits reading Peter Wyngarde "Commits" Rape.
Peter Wyngarde - Peter Wyngarde "Commits" Rape

 

That song is such a dichotomy - I want to share it because musically it's interesting and fun. But the subject matter is.... complex.

 

There's a lot of messed up stuff on the Wyngarde album. It's a gem, in it's uniqueness, and some of the tunes are pretty decent but it's one messed up record. It reminds me too much of Viv Stanshall sometimes and there's a lot of genuine humour in the album but it's one weird and wacky album all the same.

 

I really like the poetry readings he does.

Of course it's messed-up! I get the impression Wyngarde basically put his random thoughts down and the Valverde Brothers and Vic Smith transformed them into songs/music. Quite a lot of it does hit home, though: Flight No.10 vividly conveys the anguish of waiting for someone/something ('Why is waiting so....bare?') and April provides a very jolly conclusion.

 

I wonder what the reactions would be if Gilbert O'Sullivan's Clair and Chuck Berry's Sweet Little Sixteen were released for the first time now. Both perfectly innocent songs.