LYRIC WATCH – A new column in which we take a look at current songs that just make no sense.
Ben Lee - 'I Love Pop Music'
Yes it’s only January but Ben Lee may already have the trophy for worst lyrics of the year in the bag. (Watch your back Brandon Flowers, you're next).
There’s always been a sliver of hope for the man who co-wrote maybe Evan Dando’s finest moment in ‘Hard Drive’, but after Lee’s latest deposit perhaps we're spent. Perhaps "hope" was the burger in the photo. Perhaps hope was the marijuana in the boogie board bag. And perhaps hope was getting the number of the girl now standing in front of you at the urinals. Sometimes, hope turns around and punches you in the throat.
In his new track ‘I Love Pop Music’ Lee un-ironically decimates everything good and decent about pop music in one 3:30 swoop. (The "classic" three minute thirty running time itself seems a cold, premeditated assault on the medium). Amongst the pile of insufferable video game backing noises, the post-it note student paper headlines and a depth of field that makes the Wiggles look like a band of Bob Dylans ruminating on Shakespeare, ‘I Love Pop Music’ single-handedly sets pop music back to the beginning. Of time.
Good pop music celebrates its small shelf-life, stretching ahead just far enough to catch the zeitgeist despite its inherent disposability. We’re talking ‘Hey Ya’, ‘Milkshake’, ‘Crazy’ and yes, even you ‘SexyBack’. Instead Lee looks to his past, regurgitating sounds that have pulled him through the 90s while attempting to reimagine the world’s problems as a backdrop to romance. Without exposition, insight, any suggestion as to why, and weirdly, without heart. Worse, he seems intent on dragging people along with him. As the man says “We’re encouraged to consume and consume with no thought to where it all comes from and where it all goes”. Yes.
NB: Normally we would focus on a a portion of a song but for our maiden voyage we're going the whole hog. Video below.
Ben Lee - 'I Love Pop Music'
I love pop music this is how we do it
It’s politics you can romance to
I love pop music sprinkle sugar through it
Philosophy that you can dance to
The price of oil is at an all time high and rising - YEAH
Global warming threatens life as we know it - UH OH
Our leaders have not committed to a plan of action on renewable energy - WOO
The food crisis is currently affecting a hundred million people worldwide
I love pop music this is how we do it
It’s politics you can romance to
I love pop music sprinkle sugar through it
Philosophy that you can dance to
Turn up the radio
Sing along like you’re all alone
There are over 6 billion people on this planet and not enough fresh drinking water – WE’RE IN TROUBLE (!!)
Religious intolerance creating geo-political instability – SHINE A LIGHT
Politicians battling each other like professional wrestlers - WOO
Further division is not the answer, division is not the answer
I love pop music this is how we do it
It’s politics you can romance to
I love pop music sprinkle sugar through it
Philosophy that you can dance to
Turn up the radio
Sing along like you’re all alone
Greed and fear seem to be the driving forces of modern life
We’re encouraged to consume and consume with no thought of where it all comes from or where it all goes
Our lives are accelerating as we fall out of touch with nature and ancient myth
We’re desperately in need of a brand new dream
I love pop music this is how we do it
It’s politics you can romance to
I love pop music sprinkle sugar through it
Philosophy that you can dance to
Ben Lee - 'I Love Pop Music'