Gold Standard

A few days ago I was slightly chastised for getting two song titles wrong in a piece I'd written about musical artists who have failed to create a standard.  Aw, well, that's life, I'm not perfect.  Rather the mute, or nullify my point, my error did more to emphasize the fact that the songs are... forgettable.  It's a bit embarrassing about the Elton John song, since I've seen him in concert 4 times and he's played that one song each time.  However, we do forget.  This is what time does.  We either forget it or remember it.  This is how standards are created.  For those who don't know what a standard is, Webster defines it as "a musical piece of sufficiently enduring popularity to be made part of a permanent repertoire."  

Anyway, since I get to talk to quite a number of people every day, I decided to do a little survey.  From a list of several artists (Prince, Elton John, Madonna, Billy Joel, and Bon Jovi), I asked 72 people which song they remembered the most. Seventeen people said they couldn't think of a single song. Bad news for Billy Joel - he didn't get any votes.  Prince got 2 for "Little Red Corvette."  Bon Jovi got 8 for "Living on a Prayer." (?)  Madonna got 14 votes for 3 different songs, "Like a Virgin," was her number one vote getter with 7.  Elton John got the most votes with 48, however that's misleading.  Nine people voted for "The Circle of Life," but 35 more just voted for "The Lion King," which is a movie.  That's right, if you just count song titles, Madonna beats Elton John by one.  Does that mean one of her songs is going to be a standard?  Of course, the answer is no. I suspect having your song attached to a hit movie, and a Disney movie to be more precise, increases the probability.

In fact, thinking back on all the popular music written, there probably is only one true standard and that was song by a teenage girl a long time ago in a little movie called "The Wizard of Oz."

So, I'm wondering if anything out there can ever even compete with this?  Or did Judy Garland set the all time gold standard?    I suspect we'll have to wait 75 years and see how well that song from Frozen does.

      

Prince Harry - Bonehead for life?

A day doesn't go by when I don't find myself simply amazed at the stupidity of some people.  Recently it was Prince Harry who had me wondering if he was using his head for anything but a hatstand.  What was the comment?  Shooting people in Afghanistan was a lot like playing a video game.  At least that was the headline most news organizations were using, or something quite similar.   Talk about playing right into the hands of the NRA.  They first crapped out this argument two weeks after Newtown, part of their "always blame someone else" campaign.   Being the curious type, I Googled this royal putz.  Holy Crap, Prince Harry is as dumb as brick.  Some of the tabloids actually call him Dirty Harry.  Not good.  Wait, let me take that back, he isn't dumb he just doesn't think.  I don't think there is a conscious spark jumping between what he says and how his words are interpreted.  Sadly, I can understand why.  He is never going to be King.  That honor will go to his Dad first, and then to his older brother, or to one his brother's kids.  Unless there is some terrible, unforeseen calamity, he is going to be a prince forever, sort of like "always a bridesmaid, never a bride."

Doesn't it look like he's calculating?

He does kind of have that "screw you" look doesn't he?  That tells me he is going to bang as many birds as possible.  It also tells me he's going to try his damnedest to do what ever he wants.  One of the headlines that popped up was "the girls, the gangs, the booze," or something like that.  Believe me, it was not flattering.    Does he really care?  Hell no.  I can hear the Queen saying, "he is just like that mother of his."  Back in August when someone took a picture of him hanging around with a bunch of sluts in Vegas, I could only laugh.  Will the Royal family try and rein him in?  You can bet the bank on that.  They can't let him embarrass them every six months, it will make them look less regal. Do you think he's really going to care?  Hell no.

As a side note, there are a lot of women out there who know the value in giving birth to royal blood.  Of course, maybe he doesn't mind have that expensive habit.  One might expect this from a bonehead for life.