Hello there Ladies and Gentlemen...
I practised my little heart out for 21 minutes last night while Mrs Squid was falling asleep in front of Forensic Investigators on Channel Seven. Making plodding progress on the new number, but progress nonetheless. Which brings me to my next point.I submit another possible cover for the band's consideration and seek feedback. I reckon this would be immortal. Anyone who wants to lay into Cheap Trick with some non-constructive criticism should bear in mind that Silky-D LOVES Cheap Trick even more than he loves the Stikmen. He also wounds easily.
Those unfamiliar, or who just love to rock out, can listen here
He's a Whore
posted by silky-D at 10:00 am
14 Comments:
I can't help but feel that non-constructive criticism bit was aimed at me.
There is no criticism from this side but a simple question, i.e Is this the moment where Norman grasps the mic?
Certainly not aimed at you, old chap. You've been nothing but warmly encouraging.
But there are many hipsters out there in cyberspace who might be tempted to slight the Trick. Though as you know I always welcome constructive criticism.
As for the other bit... I'm willing to have a crack. I did grasp the mic last Tuesday but was slightly discouraged to learn that it was not plugged into any kind of amplifying device.
I feel that the heavy guiar sound of "He's a Whore" coupled with the somewhat unadventurous melody line would uniquely suit my unimpressive vocal range though...
At the risk of appearing socially awkward by responding (twice) to my own post I'll perservere. I've always loved "He's a Whore" without paying much attention to the lyrics. I just looked them up and they make disturbing reading... am now wondering, given the nature of my weekday employment, if the song's appeal reflects some kind of latent masochistic streak.
Chorus:
he's a whore
I'll do anything for money
he's a whore
look at the things that I write
he's a whore
the stories I compare
he's a whore
in the morning in the night
although I am intrigued, in verse two by the lyric:
But money's green
Like cheap soldier's tea
But she's still so close to my reach
If I call if I call at all
It seems I still have much to learn about this lyric-writing thing.
I too looked up the lyrics and I am thoroughly confused as to who the whore is. Perhaps it is a song from one whore to another?
ahhh this bit I think I can help with.
The lead singer is the whore.
So the 'He's a whore' bits are judgmental backing vocals, supplied by the other band members and the lines that follow them are confessional admissions about whoring from the whore himself.
The girl is smething of a red herring. By my reading, she's no whore. He's in love with her but she's just out of reach. His whoring means he can't have her and he can't stop whoring because money's green like cheap soldier's tea.
Ans so he resigns himself to the fact that 'a gigolo is the only way to go.'
That actually clears everything up.
Now let me explain the lyrics to Hinny...
My interpretation was slightly different.
Of course, there's no right and wrong with art - and if anything is art then Cheap Trick surely is - there is only what the audience takes from it.
The girl is in fact a customer who has a face so ugly that the only way the singer can get the job done is to keep looking into her eyes and thinking of the moneybags by his side because he'd do anything for money.
This interpretation may be backed up by a different reading of the lyrics you quoted above
But money's green
like tea and so's her teeth
Holy crap.
Last night I watched the Donnie Darko directors cut on DVD and have been hitting the net pretty hard today to get a bead on just what the hell was going on with all those alternate universes and whatnot. (in between working bloody hard for the man, obviously).
There seems to be a lot of conjecture about these issues. But who knew that the words to a simple Cheap Trick 70's rock masterpiece could be equally befuddling?
A brief survey of internet types' attempts to decipher the lyrics finds support for both Paddy's and my positions, as well as new ones: 'She's a tease like a social disease' another decodes: 'Dead mother's mm?? Like jewels so un-mm??'
Former gunner Gilby Clarke has it on his website as: 'But her money's green, Like tea ????? tea''
THIS IS WEIRD. NOT EVEN GILBY CLARKE KNOWS THE WORDS.
internet consensus is tending towards Paddy's theory but AmiRight, a site that specialises in misheard lyrics, AKA mondegreens, goes with 'cheap soldiers' tea' over the green teeth theory. Official organ cheaptrick.com is silent on this, one of the more vexing issues of an increasingly vexing age.
Let's get back to Hinny. So how does a hinny write a hand-written note. Has it fashioned a hoof-compliant writing implement? Did someone else write the note for the hinny?
Does Gilby have a stance on this? My lyrics are proving to be both complex and rewarding.
you wouldn't believe I just spent 15 minutes signing up to the cheap trick message board on cheaptrick.com so that I could ask the fans for an answer? The site states boldly: 'POLITICAL DISCUSSIONS AND DEBATES ARE NOT WELCOME HERE' which seems unfair given Cheap Trick's obvious track record as crafters of era-defining protest songs. Anyway, for some reason, even after joining I wasn't allowed to post.
As for Hinny... what species is the narrator/protagonist of the song? I always presumed human but in that case there could be 'no family' either way since clearly humans can't reproduce with any kind of equine animals...
Unless they planned to adopt?
I had intended the narrator to be a horse, a stallion in fact. Hence the second line "I felt her breath on my throat". This recalls former intimacy and also that a hinny would be shorter than a horse. After these two the lyrics lose some of their punch.
Joing the cheap trick board is an excellent thing to do. I have been a memeber of the Jay Farrar board for many years and even project managed and contributed to a Jay Farrar tribute album. The only thing that tempered my enthusiasm for it was this here blog. Which leads me to ask...anyone interested in contributing to a Squid Ink tribute album?
I'd love to. You guys rock.
-Jay Farrar.
Jay is, in my opion, the sweetest guy in rock.
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