Whatever You Like

[Orthography Enthusiast]

Thanks for the long and thoughtful review, Greg.

About the "condescending" idea: one of the things that probably is only known to really really diehard fans who have read or listened to practically every extant Al interview is that when Al started out, he HAD that crappy-apartment, crapped-out old car, mac & cheese period in his life. And by all accounts he is still pretty darn frugal. Remember him talking about how he maintains mental discipline while directing videos by imagining dollar bills flying out the window? And when it came to his big "reveal" from "You're Pitiful," I'm sure I'm not the only person who recognized the heart boxers from live "Bedrock Anthem" and the SLN janitor's pink tutu. The guy just can't bring himself to throw anything away (unless Suzanne makes him ) So IMHO this song shares something with W&N: Al's both somewhat the nerd and somewhat the, er, home economist. He's not sneering at us, he IS us.

[TMBJon]

Greg, EXCELLENT review. I appreciate the detached nature you were able to take on the song, and I think you are right that a lot of us were so excited to have a new song that we would be extremely happy with any release. I tried to make clear in my own review that this was the case as well.

I trust that the people that are listening to this song are not going to take it in a condescending way. Yes, it hits home but I think most of the lyrics suggest that he is laughing with us, not at us. And as far as the question about how heavily promoted this song will be, I don't think he means for these iTunes tracks to be "singles" in the traditional sense. He will probably be releasing them as he records them, and if they chart - great. If not, one more track done for the album. Not to say this song is "filler" at all. In fact, I think a lot of it was pretty clever. But you are SO right that there is a quality over speed-of-delivery factor that Al should realize is more important. I would much rather see an extremely well written parody than a parody that comes out when the original is still number one. Let's hope this is the case for future iTunes releases.

[Grom]

Who wants a rambling and somewhat unclear review of the new song?

That was perfect. Thanks for saying stuff good.

"one distorted bass note"

I have no idea what do you mean exactly by that

Listen to the noise around 0:12 - 0:14 in the song. It's pretty much a persistent buzzing. That's a bass note, distorted so that it sounds like that static-y buzz. The note's repeated every few seconds throughout the entire song and it's incredibly grating on those who like awesome bass riffs (as in songs by Cake and RHCP).

[ludovica64]

Thanks for the long and thoughtful review, Greg.

About the "condescending" idea: one of the things that probably is only known to really really diehard fans who have read or listened to practically every extant Al interview is that when Al started out, he HAD that crappy-apartment, crapped-out old car, mac & cheese period in his life. And by all accounts he is still pretty darn frugal. Remember him talking about how he maintains mental discipline while directing videos by imagining dollar bills flying out the window? And when it came to his big "reveal" from "You're Pitiful," I'm sure I'm not the only person who recognized the heart boxers from live "Bedrock Anthem" and the SLN janitor's pink tutu. The guy just can't bring himself to throw anything away (unless Suzanne makes him ) So IMHO this song shares something with W&N: Al's both somewhat the nerd and somewhat the, er, home economist. He's not sneering at us, he IS us.

I'm with you 100% on that. In the interview you posted earlier he said that he was motivated by losing a lot of his own money in the recent troubles. Al's pretty famously er "thrifty" anyway.. and thats certainly nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about

I don't see this song as being mean to poor people and I am frankly shocked that people could interpret it in that way.

The song is affectionate and warm. The guy KNOWS his girl is no supermodel, he KNOWS his car is no Beamer, he KNOWS he's in a humble job and takes home a small wage.. but there is NO bitterness there.. there is acceptance and a humble and clear eyed joy in trying to do the best he feels he can do for his girl.

He's not a poseur, he is not a flashy person. His girl is with him because she loves him and not for pecuniary reasons or any material advantage... unlike the girl in the original song who is enticed by the high-life boasts of the original singer.

The comedy is, for me, in the juxtaposition of those empty and valueless boasts and the very real and warm relationship that the cut-price couple have together.

All the shops and brands he mentioned are presented as desirable things and are not of themselves ridiculed at all in any way.

Al is CELEBRATING economy and honesty and pragmatic real life attitudes, not making fun of people who arent rich. He is saying you dont NEED Prada and Gucci to be happy and to have love and be fulfilled. Surely thats the whole point.

Once again I am mystified by some of the near sighted interpretations I have seen here and elsewhere. The song is all about it being not that bad at all to be of modest means to my mind.

As such, I think it is one of the most subtly romantic and poignant love songs I know and if THAT isnt a vast contrast with the original material I dunno what is.

I think it sounds great too.

Well Done Al. I adore it.

[Orthography Enthusiast]

All the shops and brands he mentioned are presented as desirable things and are not of themselves ridiculed at all in any way.

You're right, Ludovica... Al took a typically crass rap lyric and made it into an offbeat but kinda touching love song as well as a thumbing-of-the-nose at the current economy, which will doubtless get worse before it gets better. But I remain unconvinced about the Goodwill underwear.

(for those outside the US, Goodwill Industries is a charity that offers vocational training and raises funds by selling donated second-hand clothes in their stores)

[ludovica64]

You're right, Ludovica... Al took a typically crass rap lyric and made it into an offbeat but kinda touching love song as well as a thumbing-of-the-nose at the current economy, which will doubtless get worse before it gets better. But I remain unconvinced about the Goodwill underwear.

(for those outside the US, Goodwill Industries is a charity that offers vocational training and raises funds by selling donated second-hand clothes in their stores)

I buy second hand underwear Helen. Its usually better made that modern stuff put together by exploited kids in the third world. ( and you can occasionally get something that FITS!
I do have a fairly decent washing machine of course.

[the8thark]

Actually I have to say it's a good song and all. Very catchy. And I've read all the comments about it here. And I think it's just not for me. I don't really like it. A little too close to the original for my liking. I prefer the ones that lyrically are nothing like the original.

In saying that it's a nice addition to the Al catalogue. It'll be on repeat for a while in my itunes list.

[wayword]

He's not sneering at us, he IS us.

Indeed. An actual rich person wouldn't even know what some of those things he mentioned are. This is the beauty of Al. He's "Normal Al" (as one relatively recent review called him). He reflects us.

Ludo, I enjoyed your lovely take on the meaning. I'm not as sweet as you, however. I think, as in "Don't Download this Song", the lyrics do have a double meaning-- poking fun as well as sympathizing. But that's the basis of good comedy-- you laugh because it hurts.

A writer friend of mine said, "If everyone likes your story, it's probably an okay story. If half of them like it and half of them hate it, it's probably an award winner."

I'm glad to see this song getting some controversy. I thought it was too tame, but hooray, people are finding thought-provoking issues in it. I think that's an excellent sign for the health of this song. Go, Al!

[Keir]

I just don't really see where it fits in the song--I'll go into overanalyze mode and say that lipo is a costly procedure, so if he's offering to buy it for her, it goes against the rest of the lyrics. But it just sort of seems like he needed to fill three lines with "O" rhymes.

It is an odd verse but, as I mentioned before, he's parodying these lines from the original song:

Shawty you da hottest, love the way you drop it
Brain so good (good) coulda swore you went to college

I don't know what "Shawty" means, but that's obviously where Al got "shorty" from. Don't know what "drop it" means either, but I guess that's kind of irrelevant. Then it's followed up with sort of a backhanded compliment.

[Elvis]

Who wants a rambling and somewhat unclear review of the new song?

Oooooh, me! Pick me!! I was going to post my review today. But, now when I get around to posting it, it's gonna look like I'm ripping you off. So, thanks a lot.

I agree with pretty much everything you say. I diagree about the "Canadian Idiot" only charting because it was riding the coattails of W&N, as I think the song was popular enough to chart on it's own, especially among the YouTube crowd (as was "eBay"). And I would have left out the jab at Luke Ski, but the rest is spot on.

I'll post my review later. I might actually have another point that Greg and others haven't brought up yet.

Dave