By megadom
They call me Naughty Lola. Run-of-the-mill beardy physicist (M, 46). Box. 4023.
Can a playlist of self-deprecating songs offer a much-needed perspective on the state the world is in this week?
Of course not.
So here perhaps, is what might amount to a diversion at most. Thanks all for dropping in and playing when everyone’s got so much else on their minds and for all your wonderful suggestions over the course of the topic. I enjoyed listening to every one of them.
At several junctures I just went yep, why not, and selected quite a few of my favourite songs ever. I also mixed in stuff I'd never heard of before, but had grown to love by Monday evening. In a sort-of-interesting but not-that-important kind of way, it was tricky to pin down what exactly it is that defines self-deprecation. Mainly it was empathy for the protagonist being there in some measure that I used as a cut-off. I left out some fabulous songs – but they’ll be good enough get picked up for other topics.
1. Orange Juice – Consolation Prize
From the first notes of the first bar, this is drenched in self-deprecation – and is possibly the song that defines the topic.
‘I wore my fringe like Roger McGuinn's
I was hoping to impress
So frightfully camp, it made you laugh,
Tomorrow I'll buy myself a dress’
And at that point a minute and a half in, when the band sat around in the studio doing the spoken bit, the laugh and the guitar solo running into ‘I'll never be man enough for you…’ – oh for a time machine.
2. Fujiya & Miyagi – Extended Dance Mix
Any song that closes out with ‘Are they still going? Are Fujiya & Miyagi still going? …Why?’ was always going to make the playlist this week. Glimpses of krautrock, Brotherhood-era New Order synth and skittering snare, underneath a droll and understated vocal.
‘As the kick drum flexes Its metaphorical muscles,
My dermatitis flares up and becomes increasingly unsubtle,
My ankles click, to the songs that were never hits,
Like this Fujiya & Miyagi extended dance mix.’
3. Camera Obscura – Suspended From Class
Enchanting opener to their 'Underachievers Please Try Harder' album. The song’s protagonist is clearly on the make, but this is Scots indie from 2003, so an undertone of self-deprecation is virtually de rigueur. Great rhyme for the title, ‘I don’t know my elbow from my ass’.
4. Ezra Furman – Take Off Your Sunglasses
This song is catchy as ... hmm best not go any further with that.
‘And then I woke up in the middle of the night
One night and I felt so unworthy …
It didn't bother me too much, I think I am unworthy’
A YouTube below-the-line commenter gets into the spirit of things with ‘I really like these guys .... Do you think at the age of 57 I might appear ridiculous attending their gig at Preston? I am a sensitive chap so don't be too brutal.’
See you there pal.
5. Loudon Wainwright III – April Fool’s Day Morn
A catalogue of terrible behaviour is related with downcast eyes ending up with Loudon hungover and forlorn.
‘I am too old, too large, too close
To crawl up on my mother's knee
So eggs and bacon, coffee, toast
Were placed in front of me’
A beautifully melancholic self-dissection of what it might really mean to be a ‘mother’s boy’.
6. Gregory Isaacs - Loving Pauper
‘I'm not in a position to maintain you
The way that you're accustomed to
Can't take you out to fancy places
Like other fellows that I know can do’
The character’s lack of finance here sort of echoes Sam Cooke’s lack of education in Wonderful World. This also is a great song. And I like the payoff that, although he’s skint, when it comes to loving, our hero considers himself to be... not great, but ‘alright’.
7. Courtney Barnett - Pedestrian at Best
‘Put me on a pedestal and I’ll only disappoint you’. Terrific.
8. Sun Kil Moon - Track Number 8
‘Well I wrote this one,
And I know it ain't great.
Will probably sequence it
Track number eight’
9. Monochrome Set – Eine Symphonie Des Grauens
‘I'm soft and slightly stinking
My arms are small and shrinking
My lips kiss dirt, ooh, let's flirt’
Up the far end of the self-deprecation spectrum our corpse hero admits that whilst they’re technically dead, that doesn’t stop them fancying the pants off us. Now that would have been an LRB personal ad.
10. John Grant – GMF
An uplifting ‘I am the greatest’ ballad that manages to swoop down into self-belittling alienation throughout.
11. Neil Innes – How Sweet To Be An Idiot
Noel Gallagher may not agree 100% but Innes’ skill with a timelessly catchy melody verged on the surgical. This has gentle English self-effacement running right through it like a stick of Blackpool rock.
12. Ballboy – I Wonder if You're Drunk Enough to Sleep With Me Tonigh
Headliners at a sold-out church hall around the corner from my house only recently.
13. Soft Machine – Moon in June (Top Gear version)
Well how could I not? And it’s about time the tradition of the extended proggy A-List closer got revived. Don’t worry if you can’t see the whole thing through. If you fancy a tea break midway, Robert’s happy to enquire: ‘Just before we go on to the next part of our song / Let's all make sure we've got the time’.
As the last lyrics written to any Soft Machine song, they place things in perspective rather well:
‘Music-making still performs the normal functions -
Background noise for people eating and talking and drinking and smoking…
That's alright by us, don't think that we're complaining,
After all it's only leisure time, isn't it?’
Expressive Downplay A-List Playlist:
1. Orange Juice – Consolation Prize
2. Fujiya & Miyagi – Extended Dance Mix
3. Camera Obscura – Suspended From Class
4. Ezra Furman – Take Off Your Sunglasses
5. Loudon Wainwright III – April Fool's Day Morn
6. Gregory Isaacs – Loving Pauper
7. Courtney Barnett – Pedestrian At Best
8. Sun Kil Moon – Track Number 8
9. Monochrome Set – Eine Symphonie Des Grauens
10. John Grant – GMF
11. Neil Innes – How Sweet to be an Idiot
12. Ballboy – I Wonder if You're Drunk Enough to Sleep With Me Tonight
13. Soft Machine – Moon in June (BBC Top Gear version)
Bashfully Self-Belittling B-List Playlist:
1. Skee-Lo – I Wish
2. X-Ray Spex – I Can't Do Anything
3. Dan Auerbach – King Of A One-Horse Town
4. Sebadoh – The Freed Pig
5. Edwin Starr – My Weakness Is You
6. Split Enz – Nobody Takes Me Seriously
7. The 6ths – He Didn't
8. Seasick Steve – Started Out With Nothin'
9. The Smiths – Unloveable
10. The Guv'nors – 40, Fat And Finished
11. King Creosote – 678
12. Dana Bryant – Dominican Girdles
13. Elvis Costello – Town Cryer
Guru’s Wildcard Pick:
Peter Blegvad – The Only Song
Blegvad’s song asks us to picture that particular circle of hell reserved exclusively for patrons of the Song Bar. Once admitted, they are condemned to listen to one song, the only song, for all eternity.
‘Imagine a world where this was the only song
And against your will
You had to sit and listen to it all day long
Until it made you ill’
Self-deprecating? Well yes, but the song itself is the absolute cat’s pyjamas.
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations from last week's topic: Try putting this down: songs with self-deprecation. The next topic will launch on Thursday at 1pm UK time.
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