Initialism? I Barely Know Him!
Background: Back in college, I dominated the airwaves on KSMR in Winona, Minnesota with the Pass the Mike Radio Hour. For one of my shows, I played songs that contained initialism in the titles (initials that stood for something else). Every once in awhile, I would get a call from a listener who would always request Devo’s version of “Loving Cup.” That night, he called to complain about the profanity in “BMF (Blowin’ Money Fast).” I won’t be sharing that one with you, but there are still some excellent titles we’ll talk about, and I hope it inspires you to create your own initialisms (a C.Y.I. movement started by Minnesota Mike!) The first two songs in this blog will focus on songs that explicitly tell you the title within the lyrics. The last two will be initialisms for a concept that does not explicitly appear in the lyrics, but instead is described.
“D.N.D.” by Semisonic
Lyrically: Semisonic was no stranger to initialisms by the time they got to their second album, having put out “F.N.T.” (Fascinating New Thing) on their debut album, Great Divide. But when I was listening to “D.N.D.” as part of my Feeling Strangely Fine anniversary listen, the sweetness of the lyrics stuck out to me. It took me a second to remember what D.N.D. stood for in this particular case, and although I can totally see Dan Wilson getting into Dungeons and Dragons, in this case, it stands for “Do Not Disturb”. In a previous blog, I talked about outdated visuals and on Semisonic’s third album, they referenced “Driving with the telephone,” and with cell phones being relatively cutting-edge back in 2001, this lyric seemed ahead of its time. And the same goes for a lot of what “D.N.D.” talks about. Now, compared to 1998, there is so much to distract us. So when he says “Now you turn off the phone” and “How’d you like to make the whole world disappear?” listening to it in the 21st century seems all the more important and necessary to do. With lines like “How like you to make love in my hideaway. How like you to make my troubles slide away,” it’s an incredibly relaxing thought to escape into, and all comes back to the request that other people don’t disturb you while you forget about the world.
Melodically: The song uses acoustic guitar, electric guitar, drums, drum loops, and bass, as well as strings. It’s written in the key of A major and uses E, F#m, Dsus2, A, Bm, G, and D in the intro. This is a V, vi, IV, I, ii, bVII, bIV pattern. Remember that the last two chords of the intro won’t make them leave you alone, since it’s G and D, not DND. The verses use the same chords, minus the Bm, G, and D, and therefore make a perfect cadence (an excellent choice for an objective-driven song of finding that state of “D.N.D.”)
Structurally: The song follows a verse, verse, middle 8, interlude, verse, outro format. There’s a simplicity to the structure of this particular song, which fits with the desire for a calmness he doesn’t have. In a previous blog, we looked at Dan’s solo song, “Free Life,” and in that song, it was pretty clear they both needed an escape because they were losing their fire. In this song, however, it’s revealed in the middle 8 that he wasn’t always like that. He was desperate to get back with the crowd, but now realizes how foolish he was to want that, because it’s so nice to be isolated with no one disturbing. A chorus wouldn’t really work, because you only need to have a big revelation once, with the rest of the song fulfilling the objective of not being disturbed.
Lock your door, turn this song on, and don’t open it up for anyone unless it’s Dan Wilson singing it to you personally.
2. “G.O.D. (Good Old Days)” by Fastball
Background: Fastball makes its third entry into my blog series after having appeared with “The Way” and “Fire Escape,” all of which appeared on their debut album. Some people write songs to make hits. Fastball clearly saw 20+ years into the future and were writing for inclusion in my blog.
Lyrically: It’s just hitting me how much I talk about nostalgia in my blogs, because “G.O.D.” fits that category as well. In the song, he tells, in a very simple manner, about his more carefree times, described in verse 1 as being “Decorated in a candy glaze.” An interesting choice for a song about nostalgia, it then goes on to describe things in the present tense: “So pick me up on a weekday night. We get together and ride around in black and white,” as well as buying things drunk at a drugstore, and referring to this lifestyle as a “Seven day weekend night.”
Melodically: The song alternates between the C, Gm, Bb, and F. Written in the key of F major, this is a V, ii, IV, I pattern, and a perfect cadence. However, the second part of the verses uses Bb, F, A7, and Dm, a IV, I, III, vi pattern. There is an instrumental interlude that uses C, F, and then the bridge uses Cm, F, and Cm, followed by Eb, Bb, and G (a v, I, v, bVII, IV, II pattern), before going back to the verse pattern of C, Gm, C, Gm, Bb, F, A7, and Dm pattern. Instrumentally, the song contains guitar, drums, and horns.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, verse, solo, middle 8, verse format. The song comes at you quick, with a quick recap of the good old days and the part he’s thinking about, then immediately dives into a “take me back” moment that contains a sense of urgency, especially with the termination on the vi chord. I remember hearing this song for the first time shortly after it came out, but don’t remember those chord changes. To be fair, I was 6, but my ears always had a tendency to hear strange things in songs, so I’m a little surprised. It definitely is strange, but it works so well somehow.
“G.O.D. (Good Old Days)” is embedded below.
3. “I.G.Y. (What a World)” by Donald Fagen
Lyrically: The song discusses a hope for the future, at an event during the International Geophysical Year, which was a time after the cold war when scientists across the world began to collaborate with each other. If you’re at all familiar with Steely Dan’s discography, you know that optimism isn’t exactly Donald Fagen’s thing, but in this song, there’s a charm and beauty to his hope when he says, “The dream is in sight, you’ve got to admit it at this time that it’s clear the future looks bright,” and later, “Here at home we’ll play in the city, powered by the sun. There’ll be spandex jackets, one for everyone.” I’m also used to Fagen using complex vocabulary, and I’ll admit, I never bothered to figure out what I.G.Y. stood for until writing this blog, but now I know.
Melodically: The song is written in Abm. The intro uses Abm, Dbm9, Emaj9, and E/F. This is using extensions and variations of the, iv, v, and V chords, and that pattern gets played twice. The verses then use Fm9, Dbmaj7, Cm7, Bbm7, Fm9, Dbmaj7, and Cm7, using extensions of the vi, IV, iii, and ii chords,, before closing on extensions of the II and V chords of Bmaj7/F#, B13/F#, Emaj9. These get repeated twice, but with the F#m9 and F#M7-5 (exrtensions of the VI chords) subbing out for the Emaj9 the next two times around. The verses then close on the Emaj9 and Em6 (the v chords). The chorus uses Abm7, Dbm7, Emaj9, E/Gb, Abm7, Dbm7, Emaj9, and E/Gb. This is a I, iv, V, I, iv, V pattern. The solo is the same as the intro, plus two more beats on the E/Gb, before closing on the Dmaj7/Eb and the Fm9. The intro is the same as the outro, chord-wise. Instrumentally, the song contains synth-harmonica, electric piano, synthesizers, horns, bass, guitar, drums (played in part by Jeff Porcaro of Toto and studio musician fame–including Steely Dan’s Pretzel Logic), trumpet, saxophone, and trombone.
Structurally: The song contains a complex intro, followed by a verse, chorus, solo, verse, chorus, solo, verse, chorus, outro format. As I mentioned at the top, the theme of “I.G.Y.” is a lot more chipper than some of the Dan’s work, but the complex melodies and arrangements remained the same. Because the song is so calming, he can afford to elongate the instrumentals, because there’s no need to worry about the future like there was in the cold war era.
Closing Production Note: Because I never miss an opportunity to brag about my home state, this album was made at the beginning of the digital era of recording, with the studio engineers flying to Minnesota to learn from 3M about the new technology.
“I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World)” is embedded below.
4. “J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva)” by Green Day
Lyrically: J.A.R. was written by bassist Mike Dirnt in the aftermath of his friend, Jason’s death by suicide in a car crash. It plays with the cliches people tell you when someone passes, saying he would’ve wanted the narrator to live his life to the fullest, but he asserts, “Now I see I’m mortal too” but eventually concludes he has to live his life to the fullest in his friend’s honor. As I mentioned in the intro, this is one of two songs that does not explicitly use the title in the lyrics, but it still manages to paint a pretty clear picture of who Jason was to the narrator, and to me gives off a similar vibe to that of the narrator in “Sometimes it Snows in April” by Prince.
Melodically: Although the lyrics give off a similar vibe to the aforementioned Prince song, it is a melodically uptempo tune. Written in the key of Db major with the guitar tuned down a half step. It can be played on guitar in standard tuning a half step higher than the recording in the key of D. The verses use the chords D, A, G, A, G, D, A, G, A, G, D, and A, which is a I, V, IV, V, IV, I, IV, V, IV, I, V pattern. The chorus uses G, D, A, G, D, A, G, D, A, G, D, A, D, which is a IV, I, V, IV, I, V, IV, I, V, IV, I, V, I pattern. The bridge then uses C, G, D, A, C, G, A, D, A, D, which is a bVII, IV, I, V, bVII, IV, V, I, V, I pattern. Instrumentally, the song uses electric guitar, bass, and drums. I want to reiterate the choice of making an uptempo song with these sad lyrics. I wore out International Superhits after I bought it and have heard this song a million times, but seeing the lyrics in isolation made me think otherwise. If you can pull it off, that musical counterpoint can do some wild things to the listener’s ears, so it’s worth considering.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, chorus, bridge, ending format. The use of a half cadence in the verses, perfect cadence in the chorus, and a perfect cadence in the bridge provides a strange combination of closure and uncertainty for our ears as the listeners. The premise is set up pretty quickly, so you’re able to get into the song just as quickly, feeling for the narrator through the ups and downs of trying to live his life to the fullest in the absence of his friend.
“J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva)” is embedded below. (That’s a given).
