A Blog About Nothing
Background: Some of you reading this blog may know that I’m a huge fan of the show Seinfeld, dubbed “A Show About Nothing” in its 4th season, due to its humor about the mundanities of life. I recently came up with an idea for this blog, where the main characters are being lazy, and immediately thought of “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay,” which I ended up keeping in the Middle 8s and Bridges blog, because the “laziness” happening in that song is a form of dissociation, rather than being a full-on slacker anthem. So the songs in this blog will focus on the latter. For those of you mad about my glorification of slackers, calm down — they didn’t even do anything!
“Hangin’ Around” by The Edgar Winter Group
Lyrically: The lead track to the band’s 1972 album, They Only Come Out at Night is one of my absolute favorites from the very first line: “Drivin’ along with my radio on, feelin’ good. Ain’t got no lady, but maybe I’m thinkin’ I could.” Though it came out a year before Joe Walsh’s hit “Life’s Been Good,” this song has a similar element in the second verse after he admits he dropped out of school: “Could’ve gone crazy, but I was too lazy to wait.” I first heard this song when I was in 8th grade, and luckily it’s an example of me knowing a well-written song when I hear one, without having to fully identify with the narrator!
Melodically: The song is written in the key of E major, and the intro uses only the tonic chord. The verses shift between E, E7, and E6 and A, A6sus2, and A7sus2, which are the I and the IV chords, and a standard blues-rock riff. The chorus shifts to C#m, E, A, C#m, B, and A, a vi, I, IV, vi, V, IV pattern, and then shifts back into the aforementioned I, IV pattern from the verses. The vi, I pattern is a cool choice because it provides tension, but not too much, because of the carefree mindset of the narrator in the song. The instrumental is played over the I, V pattern from the verses, but adds in E/F# and E/G# (more variations on the I). Instrumentally, the song uses guitar, drums, percussion, and bass. Of note, this song was written by group member Dan Hartman (who would later go on to have a hit with “I Can Dream About You”) and he sings lead vocals on the tune as well.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, instrumental, chorus format. Similar to the simple structure of the melody, the structure of the song as a whole is also very simple. This song is about a slacker–so why would we expect a bridge or anything other than a linear structure in this song coming out of him?
“Hangin’ Around” is embedded below.
2. “Too Much Time on My Hands” by Styx
Lyrically: Unlike many anthems sung by lazy people, this particular song shows a slacker who has plenty of friends. Of course that’s relatively conditional: he’s “Got plenty of friends and the fun never ends, that is as long as (he’s) buyin’.” In the first pre-chorus, he ponders, “Is it any wonder I’m not a criminal, is it any wonder I’m not in jail?” but by the second verse, his confidence shoots up, asking, “Is it any wonder I’m not the president,” given his popularity due to buying rounds for all of his friends. Similar to the aforementioned “Life’s Been Good” by Joe Walsh, there’s a fun contradiction as well: “I’ve got nothing to do and all day to do it.” It’s such a fun song.
Melodically: The song is written in A major and the main riff switches off between the I and the ii, the A and Bm. However, the Bm doesn’t kick in until the chorus. Later, the C major (the bIII chord) kicks in.
I’ve talked in multiple vlogs about songs by Dan Wilson. Dan loves two things in his writing: writing in A major, and using a I, ii, III pattern. In a previous blog, we talked about the song “DND,” which was also written in A major. In another previous blog, we talked about “When it Pleases You,” which uses the same I, II, III pattern. Dan Wilson is one of my absolute favorite songwriters, joining the likes of Bob Dylan, Prince, and Paul Westerberg on my Minnesota Mount Rushmore of the best songwriters. However, as I love revealing, there are certain things he does that have been done for years by other amazing songwriters. What makes him great is what has been done by songwriters and composers for years. Styx’s “Too Much Time on My Hands” uses the I, II, III pattern as well, so no matter the key, it just works.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, pre-chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus format. In story songs, we have discussed the importance of building up tension to keep the listener engaged. Think of the long verses in “Lyin’ Eyes” as an example. Here, we already know there’s absolutely no hope for the narrator, and he even admits that himself. So the pre-chorus back to another chorus is less for the sake of advancing the story and more for the sake of piling onto the narrator’s self-destruction, before finally conduling that he’s got too much time on his hands. He says “It’s hard to believe such a calamity,” but there’s no doubt in his mind that he’s gotten to this current place.
If you’ve got too much time on your hands, you’ll have no problem finding time to listen to this song, as it’s embedded below, with the music video that just screams the 80s. With all that time on your hands, you might want to check out and Jimmy Fallon’s parody of it with Paul Rudd as well, which is also embedded.
3. “Very Busy People” by The Limousines
Background: I posted a link to this song in my blog about effectively breaking the 4th wall, as an example of one that does so in a way I’m not a huge fan of. However, this song is spectacular in so many ways, it’s worth a closer look (and I’ll circle back to that 4th wall breaking in the lyric section too).
Lyrically: “Very Busy People” tells the story of a group of folks who “End up numb from playing video games and get sick of having sex.” The second verse says, “There’s crusty socks and stacks of pizza boxes making trails straight to the bed.” The chorus asserts that, “We are very busy people,” but the end insists that they “Always have time for new friends.” It’s a delightfully sarcastic slacker anthem, and as I alluded to in a previous blog, the breaking of the fourth wall (when they talk about requesting all their favorite songs and it’s the tune of “Very Busy People '' that fits with the confidence of the narrator.) This is also one of those songs that leads to associations with other pop culture things. I have never seen the movie Donnie Darko, but everytime I hear about it, all I can think of is “The Donnie Darko DVD has been repeating for a week, and we know every single word.”
Melodically: The song is built on synth riffs, programmed drums, and guitars, reminiscent of MGMT’s sound. Chord-wise, it uses C, F, and Em and with the song written in C major, this is a I, IV, iii pattern. This repeats for the majority of the song, though sometimes they cut out the Em and just alternate between the C and F. Of course the tempo of the song fits the lyrics very well, as does the electronic vibe.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, pre-chorus, chorus format. It’s incredibly difficult to have a pre-chorus follow a bridge without making it seem like those two sections of the song are dragging along. Another example of it being done well is “Makes Me Wonder” by Maroon 5, and the Limousines do it spectacularly well here. It’s also worth noting that the pre-chorus doesn’t kick in until after the second verse. With there only being two verses, we might think as the listener that it won’t come in again, but it does after the bridge, and to great effect. I mentioned in the lyric section the breaking of the 4th wall being effective for the cockiness of the narrator, but the overall attitude of the narrator doesn’t play out in the structure, the way it did in “A Road Song” by Fountains of Wayne (which only contained two verses, a solo, and a chorus). When my mom first heard it on the radio, she was dying laughing, but the truth is, it’s a well-crafted song, not just a funny one.
When you’re ready to sail the sea with 50,000 songs you’ve never heard, you should start with “Very Busy People,” which is embedded below.
4. “Pretty Pimpin’” by Kurt Vile
Lyrically: Unlike the other three songs that we’ve looked at so far in this blog, the majority of “Pretty Pimpin’” is mostly self-loathing. The main gist of the song is him saying he “Didn’t recognize the man in the mirror” when he woke up this morning. It’s basically an out of body experience, as he “brushes a stranger’s teeth,” before realizing “they were my teeth.” He doesn’t know what day it is, but he realizes he wanted to be someone in life, but he also wanted to have some fun (which obviously won out). In the final chorus, he wonders “Who’s that stupid clown blocking the bathroom sink?” but ultimately concludes that guy is “pretty pimpin’.” On the surface, this slacker anthem seems to be about self-loathing, but the reality is that it’s about self-discovery and self-acceptance. Mostly, it’s just fun!
Melodically: The song uses A#m7, C#, Fm, G#, C#, and D#, and is played with the capo on the first fret. With the song written in A# minor, this uses a i, III, vi, VII, IV pattern in the intro, which gets repeated throughout the verses. The chorus uses C#, Fm, G#, C#, and D#, before ending on the intro pattern. This is a III, vi, VII, III, IV pattern. The solos use C#, Fm, G#, C#, D#, a III, vi, VII, III, IV pattern. The bridge then uses C#, A#m, Fm, G#, C#m, G#, C#, D#, C#, A#m, before going back to the intro pattern. This is a III, i, vi, VII, III, VII, III, IV, III, I pattern, followed by i, III, vi, VII, I. Instrumentally, the song uses guitar, bass, and drums.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus, solo, bridge, verse, chorus format. The repetitive nature of the song fits well with the burned out, slacker theme, but also builds to the final ending of self-acceptance, with the narrator determining that this person he’s dealing with is indeed “pretty pimpin’.”
“Pretty Pimpin’” is embedded below.
