Re: I'm A Happy Camper

[Jeff Burka <jburka@silver.ucs.indiana.edu>]

Jeff writes



>To each their own. I haven't seen the other covers yet, 'cause I don't
>have the other 4 albums. :-(.

_Volume II has another monster...but as I've said, to me it's grin is
a bit silly.  _Rearmament_ has a fairly innocuous cover (it's a very 
hazy/unfocused self-portrait photograph).  _Ecto_'s cover is a very fuzzy
painting of a ghostly sort o' bit of ectoplasm.  It sort of reminds me of
a cross between the good spirit and the bad spirit in the "Experiment IV"
video.



>God only knows what Tipper Gore would do. :-)

She would have tried to explain the painting as an expression of Happy's
obviously misformed sexuality...<grin>


>Okay, so "allegedly" wasn't a good choice of words.

Sorry I over-reacted a bit...but just a bit.  :-)


>I simply think that despite the darkness,
>there is more beauty than suffering in Happy's music. Perhaps that's
>what makes it compelling--that light can still exist in sadness and suffering.

Sometimes, yes, but sometimes, there is no light, or the light is an illusion.

I realize you don't have _Volume II_ yet, but as an example, I'm going to
use "The Revelation" from that album--mainly because Mike was just talking
about Happy's explanation of the song.  She said it was written for a friend
of hers, Mikey, who was, to her mind, overly optimistic.  If I'm reading
Happy's explanation correctly, along with my own interpretation of the song,
it's an incredibly pessimistic piece, dripping with cynicism.  "There is 
no love/there is no peace./There's only me/and my beast./The only reality/
isn't real at all."

Another example--"I'll Let You Go."  The character is admitting that she
has a strangle-hold on her [lover?], that it's a stifling sort of 
relationship...but that she *has* to do this, because of the pain that
"...came and ate away at my soul."




>Look at a song like "Moonbeam Friends" - I kept expecting Bambi's mother
>to be cavorting outside Happy's window.

It's a beautiful song, a beautiful melody--I played it for a frien, just
once, about 3 months ago.  She's still wandering around humming the
melody.  But even here--"He has a special cause/to keep this child insane."


>I simple think that neuroses can be artistically represented better than
>with a leering demon - look at Edvard Munch's "The Scream". It's not
>so heavy-handed.

Hmmm.  Aesthetic arguements on how best to represent something.  I don't
really have an answer (I like "The Scream" too...)


Jeff
-- 
|Jeffrey C. Burka                |"I've lost my way through this world of |
|jburka@silver.ucs.indiana.edu   | profanities/I thrive on the wind and   |
|jburka@amber.ucs.indiana.edu    | the rain and the cold."  --Happy Rhodes|