Re: Andy's KoverT Flame

[usenet%agate.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (USENET Administrator)]

Path: ocf.berkeley.edu!boris
From: boris@ocf.berkeley.edu (Boris Chen)
Newsgroups: rec.music.gaffa
Subject: Re: Andy's KoverT Flame
Date: 18 Dec 1991 00:10:41 GMT
Organization: U. C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
Lines: 50
Message-ID: <kkt4g1INNt9b@agate.berkeley.edu>
References: <wFk2cB1w164w@bsbbs.UUCP>
NNTP-Posting-Host: monsoon.berkeley.edu

In article <wFk2cB1w164w@bsbbs.UUCP> nrc@bsbbs.UUCP (N. Richard Caldwell) writes:
>
>IED0DXM@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (Andrew Marvick) writes
>
>It's interesting that _Rocket Man_ evidently elicits such
>tremendous feelings of loneliness and sadness in Andy.  It seems
>to me that even many of the people who have stated that they liked
>the song have enjoyed it more as a light hearted jaunt than as a
>song that conjures the kind of feelings that it's authors
>intended.  Even the video that Kate has produced has been
>characterized as being humorous.

One only listen to the music to hear that it sounds light hearted
and fun, but that is simply the music at face value. If you 
consider the music as a whole, not only what it sounds like,
but what it contains, then you can see that all is not what
it seems. Yes, the music is up beat, (we get the subtle
reggae-esque accompaniment) but I think that the significance
of that "fun" sound has been underestimated by you. 

Like you said:
>conventional or traditional.  Careful attention, however, often
>reveals that Kate has added her own touch of genius to the
>otherwise conventional effort, lifting it to an entirely new
>level.
And I think this is true of Rocket Man. Here we have a happy,
a "fun," tune, yet, if you listen closely to the lyrics,
they are quite somber, and make some poignant and profound
statements of the relationship between technology and man.
I think this serves to provide the listener with a marked
juxtaposition of thematic qualities, as well as providing
an interesting twist of irony. 

I don't think that this song represents an attempt to take an
alternative path, just to take one, but rather, it is a result
of Kate's way of making music. Creativity isn't what she
strives for, it is what she does. And though this song
may not sound creative seen prima facie, it is. Though
this song may not sound sad, it is, and the up beat
way it is presented only serves to emphasize this fact, and
at the same time, to make it enjoyable, or fun as the listener
wishes.

Maybe she doesn't stay within the confines of the original artists'
intent, but I doubt that the people who chose her expected anying
else, and I doubt that she nor anyone else did either.


--boris
"All this technology I don't understand. It's just my job 5 days a week."