Re: (no subject given!)

[jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu (Jeffrey C. Burka)]

Matt writes:

>I am totally stunned by the extreme misinterpretations of the
>song Wow that I have seen recently! Here is my alternative interpretation.

Bzzzt.  Please play again.

Why is it that your "alternative" interpretation is correct, but the
others, instead of being simply "different" are _wront_, as implied
by your usage of the term "misinterpretation"?  Haven't we just been
throug this?


>Theatre actors wear heavy make-up known as greasepaint. After the show it
>is removed by rubbing it off with vaseline. Hence "he's too busy hitting
>the  vaseline" means he is too busy back in the dressing room cleaning up
>to receive any applause/accolades etc. No dressing room with a star
>and make-up girls for him. There is no implied reference to homosexuality.

There is a very strong reference to homosexuality.  I _might_ be inclined
to believe your reading of this if the last word of the preceding line
weren't "queen".

As it is, I think it's a somewhat sophisticated pun.

gerstel@quaker.admin.upenn.edu writes:


>"Many an actor dies on stage, it's not for real he just holds his breath."
>This line is crystal clear, it's nothing to do with sexual pleasure in the
>slightest! The metaphorical meaning is about failure.

Are to assume that KaTe knows nothing about the 18th century British usage of
the concept of death being a metaphor for orgasm?  That's hardly a little
known fact--you see it in an extraodinary amount of poetry.

I love this bit of double-entendred bawdiness.  

>Please feel free to comment/flame if you still believe that Wow is
>a "queer positive" diatribe, but personally I think you've got hold of
>the wrong end of the stick.

"diatribe" has a negative connotation, so "'queer positive' diatribe"
is something of a null term.

Y'know, it's kind of funny.  One often hears how gay people see homosexuality
_everywhere_, reading our 'perversion' into frankly ridiculous situations
that *obviously* have nothing to do with the real world.  And yet one
such things are practically smacking your in the face, straight folk 
are completely blind and ignorant.  You're so busy trying to rationalize
your way out of admitting that "Wow" has a definite gay tinge to it.
Is it 'queer positive'?  I don't really know.  "Kashka From Baghdad" 
certainly is, and "Queen Eddie" strikes me as being a bit confused,
but still friendly (although considering KaTe's age when she wrote that
song, this isn't *too* surprising).  

All of the discussion about "Wow" so far are based directly on the 
lyrics.  As I've already said in my recent posting replying to Angel
Weaver, this is largely the way it should be--things should be clear from
the lyrics, even if those lyrics do provide multiple plausible readings.
But with that said, what's KaTe's take on the whole issue?  Watch her
performance from either the original video or the Tour of Life.  When
KaTe sings "he's too busy hitting the vaseline" she bends over and pats her
rear.  It's pretty obvious what she's miming.

Jeff

-- 
|Jeffrey C. Burka                | "Show what you are / Be strong, be true  |
|                                |  Time for you to / Be who you are."      |
|jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu            |                         --Happy Rhodes   |