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Reggae

from demo trax by Platzangst

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about

Another demo from the album-in-progress, Music.

lyrics

I hit high school in the early eighties; Midwest intelligent and rurally cultured. Radio only told me of the Top Forty. Radio only told me of the classic rock. Radio wanted to tell me all about country but I didn't feel like listening. It would be a long time before cable TV would be able to tell me much of anything, not that I was paying much attention anyway.

By this time, probably like you, radio had told me of the song "I Shot the Sheriff" - as played by Eric Clapton. It never occurred to me that Bob Marley had recorded the song before - fact was, at the time I didn't even have a name for that style of music, and I had no clue who Marley was. I consider myself fortunate that I even picked up on New Wave music at the time. The closest I ever got to reggae was Eddy Grant. You know, that song, "Electric Avenue"?

I NEVER KNEW WHAT WERE REGGAE SONGS
WELL I WAS CLUELESS WHEN I WAS YOUNG
I DIDN'T KNOW ANY REGGAE SONGS
I WAS SO STUPID WHEN I WAS YOUNG

Well, a scattering of years later and I got me a bit of college and moved out to the West Coast. I got progressive and industrial and avant-garde all over the place. Radio and TV didn't tell me jack anymore, and I was searching out music that would make you flee in terror.

So I'm working in a phone store in a mall in California and my co-worker says she's impressed with my musical knowledge, you know - right on, I am now the music guru. And since I know so much about all this strange music maybe I could help her. She wants to get an album for her boyfriend. She wants to know if I can suggest an album to get him. Well, what kind of music does he like? She asks if I can recommend any good reggae bands. Reggae's his favorite type of music, you know. My mind starts to whirl, seeking info that isn't there - and I say:

Reggae? Like what - The Police?

I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT REGGAE SONGS
I WAS A MORON WHEN I WAS YOUNG
I HAD NO CLUE ABOUT REGGAE SONGS
I WAS A DUMBASS WHEN I WAS YOUNG

Somewhere between one and two decades later, I'm back in the Midwest and I'm putting notes together for an album. I still am no reggae expert but I at least know it when I hear it. And I'm jotting down all the clever little song titles I might use, and thinking to myself, can I really make songs out of all these genres? I mean - ska, how the hell am I gonna make a song out of ska, right? Well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

So I'm looking at all these names, words to describe different styles of music, words that separate and define us, words that keep us apart, words that we use to tell each other, hey, I'm the cool one because I listen to this type of music and you don't, words that limit us, let us close our minds to all but one or two things, words that keep us stupid and small and alone, and I was thinking:

You know, there's something to be said for when you were a kid, and you didn't care what type of music a song was, you just played the song, and it didn't matter what genre it was or who said it was cool, you liked it or you didn't and you waited for the next song to come along and you liked it or you didn't, and isn't there a lesson in there somewhere, that maybe if people weren't so damn worried about defining their lives through tiny little neat categories, maybe we could get along better, maybe we should get rid of all the labels and prejudice right now, maybe we could start with the music?

I DIDN'T CARE ABOUT REGGAE SONGS
I WAS SO CLEVER WHEN I WAS YOUNG
DIDN'T CARE ABOUT REGGAE SONGS
WELL I WAS BRILLIANT WHEN I WAS YOUNG

I DIDN'T CARE ABOUT REGGAE SONGS
I WAS A GENIUS WHEN I WAS YOUNG
I WAS A GENIUS WHEN I WAS YOUNG
I WAS A GENIUS WHEN I WAS YOUNG

I WAS A MADMAN WHEN I WAS YOUNG
I WAS FANTASTIC WHEN I WAS YOUNG
I WAS A MONSTER WHEN I WAS YOUNG
I WAS AMAZING WHEN I WAS YOUNG!

credits

from demo trax, released January 1, 2009

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Platzangst Muscatine

Platzangst sometimes makes noise, and sometimes makes music. Sometimes a little of both at once. What will come next? Difficult to say. Who likes it? Precious few.

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