That’s what I’ve always thought. At least when I used to jam with my friends in high school, I’d play that quarter note pulse on the wood block (I had a realllly old trap set), so I’ve always heard those as intentional and played it as such.
Glad to hear I’m not the only one who feels like yelling “OF COURSE WE RECALL! If we didn’t, he wouldn’t be ‘the most famous reindeer of all?’ would he?!”
The rest of the breakdown, I can overlook. Yeah, the reindeer are assholes, glow and shiny is close enough a comparison, but I just can’t get past that opening line. It’s like saying “You know Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, and Arthur, Hayes, and Tyler, etc., but do you remember Abraham Lincoln?”
“When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman” by Dr Hook.
Listen to the lyrics. The guy is miserable. He’s paranoid, constantly worried she’s going cheat on him, that his friends are going to hit on her, etc… He isn’t happy at all!
Styx, Too Much Time On My Hands
Those last two lines, they don’t make sense. Do you mean, it’s not surprising that you’re not crazy? It’s not surprising that you’re sane?
I feel like you meant the opposite.
Same with the next verse,
The implied answer to those questions would be no. Would it not?
I’ve always heard that song as one of those “music up/lyrics down” types of songs. It kind of sounds breezy, but, as you note, it’s not. I’m not sure I’ve ever thought of it as anything but being dark and paranoid. Then again, I think of “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” as being pretty fucked-up, but most hear that as a cute love-rekindled song.
Sometimes what gets me is the sound of fingers sliding around on guitar strings. Most of the time, I let it go, but sometimes I just fixate on them, like in Bachman Turner Overdrive’s “I’m Burning For You,” most noticeable in the pre-chorus and chorus. Once you fixate on it, you’re done, or at least I am. There’s many more acoustic songs that have it, depending on the performer, and it doesn’t have to be bad, but sometimes my ear just gloms onto it and can’t let go.
Santa is a narcissistic asshole, too. He only helped Rudolph when he realized Rudolph could benefit him. Had Rudolph been born without a nose, for example, I’m confident Santa would have turned him into venison.
Didn’t read the whole thread. Hope this fits. My mother, of blessed memory, had a warped sense of humor.
Children roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping at their toes…
Is it any wonder I turned out like this? 
nm///
Que Sera, Sera
Whatever will be, will be
This is a bullshit, meaningless statement that sounds profound, but isn’t. It’s no different than saying, “It is what it is.”
The future’s not ours to see
So everything is deterministic? Our decisions can’t influence our outcome? There’s no use in trying? F-that.
Well, to be fair, Rudolph was invented just 10 years before the song was written, and the first book featuring Rudolph was published just 2 years before the song. It’s likely that a lot of people first heard the Rudolph story from the song. But in that case it makes even less sense to call him the most famous reindeer of all.
Oh, I do realize he’s a non-canonical reindeer. But, yes, as you say why would he then be the most famous of them all?
Yeah. This sounds like people I know who are convinced that they don’t have to take their cars in for oil changes or inspections before long trips, because “whatever will be, will be.”
I’m not an alcoholic, but that prayer that goes something like “G-d, give me the wisdom to tell the difference between what I can change, and must, and what I must simply endure, with your help.” I’m paraphrasing, because I don’t remember it exactly, but it’s pretty wise. (And I’ve seen it attributed to St. Francis) Someone who knows the real thing, PLEASE correct me. Anyway, I know too many people who get stuck on the “enduring, with G-d’s help,” and forget that G-d’s prefers them to help themselves when they can.
It is true that the future isn’t ours to see: divining is forbidden by my god; disemboweling live animals for fortune-telling is very specifically forbidden, in more than one place (and even criminalized in many countries). Using magic to foretell the future is forbidden.
Predicting the future based on past events, however, is using the wisdom that G-d gave us. Predicting the weather, predicting the stock market, predicting the evolution of the coronavirus, or what next year’s most prevalent flu virus will be is NOT divining. It is using our brains the way they should be used.
It’s the Serenity Prayer. Nothing in it about endurance nor is it associated with St. Francis.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
That’s it. Good words for anyone, and the opposite of the “Que Sera, Sera” message. “Que Sera, Sera” might be the mantra of a former workaholic, who has finally realized how much effort he wastes, but anybody else need to work on balance.
The eponymous “grenade” could be interpreted as “I would give my life to save yours” (as in throwing yourself on top of the grenade). But it’s not “throw my hand on a blade”, it’s “throw my head on a blade”. That too could be interpreted as “I would give my life for yours”, as in “I would take your place at the guillotine” a la Tale of Two Cities. But I think at this point we’re also getting the idea of “I would die if you wanted me to”, rather than just “I would give my life to save yours”. “Baby, I will jump in front of this train, if that would somehow make you happy. But clearly you don’t care about my love and devotion/crazed obsession/crazily obsessive love and devotion.”
Pretty dysfunctional, to be sure (in the grand tradition of pop songs about love being kind of messed up), but not quite as pointless as it’s being made out to be.
Even though his lady was guilty of the same thing (even more so) you just know she would go off her nut when she realzed it was him.
You sure you have the right band?
No, of course I meant Blue Oyster Cult – place the umlauts where they belong. (Oh, looks like it’s only one on Öyster.)
Sorry, had to comment on a pet peeve: Fundie Christians “trusting G-d” and not doing jack shit.
At the very beginning of the pandemic when people weren’t sure if places had to close, our pastor announced we were immediately going to start Zoom Church. He said the decision to close In-Person Anything was simple: "We are following the principle that is implied throughout the Scriptures: ‘Don’t be an idiot.’"
Umm, yeah, kinda agree. It’s how I used to recognize the song. You know, the one with “woo-woo” in it.
Right. If I understand correctly, it’s by the 20th century American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr.
There’s a different famous prayer attributed to St. Francis.