Frank Zappa - Broken Hearts are for Assholes
Apparently it appeared both ways on different vinyl pressings. Here’s a version with “Modern”:
That someone (anyone) might be a fair subject for humor under certain circumstances is not the same as saying that a large section of the population deserve mockery simply for being who they are. It’s also not the same as saying that homosexuality and transgenderism are, by themselves, inherently funny or deserving of ridicule, or that GLBT folks are clowns, as ridiculously suggested by BrainGlutton.
Nor are all members of a marginalized group automatically sanctified.
About twenty years ago, the DC Metropolitan Police cracked down on cross-dressing men at a particular outdoor location where they congregated. When an advocate for the group cried “Discrimination!”, a police chief involved replied “These aren’t harmless eccentrics swapping make-up tips. These are working prostitutes and thieves.”
If that exchange isn’t inherently funny, what is?
Way to miss the point completely. Find me a single person who has argued for sanctification. You can’t, because it never happened. You’re rebutting an argument no-one has made, and using a stupid term to do it.
What’s “inherently funny” about that?
If the people in question were, in fact, committing criminal acts, then the arrests were justified. If they weren’t, and the police simple harassed them due to their transvestism, then it was abuse of authority.
And neither one of those things indicates that homosexuals or transgenders are inherently deserving of ridicule or mockery. Thanks for playing, though. If you can come up with a relevant and logical argument, you should try again.
Can I really be the first person to mention Walk on the Wild Side?
The first since post #2.
I’m unaware that the Farrelly Brothers were the Popes of humor.
Victimized groups are not fair subjects for humor, at least not in the way which is specifically related to why they are victimized. But it’s rare that someone makes fun a transperson because they slipped on the proverbial banana peel - normally the “humor” involves what they are.
House of the Gods – Pogues
The Crying Game -music from the movie Boy George
Trani - Kings of Leon
Necros Christos - Black Mass Desecration:
That last one always jumps out. Christ was transgender? Which gospel is that from?
I’m not familiar with most of the English-language songs mentioned, but the Spanish “oh damn I’d thought it was a (cis-)girl” ones I mentioned make fun of the reaction of the guy writing/singing, not of the woman. Surprise; uhm, how do I get out of this without looking like a complete arse; oh heck, if I still think she looks gorgeous, does that mean I’m gay?; etc.
The other ones, there is one where the element that’s getting an eyeroll from the writer is the name changes: born Andrés, the subject became Inés and eventually Juliette. This reflects something which is very befuddling to many cis-gendered people: why do so many trans-gender people choose “exotic” names? What is wrong with Andrés, we can see - but why wasn’t Inés good enough? Manuel Raquel is sympathetic, but also depressing and mopey; Marilyn is joyful, and fun but not funny.
I am old enough to remember the brouhaha over Jim Stafford’s My Girl Bill
Elton John- “They Call Her the Cat”
While the song itself is not about transgender people, I wanted to mention that last night’s episode of Glee featured a young transwoman singing “I Know Where I’ve Been” from the musical Hairspray to a recently transitioned transman who said he wanted to feel like part of a community again. They are joined by a large choir of transgender people in a scene that (while admittedly cheesy) was more touching than I would have expected of the show at this point.
What a horrible song, I just YouTubed it. Any details on the controversy? I googled “My Girl Bill controversy” and “My Girl Bill meaning” but nothing came up. I can imagine the normal denunciations from the pulpit and radio bans, but I’m curious what you remember.
I’m saying transvestites are inherently funny, mhendo, not transgendered persons. Probably some overlap between the two groups, but one of them is defined by what they do (comedy gold) and the other is defined by what they are (not comedy gold). Perhaps you’re conflating my argument with someone else’s?
And by the way, if you’re arguing that a group is not a fair subject for humor, that’s kind of what “sanctification” means.
“My Girl Bill” was Jim Stafford flirting with Gay Chic. It was a big deal because the acts who had been doing the same thing for a couple of years at that point (Bowie, Velvet Underground, the Kinks) were considered kind of edgy, but Jim Stafford had been AM radio-friendly up to that point. His two prior hits were “Swamp Witch” and “Spiders and Snakes.” He was transitioning from Swamp Rock to Country Lite and was playfully introducing gay and drug themes (“Wildwood Flower” was on the same 1973 album as all the aforementioned songs, but was released as a single later) to an audience more familiar with Bobby Goldsboro than Lou Reed.