The Voice of Reason: A V.I.P. Pass to Enlightenment (22 page)

 

“Your Day Will Come” by Cousteau.
This band from England had to change its name from Cousteau to Moreau after its first album, because of some legal issues with a bunch of French scuba divers nobody’d ever heard of that had rights to the name Cousteau. Whatever. This is just a great walkout song. The piano leads us into a doomed, bleak march, as Liam McKahey (what a
voice
!) solemnly intones “Your day will come/It’s catching up on you” in his rich, silky baritone. Give this one a listen, kids. And, it’s also a great song to
leave
to; as your opponent is laid out, a shambles of disappointment, regret, blood, misery, and despair, Liam croons “Hope rides another day. …” Wow.

 

 

“The One I Love” by R.E.M.
Now
here’s
an interesting choice. Great opening, great song—Peter Buck’s jangling Rickenbacker, Michael Stipe’s beautiful, uniquely American voice, and ... the subject matter, which is ... the
exact opposite
of what it is perceived to be. Think about it, kids. Especially you dopes who used this as a wedding song or a prom song or whatever. (Most of you are divorced and/or didn’t graduate anyway, so that should dull a bit of the pain of what I’m about to share with you.) Stipe appears before us as a singer, but also, and more important, from a standpoint of criticism and interpretation, as what we call in literature (and lyrics are, occasionally, literature; read the lyrics to “Jokerman” or “Tears of Rage” by Bob Dylan, or “Powderfinger” by Neil Young) the unreliable narrator. Think about what he says:

 

 

This one goes out to the one I love
This one goes out, to the one, I’ve left behind
A simple prop, to occupy my time. ...

 

 

Do you see the callous insult implied by these seemingly adoring words? “I’m only thinking of you because I’m on the road, and I’m bored!” And then, as if that’s not bad enough, he concludes by saying:

 

 

This one goes out to the one I love
This one goes out, to the one, I’ve left behind
Another prop, has occupied my time. ...

 

 

I just love, LOVE, the meaning of the song, and it can’t even be called a hidden meaning. It’s right out there; you can hear every word. It is a song of such scalding contempt and such cruel antipathy. But if you really give it some thought, it’s not either our narrator’s current or previous “prop” he feels that contempt and antipathy for—it’s
himself
. You fighters should think about that as you slink up to your rooms with your latest MMA groupie.