Daily Nebraskan
Thursday, April 23, 1987
Page 10
Songs
In
the
Cellar
By
Charles
Lieurance
There was this party. In the back room we
played guitar and pounded on things. We'd
play about 20 seconds of every song we knew.
We went from "If I Had a Hammer" to "Funky
Town," from the "Gilligan's Island" theme to
"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" theme.
Then some spoilsport walked in and asked
if there was any song written in the last five
years that everyone; in the room knew all the
words to. Dead silence. Just what the killjoy
wanted.
Just to show him, wc broke into songs.
Usually one or two people knew the words and
everyone else was lost. Or else the bastard
told us the song was written more than five
years ago. Finally we gave up and left the
room. It just wasn't any fun after that.
He'd accused the music we'd listened to in
the last five years of being completely un
memorable. Of course, I'd like to think that
knowing all the words to the Sex Pistols'
"Bodies" is more interesting than knowing all
the words to "Love Is a Rose" or any of the
other songs we used to sing in the back of the
bus on high-school sports trips. Why do peo
ple know all the words to "Blowin' in the
Wind" but not all the words to "Livin' on a
Prayer"?
Probably it was just our age group. If the
people at the party had been teen-agers, they
might have burst into "The Greatest Love of
AH" in unison. But hey, we didn't even know
all the words to "Seasons in the Sun," the
"Greatest Love of AH" of our generation. I was
even sure that "Stairway to Heaven" was the
right song. But some were fumbling with that,
and the guitar part was murder. Then there's
always the fool who pretends to be shocked
when no one in the room can follow his lead
into "Pigs on the Wing" by Pink Floyd. He
goes, "C'mon, man, it's Floyd, ya gotta know
Floyd, man."
I fought off the temptation to sadistically
lead the group into REM's "Radio Free
Europe.' They would have dived right in. It
was just that kind of a crowd. And, of course,
whatever they sang would have been right.
But then maybe the party would have
ended earlier if we could have finished a
song. As it was, we just couldn't stop, it was
an obsession to get through at least a piece of
every song we knew. It sounded like a bad TV
mail-order compilation album: "151 Monster
Hits," "Lights Out Delirium '87."
Now it's 3:30 a.m. We're doing "99 Bottles
of Beer on the Wall," "Love is a Rose,"
"Blowin' in the Wind" and an old ditty called
"I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground." We
didn't know all the words to it, so we made
them up. They were great, and we sang it
through again and remembered every word.
Maybe the age of the old-fashioned sing
along had passed. I'm sure they still do it in
some quarters, but not with popular songs.
They do it with songs we know even less of
than "Seasons in the Sun." They do it on
songs like "Shenandoah" and "Claire de
Lune."
Our music is disposable, and we listen to
more of it than most people could ever
believe. There is so much of it, and it keeps
coming and coming. Every day in the record
store the bins are swollen with vinyl discs.
Who's got time to memorize all the words to
all those songs? It doesn't mean we love the
music less, it means we love it more than
anything. All of it. The reggae, the punk, the
ska, the new folk music, the old folk music;
Aerosmith and Vivaldi, Butthole Surfers and
Harry Chapin.
I do admire those who can own seven
records in their whole life and still play them
over and over. They look through those seven
records so carefully, wanting just the right
one, and then they pull it out, dust it off
carefully and put it on. Tlw sing to every
word, do every syllable just ke the singer
does it.
But for me? I consume music the way I
consume a malt or a good TV show. I can have
it again and again when I want it. But by then
the next album is on, and it seems even
better than the last one.
And at the party all I can remember are the
parts that struck me down.
t
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She likes the best of everything
The best restaurants, the hottest
dabs, the newest sounds And of
course she goes to the finest
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Not?!
99
Kimball with me-Preserva-tion
Hall, the big apple,
tippy toes, clapping hands,
dressing up and h&ppy
friends, champagne in the
art garden, asking if it's
ballet or modern, con
noisseur of its best. What's
next week?
P. J. March
businesspolitical science
sophomore
"0
I like money . . . accounting sounds
fun. Having someone's financial status
in the palm of my hand is a real
ego trip. Cartoons are great they take
me away from reality . . . maybe that's
why I like going to Kimball.
Lori Anderson
accounting
sophomore
There are a lot of things that I get
really excited about. Sunshine, rain,
thinking about, dates, and doing
really good things are just a few.
A Kimball performance always
makes me really happy.
Kandi Michelle Gordon
psychology ?
freshman
- wtnmt film ct
FREE! FOR SEASON
BROCHURE COME TO:
THE Kir."3ALL
DOX OFFICE
Room 113WWB
11th & R, or
Room 200 NE Union
Kimball Lied
Performing Arts Committee
Supported by grants from the Nebraska Arts Council ard the
Mid-America Arts Alliance and the National Endowment for
the Arts; from the Jelinek Thompson and Seacrest Endow
ments, and Student Fees.
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