Friday, May 04, 2007

You can tell by the way I use my walk...

And everybody here knows the rest, right?

Thassright. Because "Staying Alive" is one of the greatest songs ever written.

"But it's disco!" you cry. (Or okay, maybe you don't, but for my purposes you do.) "And December, you're into stuff like the Stones and the Devil Dogs! How can you think a Bee Gees song is so great!"

It doesn't matter how or why. It just is, baby. It just is. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. I know who The Seeds and The Sonics are, and I own a copy of The Great Twenty-Eight, which if you don't have one you're missing out on some of the best rock n roll ever created.

Who can honestly listen to Staying Alive--with lyrics like "Well now, I get low and I get high/And if I can't get either I really try", or "Life goin' nowhere/Somebody help me/Somebody help me, yeah" and not be totally overwhelmed with a sense of emotions and thoughts beneath the surface? The way the beat and that guitar line drives the whole thing and makes your blood race?

That's what a song should do. It should make you feel connected to it. It should make you feel less alone.

I firmly believe "Staying Alive" is one of those litmus tests. If you're on my side and think it's a great song (or at least that there's something special about it), we can relate. If not...well, I just don't know. (It's like asking a woman if she's ever wanted to fuck Mick Jagger. Which, for the record, HELL yeah. I don't care how old he is, he's Mick fucking Jagger. I'd be up for Keith, too. Just sayin'.)

I think we all have certain songs or movies or of course books that we see that way, although I do think songs tend to be more visceral for us. I'm friends with people who didn't think Free Enterprise was a hysterical movie. I'm friends with people who preferred "Catch-22" to The Caine Mutiny, which is my favorite book. And yes, I can be friends with people who don't like Staying Alive. My husband doesn't agree with me that it's one of the greatest songs ever written (although he does like it, and we both firmly believe that there is at least some god out there who looks like Barry Gibb did in 1977. Because if you were god, wouldn't you?)

But c'mon...you have to admit, the song has style.

What are your litmus tests?


A few end notes: One, the website is in the process of switching over. The url should work but there may be some glitches in the next week or so. FYI. The link in the sidebar should always work.

Two, the Smart Bitches are doing an onomatopoeiac cover contest. I can't decide if I want to vote for #7 or #10, because they both make me giggle like a fiend. Seriously, go check them out.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like disco, and I like that song. Which, in my specific line of work, gets a lot of strange looks from people.

I would not, however, ever want to bed Mick Jagger.

My litmus tests are all based on personality and communication style. I don't think I have any "if you don't like this, you suck" lists.

Probably because no one likes what I like - I'd be friendless!

Unknown said...

Staying alive is totally rocking. How can you NOT do the Travolta when you hear it? :D Many times when I hear it I think of Xanadu... and the movie chicks in roller skates Muhaha :)

Mick Jagger... ICK dude's got the cooties man.

I'm definitely in the NON Catch-22 bucket.

I'll hop over to Smart Bitches now, just cause you said so.

I've got wide and varied tastes. I'm friends with people that are total opposites from myself and like everything I hate... and then I'm friends with folks that we would answer personality questions with identical responses.

I really don't have any tests or criteria. I'm more of a "feeling" type of person. If I stumble across you and I get a good vibe, I'm like "You are cool and I'd like to know you." If you bore me or I get the "ick factor" from you - then I'm moving right along.

BernardL said...

The only litmus test for me is laughter. Humorless people worry me. They always seem like their heads could explode at any moment. :)


I like 'Stayin Alive' a lot, and almost everything the Rolling Stones ever did. I kind of think getting into it in the biblical sense with either Mick or Keith would be a little too close to necrophilia, D. :)

Stacia said...

I am frankly stunned at the responses to the Mick Jagger question. (Except of course for Bernard's. I wouldn't have expected him to want to fuck Mick Jagger.)

I like a lot of disco too, Isabella. It's fub. Fun is good. And yes, personality and communication is important. Perhaps litmus test is the wrong phrase, and what I mean is just these are questions that seem to tell you more about someone else than, say, their favorite food might.


Yay for non-Catch-22, Rashenbo! And I can't wait to hear what you think about the Bitches contest!

I do the vibe thing too. It's actually another thing tied to the topic Bernard gave me, that I'll be covering next week.

Stacia said...

Humorless people do suck, don't they? How do you talk to people like that?

Sam said...

I still like ABBA, lol.

Have you heard Mika? he's terrific. Very dancy, bouncy, fun.

Bernita said...

Mick Jagger?
Too much like standing in line to be serviced.

BernardL said...

You can talk to them. I have customers in the humorless category. They will say something, and if I’m not careful, I can bust out laughing, because they delivered a completely hilarious line with a deadpan expression. When I first started working on their vehicles, they’d say something in the office, and I’d be the only one laughing. They’ll be looking at me like I just beamed in from Mars, and I’d be running over the Mad Magazine snappy answers to stupid questions in my head. I don’t mean the people are stupid, it’s just they say things with a straight face, some of us meatballs always looking for a laugh, will misinterpret as a joke. They make for great material in your novels. I just had a customer last week, I’ve fixed her vehicles for a few years, come in and feed me some great straight lines I thought she was trying to crack me up with. I almost lost the job because of, in her opinion, inappropriate laughter at inopportune moments in the conversation. I wanted to blog the conversation; but I was so busy at the time, I forgot all about it. Conversations with humorless folks can be great if you can keep all the smart-ass comments buzzing through your head to yourself. :)

Camille Alexa said...

My mom bought me the Saturday Night Fever and Grease albums for Christmas one year when I was a kid (the only other music album I owned--you know, not including Mary Poppins and the Jungle Book, et al--was Sergeant Pepper's LHCB).

It still sounds good to me, that stuff, unlike the next album I acquired on my own, which I picked out at the K-mart because of the pretty baloon on the cover.

Yup: Air Supply.

Anna J. Evans said...

I love Stayin' Alive. And ABBA!! Oh, I REALLY love ABBA.

Mick Jagger....eww. He's gross, even if he weren't over twice my age. And, yes, I've seen him dance like some sex demon to "Beast Of Burden" live on stage, and I know of the vibe you speak, but still I could never be convinced to let him anywhere near the pouswah.

Anna J. Evans

Rhian said...

Awww GEEZ y'all!!! Are ya gonna hate on me now when i tell you that the BeeGees give me the heebies and I'd rather stick an icepick thru my ear than listen to ABBA? shudder. Naturally the hubby loves to run around the house singing ABBA songs just to see the smoke pour out of my ears.

But i'm all about live and let live. The only litmus test i have is if someone tries to dictate who i can be friends/associate with... they're the ones outa there.