Sunday, July 08, 2007

Slippery

You ever have that feeling? That time is slipping away?

Quite often I think time is slipping away; generally, life goes its own way, mine always seems to be in the fast lane anyway. But time spent behind the PC goes even faster, don't you think? Before you know it, cyber-time-slipping slapped you in the face and yet again, you realise the day has progressed quicker than you wanted it to.

During one of these cyber-time-slipping moments I stumbled upon this site,
Sunday Scribblings; what a great idea they offer (check it out for yourself, if you want). So here's my scribbling about the topic of this week.... Slippery....

And when I was thinking about this subject, Talking Heads came up in my mind. Slippery People, remember? And as I am always looking for "the story behind...." I found a very good explanation on this site (of which a short quote, but you can read the rest of it via the link):

It’s a song about severe psychological disorder…it’s a song about a man who has difficulty feeling comfortable in even the most typical daily situations, but so what? Many Talking Heads songs fit that description…
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The song opens as he taunts himself…as his mind reminds him of a hazy failure past…Fallin’ on your face? You must be havin’ fun…, and then it segues directly into a tense plea for self-control…Walk lightly indeed. He’s considering taking some sort of action…against himself? Against somebody else? Someone specific? The next person who starts a conversation he can’t finish? Put away that gun, he says, bargaining for control over himself…This part is simple.

The man can’t even take a bath without being tormented by personal demons and the fear that he will one day drift so far from reality that nobody will be able to reach him…Cool down…stop acting crazy…they’re gonna’ leave…and we’ll be on our own…

If you’re not careful, he might even convince you he’s alright, that the Lord don’t mind, and those slippery people will be more than happy to see you through.


Well, there's not much more to add here, right? Enough talking about it, enjoy the musical scribbling...

J

4 comments:

Rob Kistner said...

Interesting post Josie -- something I didn't know... thanks!

Clare said...

I also didn't know the background story and I'm so glad you wrote this. It's very powerful.

raymond pert said...

Talking Heads: Mirth in madness..always, in Stop Making Sense, there's the playful, joyful, energetic performance of songs about alienation, fringe characters, and existential absurdity...I love how they play the these apparent opposites, not off of each other, but in a merging with each other...well, enough...I love "Stop Making Sense"...It's been fresh and contemporary each time I've watched it over the 22 years...

Betty Carlson said...

I agree with Raymond -- I just plunged into my old video of "Stop Making Sense" and was amazed. I've always loved "Slippery People" but it doesn't seem to get that much attention compared to some of the other songs from the film. Thanks for your take on the prompt and welcome to Sunday Scribblings.