Iron & Wine's "Sing Into My Mouth" FP6

Get in your car, turn the key. Switch the radio on and hit scan. While mindlessly listening to each 30 second bit before the next station interrupts, take note of the common thread that most of these popular songs intertwine themselves with. Think of what similar aspect the lyrics of each differing generic song uses to weave itself into the broader scheme of relatability. 

            Now sit down and reflect. Consider your values; what do you want out of life? What do you need? What do we all need to survive the lonesome future? What do we crave, more than anything else in the world? Is it endless money, fame and fortune? Or is it something rather intimate, such as being loved and adored by that one significant other of your dreams...?

            Combine these two, and you get pop culture’s unrealistic expectations. We all want that love that everyone universally yearns for and every singer-songwriter belts hits about. Whether it is the loss of, or the one true; love is held on a pedestal unlike any other. Sure, we all want materialistic objects and praise galore, but those are attainable attributes. Work hard, and it’s yours. Love is different for everyone, and may come and go. We all feel the need to belong to someone, and meaningful belonging is essential, however limited. Dr. Ben-Zeév of Psychology Today notes that in our day in age, social expectations reinforce romantic limitations, such as belongingness, to most people (2). Within such social expectations, lies the surmise of "love" that popular music enhances throughout lyrical and sonic elements.

            Outside of the musical spectra, intrinsic elements that reinforce intensified desires surround us wherever we may go. Whether it is over-sexualization in a watch commercial or the specific colors in a McDonald’s logo that apparently make you hungry; the media always has to add that impulsivity of aspiration. You can’t turn anywhere without an inclination of sorts being shoved in your face. Love is one of these inescapable wraths of media that are taken up and blown massively out of proportion. Take hit television show, The Bachelor, for example. Finding love is insanely hard enough in our day and age, let alone on reality television. The Daily Telegraph wrote an article that went out and listed all of the contestants and their current relationship status and out of twenty-eight, twenty broke up (Can the Bachelor...? 2). As if that is not proof enough that clearly the highest pedestal of all relationships is on faulty ground, audiences ignore the facts and continuously gobble up the fantasy. Americans love to believe in love, and love to crave the unattainable even more. Love is the forbidden fruit for most and the obsession of eating it is reflected throughout common themes in television, advertisements, and even music. However, realistic love is vastly different than the fairy tales and dramas portrayed, and although true love is not the same for everybody, it definitely isn't the same "as seen on TV".
            But what is this real love I'm mentioning, do we not have our own personal definitions of love since it affects us all differently? Defining love is like trying to interpret the color blue to a person who was born blind- you have to feel it to pinpoint exactly what it is. Faced with this question now, I looked into tons of of articles and applied my own personal experiences to the mix. My favorite article was "What Real Love is Like", by Dawn Raffel, whom admits that love isn't an emotion at all. Love is a verb, it's a behavior upon which the welfare of another person is the primary goal and intention; love is unconditional (1). If love were as emotionally based as some believe, the feeling would be ephemeral and would change when the circumstances do. Another interesting point of view was in the article "What Is True Love?" by Harriet Sun. Sun talks about the difference between love, and those silly little butterflies that flourish in the pits of lovers' stomachs. The thread between these two sources is that Sun also agrees that love is not an emotion, even though it may accompany strong emotional feelings (3). Love is knowledgable and kind; love is a choice. Love takes time; love is patient. Love is different for everybody, although it has the commonality of being a verb and a state of being. The feelings that accompany love is what makes the experience between individuals differ so greatly. So I guess, love could in fact be a marvelous fairy-tale filled with sunshine and cotton candy. But, the realistic probability of one having such experience with love is lower than my current GPA. The reality that two lovers have to have life goals generally going in the same direction, or at least have to express a mutual understanding that career paths could separate their geographical designation, is a fact that couples all around the world face all the time. Sometimes, love is just not enough to bring two people together; it's the harsh reality that the road gets tough and often there's nothing we can do to avoid that. But regardless, at the end of the day, real true love is straight up complex. And here my friends, is where my album comes in.

           Now specifically, this week I am going to bring up Iron & Wine’s collaborative cover album with Band of Horses’ lead singer, Ben Bridwell. Sing into My Mouth includes previously popular songs such as Talking Head’s “This Must Be the Place”  and Ronnie Lane’s “Done This One Before”. By adding a folksy twist with their acoustic guitar and a gentle rhythmic hum, the transcending messages of love and the yearn for such transforms to our current generation. By redesigning the cliché love song, the real complexity of love and its many facets is drawn out and put on display. Upon reading review after review of this album to get a clear read on the album’s project, my favorite wording of what I am trying to say is vocalized by Pitchfork reviewer Stephen Deusner. He beautifully states, “without resorting to pop-song clichés: kiss, desire, love, marriage, life in their reading, the song becomes a testament to the impossibility… even if the vividness of emotion is endlessly renewable” (2). I picked this quote out because it speaks to my argument coherently, and becomes a testament to both points of view. While covering songs that were previously blowing up stereotypical messages of fairy-tale love that pop culture often portrays, the new covers by Iron & Wine become a more realistic account of the love that I am seeking to define.
          Nonetheless, the similar messages of emotional attachment transfer effortlessly throughout genre and generation. It's the tone that changes the message's intent; by innovatively transforming both the vocals and acoustics into Iron & Wine's classic hymnal-folk-rock vibe and taking it away from the popular hype scene, the concern of the album is not so focused on how sweet it is to be wrapped in love's embrace. Rather, it's focused on the reality of how bitter love and the loss of, can taste. The simple innocence of some of the lyrics allows them to become malleable in songs such as, "Magnolia", a song that explicitly is about a love of his own, "the best I've ever had" (Iron & Wine). However, it's the resonance in Bridwell's voice that enforces the sadness of being apart from his baby that he, "left down in New Orleans" (Iron & Wine), and puts the listener in his place, an empty shell of loneliness. 
        At the end of the day, Iron & Wine takes their talents to a new level of enjoyment for both the listener and the band. Audibly you hear the band both smile at the remembrance of love and wince at the absence of what was once. During this interaction however, the listeners seem to fade away as the album progresses. The covers are clearly covers, distancing themselves from recalled sentiment and the emotion of the original songwriters. The audience can connect regardless, but the distance remains as a barrier of complexity. I guess this all serves purpose though, as this same barrier of difference only brings the idea of the argument within the album to life. 

            The reason I spoke of popular music is because although all of the songs aren't constantly being played on the radio like Justin Bieber is, this is one of Iron & Wine's most popular albums and has been previously reviewed by popular music critics such as Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and Consequence of Sound. One of the songs specifically noted earlier, "This Must Be the Place", originally by the Talking Heads, hit the Billboard top 100 in the United Kingdom and the United States. The song's lyrics are what the album, Sing Into My Mouth, is named after, and they also highlight unrealistic expectations note that love is a, "feet in the cloud, head in the sky" emotionally-based noun, and that we're all "animal(s), looking for a home" (Iron & Wine). Like I alluded to earlier, the original messages remain in the covered songs but change in deliverance, giving them a more realistic grit. The provocative emotion drawn out in the originals seem to be dried out on the cover, which makes the album both sub-par and perfect for the argument at hand. 
          As we move on from reading this, keep in mind the differences between reality television and reality, and the barrier between love and its high pedestal. Realistic love is challenging and tolling, and although well worth it; it's much different than the fairy tale we as consumers see. Love is hard and tough and grinding, just like how Iron & Wine's folksy and achy voice brings it out to be; even if the lyrics describe such over-romanticized clichés. Do not think of this as a downer, but more of a breath of fresh air. Love exists, don't you fret, but popular music brings it to be the end all and be all of the universe. Be it a goal to find your own path without Taylor Swift's "Love Story" playing in the background, and find something real. 

Works Cited

Ben-Zeév, Aaron. "Why We All Need to Belong to Someone." Psychology Today. N.p., 11 Mar. 2014. Web. 29 Nov. 2015. 

"Can The Bachelor REALLY Find You True Love? US Version Shows the Break-ups and Marriages." The Daily Telegraph. N.p., 17 Sept. 2015. Web. 29 Nov. 2015. 

Deusner, Stephen. "Ben Bridwell / Iron & Wine: Sing Into My Mouth." Pitchfork. N.p., 15 July 2015. Web. 29 Nov. 2015. 

Iron & Wine, Ben Bridwell. This Must Be The Place. Black Cricket/Brown Records, 2015. MP3.
"Marriage & Divorce." American Psychological Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.
Raffel, Dawn. "What Real Love Is Like." Oprah. Couples Therapist Advice, n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2015.
Sun, Harriet. "What Is True Love?" Power to Change What Is True Love Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2015. 

"Oh Well" Fleetwood Mac (revised FP5)

The year is 2007, and as you walk down the street, you catch a glimpse of a tacky tabloid shoved on every single rack of newspapers and magazines available. Britney Spears is at it again, and her downward spiral that has been reported upon every step of the way has officially hit rock bottom. By publicly shaving her head and checking into her first rehabilitation center, the star has reached icon status. Images of Spears going nuts fill every front cover and screen available, as she is pictured running around smashing reporters' cameras, and ultimately shooting her celebrity status into stardom. But, becoming the 2000's Queen of all things pop and bat-shit-crazy wasn't all the way blamed on her genetic variation. While taking away from this and looking into researching some background as to what ingredients caused this crisis; I found this article from the Velvet Light Trap, a critical journal of film and television, that talks about the narrative that Spears evokes upon. In such a public expose of her inner mind, it all comes down to the famous reveal of her mental illness and how it effected her irrational actions. Ironically, she was rebelling against standardization and consumerism and everything that's causing her to go insane, while still unintentionally having it be used it as a medium to publicize her issues. A lot of times, stars do go crazy because of the pressure that they're under, and they crack. Whether they had prior issues to becoming famous, or the fame invoked the issues themselves, Spears isn't the only one that's gone a little "coo coo". Some turn to drugs, and some turn to shady hair salons, but we all have our vices. This week I'm going to talk about the founder of Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green. The original guitarist that ignited an undying flame of success initially chose music as his vice for all things seeming spiral in his world. However, as the band became progressively popular and the checks started coming, the only thing that seemed to be negatively impacting him was the fame itself. Turns out, over fifty years ago, Green had the original "Britney" breakdown moment himself.

Good ol' 1969, the pinnacle of cheap sex and even cheaper drugs. Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well” is the topic of discussion, and it was pretty early era-esque of the band, being released over 6 years before iconic Stevie Nicks came close to the picture. The group was yet to have skyrocketed but were at the brink of stardom, known all over the country for being rocky and bluesy and completely different than the norm. Peter Green was the current guitarist of Fleetwood Mac, and was known everywhere as being one of the greatest guitarists of his time. Green was not that big into drugs before the band, and he was not the type to crack under stress. As America grew to love the band, Green began to shut down. Having to please crowds constantly from inducing creativity is insanely difficult, something that most celebrities struggle with. Throughout this struggle, he found a substance that would help cope with the lack of creative juices flowing, LSD. In the 60's, the use of LSD and similarly acid was popular enough to not be completely sketchy. A lot of artists reported using it recreationally as either a coping mechanism or an idea machine for new work. Green reported using it as both, as he needed the getaway and the thought invoking trip to further his career. However, as his career kept getting higher up on the ranks, so did he. He became addicted to the drug, and dangerously if I must say. Although it aided in songwriting, it took away the man inside that he really was. He wrote the song "Oh Well" all on his own, and beautifully if I must say, but his heavy usage within the acid and LSD realm tripped him way deep into a fame-induced mental illness. Suffering a breakdown, leaving the band, and running around screaming that money is evil, “Oh Well” has lyrics that explicitly reveal the true shape Green was in all along.

The overarching theme in the original reflects equally in the cover I chose, provided by Led Zeppelin’s legendary Jimmy Page. Although Page has also had a relationship with heavy recreational drug use, he chose heroin instead. Throughout his career he was a frequent user to get inspiration from his highs, but as Zeppelin became more successful he began to lean on the drug more than ever. Correlating exactly to the situation that Green was in while at the pinnacle of success, this is the reason why I chose this cover. The two artists' paths take quite swiftly different turns however. Page's addiction began to hamper his guitar performance and he lost an insane amount of weight in a short enough amount of time to get everyone around concerned. Luckily, Page was able to escape the addiction early enough that it didn’t take his brain, career, or luscious hair with him.

Although starting with that background was something I do not do quite often, it was so vital to the understanding of both songs and how they feed off one another. I also do not include the lyrics of songs often either, as you'll soon see below. I also put in bold and underlined the more personal, and important, lyrics of the song to give more emphasis on how I interpreted the music. I know I'm breaking one-hundred rules, but trust me, you'll be thanking me later. Now let’s get to the music:

“I can't help about the shape I'm in


I can't sing I ain't pretty and my legs are thin


But don't ask me what I think of you


I might not give the answer that you want me to



Now when I talk to God you know he understands


He said stick by me and I'll be your guidin' hand

But don't ask me what I think of you


I might not give the answer that you want me to”

Lyrically and pretty explicitly, Green writes his heart out into this less-than simplistic ballad. While on the outside it may seem short and sweet, his inner battle is being exploited impressively well. He’s cutting his wrist and letting it bleed out into this song, as bare and raw and emotional it may be. Similarly to Britney (but obviously metaphorically), he's shaving his beautiful head of hair in front of the entire audience and letting his bald crown shine. He's exposing himself to the world, and is breaking down how he feels with words, rather than hair clippers. Short spoken but effective, the entire encompassing theme of Green’s slow-motion train wreck of emotion overwhelms “Oh Well”. The effects of being in poor shape mentally and physically, losing his physique to the drainage of drugs and relying heavily on a power that’s above him, is extremely telling on what state of mind he is in. Being one of the last songs that Green dropped before he dropped from the world of fame, I believe it was a beautiful finale to a really downright sad story.

Setting a precedent for Fleetwood Mac while challenging Green's own demons, the song embodies a funeral of its own. I can see the procession of Green's metaphorical casket as the hymnal lyrics walk us down the aisle, holding the cold body. Taken by fame and the detrimental effects that money and the risky behavior that the success-sphere entails, Green's talents were robbed and he was stripped of his own life. The electric guitar carries us all back to a heavenly state of mind where we came from. The references to God contribute to the mental image I got from the song, literally bringing both Green and the listeners to a higher state of mind. This higher state is the same condition that Green stayed in as he needed an escape from reality. To bring this understanding to the audience is both intelligent and cunning and I applaud him as being the song-writer, singer, and front man who did not quite pull through. He did not actually die, just to clarify, but the death of his career is a prominent overtone in this song. "Oh Well" is a mixture of rock and roll and poetry. 

Thirty years after the original release but seven years before Spears’ meltdown, Page dropped his version of “Oh Well”. Live and raw, with minimal room for error, the cover went seamlessly and shocked the entire crowd as well. Featuring the Black Crowes, the cover brings the rock and roll aspect of the song to life, and brings it up to Page’s era. A lot heavier and harder, this cover transforms the old somber ballad into something more heroin. I literally feel like I’m in that scene of Forest Gump where Lieutenant Dan loses his mind and hires hookers and shoots up heroin. Which in fact, is exactly what Page did all the time. The layering of electric guitar and the banging of the drums is a bit overkill though, and it may be Page's style, but it's not quite necessary. The original relies heavily on the guitar as well, but there is a bluesy aspect of the original that gets lost in transcendence. I feel like something is missing, no matter ho much harder Page tries to cover it up with his fast-paced tempo and brash vocals. There’s less of a personal connection here than the original, which sucks because I am such a huge Jimmy Page fan and I thought he could pull it out. At the end of the day, the cover is great. It's mention-worthy and a head banger, but I have to give Green the win for this one. 

Mental illness was parasitic and succulent upon the ever so talented Green, and you can feel his emaciated being literally withering away behind our fingertips. Vice-versa, with Spears you can visually see the public breakdown as she hit paparazzi cars with golf clubs and shaved off her head of hair at some mall's Great Clips. We all have our demons, we all face our battles, and for these two celebrities, fame is what did them in. The fame and the money and the all sorts of hells that accompany the two is what drew out such horrific effects on the mind, and we come to only having their work to show. The heavily shown effects of negativity in the world of fame and fortune may outweigh the positive aspects, which seem to simply be the great music that comes forth from mental deterioration. Is this cost, the toll of brilliant minds, worth the audience enjoying themselves for roughly four minutes, before switching to the next song? How do we end this hamster-wheel of a cycle, where money keeps flowing in and causing more damage, as the minds of musical innovators endlessly deplete? As we take away from this thought, recognize the cost of great music with meaning. It's not just the monetary $1.99 we maybe spend buying the track off iTunes, and c'mon, we don't even spend that much because we ALL illegally download. Rather, we are talking about the cost of the lives of musical geniuses whose sanity is converted into cash. At the end of the day, all we can do as listeners is our part by appreciating their work as artists regardless, because no matter what, Britney Spear's "Toxic" and Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well" will always be on my play list of jams.