OK, so this is a sort of change up. A lot of students at my last school had a big thing for this song (the ones who were not infected with Gangnam Style or Call Me Maybe or that damned One Direction crap) and I really like it. Every so often in those heady days of September and October, in between yelling and students not taking me seriously, I would hear snippets of this song from IPhones that should not have been out or furtive whispers of the hook between students.
I'm gonna pop some tags
Only got twenty dollars in my pocket
I can't decide whether or not the song is making fun of either of the following things:
1. Thrift Shops -- I wouldn't be OK with this as a trip to Goodwill, Salvation Army or Savers (Value Village if you are up in the Great Northwest) is one of the only times left in life where one can find an absolute treasure. Such as the Burberry coat I found at the Value Village for $29. Do I wear it now that I live in California? Does it matter?
I'm I'm I'm hunting looking for a come up
This is fucking awesome
2. People who spend $50 for T shirts -- as a general rule, I am OK with this. I buy my t shirts at Target for six or seven bucks and I think that is too expensive. I think my hatred for "retro" and "brand name" started back in the early part of the last decade. On one of my very infrequent trips to shopping malls I saw a shirt that said "Know Your Roots" hanging up in the window of, you guessed it, Hot Topic. Above this command was a picture of...........an eight bit Nintendo controller. I stopped and stared, mouth agape and began to walk slowly over to the poor 16 year old in black jeans. I got to within ten feet when he sensed my murderous rage and he ran for his life.
"YOU WORTHLESS BASTARDS! WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO ATARI! I'LL GIVE YOU ASTEROIDS YOU IGNORANT PIECES OF SHIT! FUCK YOU IN THE FACE! IF YOU HAD ANY SORT OF SOULS GOD WO-"
I was then tackled by 6 security guards and banned from the mall, which is what I wanted in the first place. I chalked it up to a lack of medication and fear of being over 30. They didn't buy it and I haven't been back. The price tag on that 1980s-billboard-on-a-shirt was over $20.
I really want to think that this song is making fun of the people who swear by retro clothes and then buy non-retro clothing with retro totems on them. You can even buy Frankie Says Relax shirts now, so ol' grandpa can show his six year old how he and the ladies got down in 1983.
Sheeeeeit
The kids who loved this song wore those obnoxious skater type shirts but never got on a skateboard. Or they wore 49er jerseys and hats. Or they were enamored with their iPads and never paid attention to anything. I'm not sure what this means, but it means that my liking for this song is overrode by the painful memories of professional failure. Of not getting to kids, which is my job. Our school failed because of no buy in from students and parents. Everyone had a role to play in its downfall. I could have been more present and been more involved. The students could have taken it seriously. Many did not, but the few that did got something out of it.
That's easy for me to say when you have some students living on the streets for three days, some drinking before school even starts, some smoking pot in the bathrooms during school. "Take this seriously!" Why should they?
They be like "Oh that Gucci, that's hella tight"
I'm like "Yo, that's fifty dollars for a t-shirt."
That's why. I'm not saying spending $50 for a t-shirt is wrong. It's just stupid. If the Burberry example from above was $59 instead of $29, I would not have bought it. At $29, it's a come up. So keep putting out $150 for that Kaepernick Jersey, kid, and the $50 for the alternate home lid while you fail classes. Am I bitter? Yep. Am I experienced? More than you.
I think that song was mostly an effort to write a "hit" and would have thrown it into the "Ya I like it and I will forget it" pile if I hadn't heard their more serious efforts and become familiar with his point of view. More importantly, you have to calm down about god forsaking your Atari....I know it was a long tome ago but like the gas from eating a chili dog: it's still in there.
ReplyDelete