I want to talk about the song Stupid girl. The one by Garbage? No, not that one. The one byCold? Not, that one either. Neither of those are covers of the song I'm thinking about today.

If you don't know The Rolling Stones then. What can I say, 60's garage rock. And the band kept playing music... forever. I guess they're pretty popular or something. I'll admit that I like a lot of their songs. Gimme Shelter is probably my favorite song of it's decade. their lead singer is Mick Jagger... you might have heard of him before.

But I'm not here to talk about that song. I'm talking about Stupid Girl.

The song hits in with some stupid drums, a stupid organ and some sort of stupid guitar rift. Mick Jagger sings stupid lyrics in a stupid voice. The lyrics are lightly misogynistic. Did you know that she's not just a stupid girl, she's not just a stupid girl but she's the worst thing in this world! The songs chorus and verses are blandly similar. There seems to be a short bridge that shifts it up about a minute and twenty into the song. It doesn't matter if she dyes her hair or the color of the shoes she wears! I like the instrumental bit, kind of has the lead guitar solo, and the backing vocals saying something like "shop. yup." I don't quite know, it says the lyrics are "shut-up." But it's not what I hear.

The cover is by Ellen Foley. You obviously know who she is. She's an actress and singer. Probably best known for singing a duet with Meatloaf, the song Paradise by the Dashlight. Also something about The Clash's, Should I Stay or Should I Go... I don't know, that might have been about her.

Here's her cover of Stupid Girl.

That guitar rift is about as inspired as the original... this is going to be, whoa... a saxophone! I like the rockobilly piano too, the drums are pretty heavy and driving. And Ellen Foley's voice is very good, she is an excellent vocalist. Although there isn't much of a change in the general rift, the sax gives some dynamics. The piano also feels really lively so it keeps the song alive.

So I can't really hide that I prefer the cover. Maybe it's because of the context. I mean the original might come off as misogynistic, but it could just be about how much this guy really can't stand this stupid girl. Or take Gotye's, Someone That I Used To Know. The song is about a douchebag, sure but he was hurt and people have feelings and that makes them act like idiots, we all can relate to that. Gotye sells that in his song. Mick Jagger doesn't sound like it's a big deal, it sounds like he's just mildly annoyed with this stupid girl. Big fucking deal.

But in Ellen Foley's case, her voice emphasizes how much she can't stand that bitch! Could it be because stupid girl stole her man, or maybe she says horrible things about her behind her back. I'd believe it, and so I can emphasize with her. It could even be that the stupid girl is a air headed moron who uses her looks and girlish demeanor to not only get what she wants, but reinforce gender stereotyping. Suddenly a song that could have misogynist tendencies is kind of like the opposite of that. Whatever the case is, the contempt she has is palpable while in the original it was mild. That is why this cover works better then the original song.

I meet a girl I like. I don't know how to interact with humans so I some how fuck shit up. I'm unlucky with relationships or attracted to women who have all sorts of baggage, either way things between us are going to be complicated and awkward. I know it wont work, I figured it out. I'm afraid I'll ruin everything. I'm insecure and I think she'll never love me. I self destruct, have some form of melt down. Then I cling on like shit on toilet paper.

I don't want to sleep, I don't want to think about it. It's this again. What's different this time. That actually like the ex that the girl I'm obsessed with is still in love with. They'd make a cute couple. And I make a cute... alone.

Other then that it's just like last year. Just like with that girl I thought might be the right one... except she couldn't let go of the past. I couldn't compete with the ghost of her last boyfriend, the one that could be everything to her, except his dick wanted to be in another god damned vagina. So this girl was looking for the version of him that wouldn't leave her for some other woman. I wouldn't have left her, I wouldn't have cheated on her... but I wasn't as witty as him, I wasn't as experienced as he was.... I wasn't him. I wasn't good enough. I'm never good enough.

And now the names are different, it's 2012 instead of 2011, it's Bangor not Brunswick... but the past repeats. I'm left hurt again, alone... I can't compete with the past.

These women have found and lost their true love. I was never anyone's true love. I was never that special someone. I wasn't the one who got away. I missed that chance. I missed a lot of things. I feel like I've wasted so much.

He left the house, looking for nostalgia, looking for what was left to hold on to. It had been a couple months since he'd been home. Two months of college, he'd changed so much. He'd changed even more over the past two years The bank wants to foreclose... there's nothing he can do about that. It's out of his control and this could be the last chance he has to hang out here. He walks around the yard, a bit into the forests that grow around his home. He didn't spend a lot of time in the recent years in these woods, they've changed. So has he.

He wants to see a few people while he's back in town. Last night he saw a few friends, some old and others new. They were only there for a short amount of time. Little visits, it's all he really needs right now.There's someone else he should visit so he walks to the road. And he follows it up to Cathance, he's trying to remember the person he's looking for. He continues until he finds the land where they rest. Walks past the monuments, until he finds the stone. He looks down at it, his watch chirps signifying the top of the hour and he quietly says, "I had a brother." He had only stopped and said his words and left. A little visit, it's all he needs right now.

He's changed a lot since the two months he's been at college, his changed a lot in the two years since his brother committed suicide.

I'm thankful for the moments.

FUCK!

I am a journalism major not in the god damned communications technology major in this school anymore. And when I was it was for audio not fucking video. What am I expected to do? Use god awful public domain clips? Fuck that, I wont have it. I'm not a freaking director. I don't own a camera to record this shit. I don't know what a movie trailer looks like anymore, I haven't watched on in years. I don't go to the movies and I don't give a single fuck about movies so fuck this project. I hate this god fucking class, Applications of Digital Media. Fuck that noise and the sound waves it rode in on.

I made a new friend at school. He's a homosexual, he has a boyfriend, and he doesn't hide his flamboyant side all that much. Great guy though, he's funny and a nice person. Probably one of the few people I've met so that I believe could be a friend in the long term. Especially since ever since I started talking to him everyone else has started to talk to me a little less each day. With the exception of another guy who I believe really wants to be my friend but I know is uncomfortable around my gay friend.

I was in the audio program, majoring in communications technology. My gay friend, let's call him Raphael is in the class, so is the other guy I think's pretty cool, let's call him Todd. Then there's a bunch of other lowers, I don't really give too many fucks about. I might talk with a few but most of them seem kind of dull in a sense of not really seeking to make a deep lasting relationship where I can say... "Hey, this girl fucked with my head and I plan on getting shitfaced, you're coming with me and you're going to listen to all my shit problems. You're a real friend and I'd do the same for you."

You want to have a few of these people in your life and they should probably be single. Which to be far Raphael isn't but also, I like having someone else's back. And the thing about Raphael is that in the audio program, he hasn't got any real friends. I'm his friend, I'd like to think that I am. I'm not in that major anymore.

And my friends if they see me hanging out with him, the ones that are in his major they ask me, "Is he gay?" And I'm like, "Fuck you, it's not important. It's none of our business" I know he is though, he has a boyfriend. No big deal. I feel like they aren't being fair to him. Being that I'm no stranger to isolation, I sympathize with this kid. I hope that these other people give him a chance and get to know him.

And he doesn't really need them, because he has friends. Thing is often times Todd also seems to need people. Both of them have their own friends but at the same time they both seem insecure. I think they should be friends. It not like being friends with a guy who likes other men makes you gay. It's not like you have to date the guy, hell he's already got a boyfriend.

And Todd says, "It's okay, I don't care that he's gay." And that might be true. Maybe they're not the type of people who'd get along, just on the merits of interest and a conflict in their senses of humor or ways of expression. I don't know, but it sucks when I'm sitting in the campus center I see both of them sitting alone, looking all lost and lonely and I have to pick who I need to talk to today and no matter who I pick I feel guilty... and I can tell that the other one noticed.

It's dumb. And don't even get me started on the lady troubles I've been having. You know the problems I have with relationships with women!

I listen to a lot of New Wave, but Tears for Fears just wasn't one of those bands that I really got into. Well, I was surprised to learn that Gary Jules's Mad World, it's been a cover this whole time! I've been lied to, I've been tricked, this is unacceptable.

The original is by Tears For Fears. They're like the English version of Depeche Mode... wait, Depeche Mode is English. They're the other English version of Depeche Mode. Originally they were known as Graduate, Tears for Fears what started by Roland Orzabel and Curt Smith.

Got some eighties drum machine going. Those lonely vocals come in, so forlorn and desperate. He's all up into his feels. The synthesizer comes in, sounding dark and dreary. The sound picks up for the chorus, or prechorus... but backs off for the actual chorus, "maaaaaad worllld!" The second verse has more meat to it musically, which is good for progression. But what's with that hit run down, after he says "Happy birthday, happy birthday." it's hilarious, "dada-dada-dadadada!" Just out of no where. Okay, whatever.

I mean instruments are really interesting sounding. You have a little since breakdown after the second chorus and the last prechorus has a very percussive energetic sound to it. I like how this song is put together. The outro with the synth that clashes is a little annoying.

Gary Jules, he's a musician. He did a cover of Mad World for a popular movie. Everyone, including myself were like, "This guys brilliant. It's so deep, so emotional." But he didn't write Mad World. But he's version is definitely a bit different.

So it starts in with the piano intro, the only instrumentation through the song is the piano and Jules's vocals. His voices is quite haunting, more so then Tears for Fears vocalist Roland Orzabal. Sounds like a cello eventually comes in, instrumentally it's very bleak and that makes for a much deeper reflection of the song. Some effects on the vocals in the end but this song is a lot more consistent then the original. Without the breakdown/bridge bit it's a good deal shorter.

Which song makes for the better version? Gary Jules has taken these lyrics that reflect the confusion and frustration and brought them together with a musical arrangement that is much more fitting then the original version. It sounds much darker, bleaker, deeper then what Tears for Fears created. But perhaps it's gone too far in that direction. There's is something fun and snappy about the original. I don't know if I like the original better, they both had there merits and I can enjoy them both. I can see how one could like one but dislike the other.

Today's going to have to be a tie I'm afraid.

Kate Bush is a wierd singer who was most popular in the late seventies and eighties. Kind of like Lady Gaga, only nothing like Lady Gaga, how DARE you put Kate Bush on her level. Maybe I could let you compare her with Bjork, but I will not let you sully Kate Bush's good name by uttering it in the same sentence of that snot nosed trumped up femilore! Kate bush is in my opinion she's an excellent singer. Although my favorite album of hers has to be Never for Ever, hence my username Neverhundred. But today I'm going to talk about a song off of her album Hounds of Love, it's called Running up That Hill. It's about penis envy.

Right away it hits it off with the percussion, and some synth that can only be acceptable in an eighties song. Soon Kate Bush is singing in her distinctive voice, and she's such a talented singer that she's even singing the backing vox! The song continues to be simple, just the driving percussion, synth chords and Kate Bush continues to sing. As the song progresses it manages to build up tension. And it really delivers in the bridge where all that build up pays off. You can hear a chunky guitar added, the cloned Kate Bush backing vocalists sing their unintelligible melodies. It pays off twice, it's a well constructed song with very good pacing.

This next band is Dutch. They're symphonic metal. They're called Within Temptation, their lead singer is Sharon den Adel... that's all I know about them. I'm pretty sure that's all I'll ever need to know about them.

The cheesy eighties synth is replaced by woodwinds, alright I can understand that choice I mean it's not the eighties anymore. The percussion is hardly noticeable, and I can hear more snap to the beats. Not that it matters that'll be gone soon. Suddenly the metal hits the fan, the guitars are chugging away... it seems a bit messy to me, with the flutes and shit, the synthesized "ah" vocals, the drumset. Then it drops away and the first verse has more punch to it, but it's kind of too little too late, the song already lacks consistency.

So how does Sharon compare vocally to Kate. They both have a great range, but I don't get the sense that Sharon captures the emotional range of the song.

The structure of the song does not work. It gets into the bombastic metal sound early and there is no build up to anything. Because that it's reached it's limit before the vocals even kick in. There's nothing it can build up to!

So the original is the better song today.

I voted... WITH MY DICK!!!