What the Kids are Listening to: Beautiful Girls
by Michael
I know it’s Thursday and not Sunday, but I’ve had this one in my hopper for a day or so…
I’m going to turn on the cantankerous old man voice now: what in the heck are these kids listening to! A couple of weeks ago I had my son in the car with me and this lovely little ditty came on. My first thought was “Hmm, Ben E. King with a beat, interesting” and I was with it until I listened to the lyrics. Here’s a snippet:
You’re way too beautiful girl
That’s why it’ll never work
You’ll have me suicidal, suicidal
When you say it’s over
Damn all these beautiful girls
They only wanna do your dirt
They’ll have you suicidal, suicidal
When they say it’s over
Did he really just say suicidal? More than that, is that my 9 year old singing along!? I’ll admit that merely typing the words “In my youth” hurts, but in my youth parent advocate groups would have had Mr. Kingston in court in a heartbeat for merely suggesting suicide is cool. And yet atop the Billboard 100 this tune has sat for three weeks and not even Fergie, Timbaland nor the mighty KanYe can seem to de-throne him.
I’m interested to hear what all the faithful readers of ickmusic think of this tune. Personally, and much to my son’s displeasure, this gets switched off at the first note anytime it comes on.
Buy: Sean Kingston
Link: Official Site | MySpace
August 17, 2007 - 9:49 pm
Wow. And the thing is, it’s a cool little tune among the pop/r&b/hip-hop drivel. But you’re right, having little kids singing along to “sui-ciidal sui-ciidal” just ain’t right. At all.
August 22, 2007 - 10:29 am
You say you are a father of two, I’m a father of two and grand father of another pair. The thing that gets me is that it’s such a sugary, pop, good time vibe musically, that “Suicidal” as the chorus is shocking. But, remrmber, our parents smashed Kinks albums for “all Day and All of the Night”, Stones albums for “Let’s Spend The Night Together: and Satisfaction”. All of them innocuous now, but flamable in their own way in their day. It’s a changing world, especially when contrasted with your Hight School Musical experience at the top of the page.