As I’ve alluded to, one of the projects with which I’m tinkering involves putting together a list of 60’s pop songs that are ostensibly about love but, viewed through a certain lens, have disturbing undercurrents which can be exploited. The so-called “Basement Wife” playlist on my iTunes is growing. Here’s a few new tracks:
1-2-3 Red Light – The 1910 Fruitgum Company
One of my favorite details of this song is that the lead singer seems to have a little trouble singing the letter “R” – it makes the lyrics sound even more boyish and disturbed. I used a TV performance of this for two reasons: 1) the lead singer’s guileless insistence that a million-selling record has more to do with promotion than talent, and 2) the young David Hyde-Pierce look-a-like’s amazing Dance of the Twin Tambourines:
Take Me In Your Arms – Jefferson
There’s just something so overpowering about the way this song expresses an essentially submissive sentiment.
Morning Girl – The Neon Philharmonic
This is the most disturbing one I’ve found yet. It’s like – hey there, remember last night? When I RUINED YOU FOREVER?
Of course, nothing I ever do will match what David Lynch did to Roy Orbison: