I think this was the first popular song that troubled Ben. The first he mentioned out loud, anyway, that he had read the lyrics and saw the import, and wondered why no one else seemed to be noticing. I chose this version for that reason - the audience reaction doesn't fit the song sometimes, and you wonder. Don't they know?
That is definitely an odd song.
ReplyDeleteAnd the audience reaction is a little strange, when thought of in context of what was the song about.
AT one point in the song the singer makes a joke about "did he just say blow me?". That might be why the audience laughs/cheers.
ReplyDeleteI don't know. I guess it could certainly sound suicidal, but it also just sounds like a song about a window washer telling himself not to look down and how he hates windy, October storms.
I just hear blow! why did he actually said that?
ReplyDeleteBy my read of the lyrics online, the did he just say blow me? is an ad-lib, or at least not recorded on the original of the song.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, why the celebration after the song?
I'm speculating that the audience cheers because this is one of BNL's standards, and the cheer isn't so much a celebration of the specific song as it is in-group excitement about the band.
ReplyDeleteThink of how people can go crazy over Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody even though the song is about a guy who murders someone and thinks he is either going to be killed or commit suicide. THe subject isn't important. WHen those first few notes start and everyone knows what's coming they go crazy because the song is bigger than itself and evokes not just a reaction because of its singularity but because of the group's love for Queen, Freddie Mercury, and the song of the outside, doomed rebel.
They cheer for everything they associate with the song.
That was more of a long-winded reply than I first anticipated! ;-)