Seasonistas general thread: yakking, joshing, news and pictures

Those of you who have me on Facebook may have read over new year my opening up about how my mental health had not been great recently.

It still isn't but one of the big things it affected was open Mic. For about six months I cleared going out with Louise and told myself I was gonna go (having gone monthly for the 12 months previous) but found myself making excuses not to at the last minute.

Happy to say I've managed to break that tonight and got rewarded with a 5-song set of basically my open Mic greatest hits and boy it felt. Even got the electric uke to behave itself.

Thanks guys for giving me a reason to keep playing music, which has always been my greatest source of therapy.
 
Here's the set if anyone is interested. Annoyingly I accidentally cut the last song out.

 
Somewhere in the world it is bright and beautiful, and someone will soon be planting seeds in the ground.
 
Sitting is the new smoking!!! Is our sedentary life style slowly killing us.
Taking about posture, and doing a simple test of trying to sit down on the floor
without using our hands to get down or up. Test yourself and let me know how
you get on. Apparently getting up and down without using your hands gives
a good indication of your general health.
 
Waiting for someon to come home

Dami the dog sits on the snow, lies down on the snow, lets the wind ruffle his hair, sniffs the air. Apparently dogs know when their owners are about to come home. They know the scent of the owner. It lingers in the air and it reduces over time. When the number of molecules reach a certain amount the dog knows that the owner will soon be returning home. Oh that we were all so sensitive.
 
So, I've been sitting here for the last couple of days completely unable to choose a song for the current Season because I keep second-guessing myself. My last entry was a corny old Jimmie Rodgers song about Hawaiian girls, and I was (politely and respectfully) chided by people that I love and respect that the song isn't sufficiently PC. It made them wince. I thought that the song was a cute old throwback, but it got me thinking. A lot. I've heard others criticize Hawaiian hapa-haole songs because they're too "wiki-wiki" and un-PC.

But, I think that it's not just hapa-haole songs. So many blues, rock, country, and rap songs are misogynistic. Lots. About two minutes of thought brought these:

Ain't No Fun (If The Homies Can't Have None), Aqualung, Because I Got High, Blood Brothers, Brown Sugar, Brown Sugar, Delilah, Don't Eat The Yellow Snow, Early Morning Blues, Fat Bottomed Girls, Fine China, Fire, Get Your Shine On, Getting Better, Go Away Little Girl, George Formby’s “Mr. Wu” songs, If You Wanna Be Happy, In the Summertime, Island Girl, Johnny Get Angry, Kissin' Cousins, Kung Foo Fighting, Many Eminem songs, Maybe I Know, My Boomerang Won’t Come Back, My Ding-A-Ling, My Funny Valentine, My Sharona, Okie From Muskogee, One in a Million, Play That Funky Music, Run for Your Life, Running Bear, Sing Song Swing, Stand By Your Man, Sweet Little Sixteen, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, The Ice Cream Truck Song, Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright), Turning Japanese, Under My Thumb, Who Let The Dogs Out, You're Sixteen, Who Put The Overalls In Mrs. Murphy’s Chowder, Young Girl.

As a matter of fact, if I try hard, I could find something offensive about a majority of songs. And novels. And comic books. And movies. So what do I do? Right now, I have a lot of trepidation about bringing anything at all here. I'm sure I'm over-thinking, but maybe we need a "PC Censor" or something to pre-approve all songs before they're submitted. I don't want to offend anyone.

Discussion welcome.
 
I honestly don't think we need to be "censored", Randy! (I know I was one of the ones who criticised the "wiki-wacky-woo", but that's just my personal opinion ... others might just see such songs as of their period and, as such, belonging to less "enlightened" times.) I should imagine we all have our particular sensitivities and you are never going to please all of the people all of the time. If we took the censorship business too far, then we'd never do anything ... there would always be someone who would find something un-PC in any given lyrics, as you suggest. I think we should all just "lighten up"!
 
Some people are ready to take offense at anything. Many of these songs are of their time and we shouldn't get too hung up about singing them or not. Be guided by your own instincts. If you feel uncomfortable singing it, then you're better not to sing it. I know there are a few songs I won't sing but there are a fair number on that list I have no qualms about singing. I guess you don't want to offend close family either but you know what they will tolerate.
 
Interesting discussion! Which also raises the question of artists we might avoid because of alleged or proven behaviour - Michael Jackson, Gary Glitter and Rolf Harris spring to mind (though I’m sure there are plenty of others!).

Must admit I’ve avoided playing certain songs that I never questioned in their time but now seem inappropriate, and I’ve changed a word or two in lyrics during my time here to avoid the risk of offending anyone. The yardstick I use is this: do I want to be associated with this artist or with these lyrics; would I be happy to say these things in my everyday life; am I likely to offend anyone here by singing these words?

My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that it’s a personal decision for each of us to make. Even though I’m unlikely to be offended by anything any of you are likely to play/sing, I guess it doesn’t hurt to be mindful of the potential sensitivities of others here. And I’d like to think that these things could be dealt with amicably and respectfully by pm between individuals if an issue arose. :)
 
I had given you a listen and a like on the song, Randy, but no comment as I wasn't sure what to say. The lyrics did make me wince a little. Our attitudes have changed because they needed to imho. Bringing a 'hula girl' home like a souvenir does not sit with me very well then or now really. I guess it's ok to be reminded of dinosaurs - it woud not be much fun to have them running around though.
I think it is more how and where such songs are performed. I think Berni's youtube comment summed up my reaction to the song.
 
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Ive been missing so much around here. There are a few of you that I try to find a minute to listen to if I get the chance. Randy is one of them because he always puts a smile on my face.

After listening to his song and seeing some of the comments I decided to pop over and see what the theme is and see if maybe PC was part of it. Came on over here and found this convo.

It's funny how one comment can influence the thoughts of others. I saw that song as light hearted fun. If I was to over think the song, and in just the wrong mood then yes, I guess I could let it be off putting, but I didn't.

I find Randy to be one of the most fun charming songsters we have. Clearly the comments are not sitting well with him.

I am guilty of bringing some questionable songs, and I've seen most of you bring questionable songs so this is a head scratcher for me.

I sure hope we don't lose Randy over this. His charm and generosity is unmatched around here.
 
Wow, what have I missed! Controversy(?) - we all have different opinions, we all like different songs - if it hasn't been banned, it's all good - whether I like a song or not doesn't really matter, & nor should anyone else critisize another's choice, to my mind.

Yes, some things bug me, but others find them OK, that's life. ;)
 
art is art and will always be.
all these songs were written in a contextual and social framework
Randy, please don't nominate me as a censor...
 
Well, I don't consider myself a "censor" either. I think, when I commented on the wicky-wacky-woo thing, it was on Randy's season, a few weeks back ... and it was only my personal opinion. Heaven forbid that we should lose you from the Seasons, Randy ... I agree with everything Linda said; you're a hero!
 
This is a tough one. A lot of songs have cringe-worthy lyrics or sentiments, but do we abandon them because of that? I’m like Del, in that I have no problem modifying lyrics if doing so doesn’t wreck the meaning or context of the song. Then again, songs s that are unironically misogynistic or racist (especially contemporary ones) I would hope Seasonistas would shy away from entirely.

Older songs in that regard are more vexing. And Jimmie Rodgers was a genius, even if he lived in an unenlighted time :D

But that’s merely my opinion.
 
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