I love music! And sometimes songs can say more in a few short lines than I could in 10 different posts. There’s always been a tug-o-war in the b’nacle between various personalities. I think there are three primary personalities in the ‘nacle represented nicely by the following three songs (complete with links to cool YouTube videos of the songs).
“Prelude/Angry Young Man” by Billy Joel from the album “Turnstiles” (with compliments to Liberty DeVitto for his awesome drum theatrics in the video)
There’s a place in the world for the angry young man
With his working class ties and his radical plans
He refuses to bend, he refuses to crawl,
And He’s always at home with his back to the wall.
And he’s proud of his scars and the battles he’s lost,
And he struggles and bleeds as he hangs on his cross-
And he likes to be known as the angry young man.Give a moment or two to the angry young man,
With his foot in his mouth and his heart in his hand.
He’s been stabbed in the back, he’s been misunderstood,
It’s a comfort to know his intentions are good.
And he sits in a room with a lock on the door,
With his maps and his medals laid out on the floor-
And he likes to be known as the angry young man.I believe I’ve passed the age
Of consciousness and righteous rage
I found that just surviving was a noble fight.
I once believed in causes too,
I had my pointless point of view,
And life went on no matter who was wrong or right.And there’s always a place for the angry young man,
With his fist in the air and his head in the sand.
And he’s never been able to learn from mistakes,
So he can’t understand why his heart always breaks.
And his honor is pure and his courage as well,
And he’s fair and he’s true and he’s boring as hell-
And he’ll go to the grave as an angry old man.There’s always a place for the angry young man
With his working class ties and his radical plans
He refuses to bend, he refuses to crawl,
And He’s always at home with his back to the wall.
And he’s proud of his scars and the battles he’s lost,
And he struggles and bleeds as he hangs on his cross-
And he likes to be known as the angry young man.
“Uprising” by Muse from the album “The Resistance” (with compliments to Matthew
Bellamy for…well…sheer brilliance)
Paranoia is in bloom,
The PR transmissions will resume
They’ll try to, push drugs that keep us all dumbed down
And hope that, we will never see the truth around
(so come on)
Another promise, another seed
Another, packaged lie to keep us trapped in greed
And all the, Green belts wrapped around our minds
And endless, red tape to keep the truth confined
(so come on)They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious
so come onInterchanging mind control
Come let the, revolution takes its toll
If you could, flick the switch and open your third eye
You’d see that
We should never be afraid to die
(so come on)Rise up and take the power back
It’s time the fat cats had a heart attack
They know that their time’s coming to an end
We have to unify and watch our flag ascendThey will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not enslave us
We will be victoriousThey will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They can not control us
We will be victorious
“Human of the Year” by Regina Spektor from the album “Far” (sorry, no cool music video,
just the song)
Hello, hello
Calling a Karl Projectorinski
To the front, of the cathedral
You have won, dear sir
May I congratulate you first
Oh, what an honorHuman, human of the year
You won [x2]Why are you so scared
You stand their shaking in your pew
The icons are whispering to you
They’re just old men
Like on the benches on the park
Except their balding spots are glistening with goldHuman, human of the year
You won [x2]
You have wonHallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, HallelujahOutside the cars are beeping
Out of sun
Just in your honor
And even though they do not know it
All mankind are now your brothers
And as the cathedral has spoken
Wishing well to all us sinners
And where the sight grew silent
Til next year’s big human winnerOutside the cars are beeping
Out of sun
Just in your honor
And even though they do not know it
All mankind are now your brothers
All mankind are now your brothersHallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, HallelujahHello, hello
Calling a Karl Projectorinski
To the front, of the cathedral
You have won
Bonus points if you can associate each song with certain individuals, blogs, or portals to the b’nacle (all in good fun of course)! Double bonus points for coming up with your own songs that describe the personalities in the ‘nacle.
Wheat & Tares 
Great post. I, too, love music. Over 120,000 songs in my iTunes library.
I’d associate “Uprising” with LDSAnarchist/site.
For bonus points, I would associate “King of Anything” (Sara Barelles) with some of the more DAMU sites (see Andrew S recent post)
These don’t sound all that much like the Bloggernacle to me.
The types of posts (and comments)that move me are thoughtful, not angry. Considerate, not mean-spirited or attacking. Insightful and humble and factual, and not loud and condescending and inflexible. Carefully and appropriately-shared personal examples are often appreciated. I love citations to appropriate sources (so I can judge the credibility of representations).
I tune out people who are in my face, people who are negative, people who are angry and bitter. Above all, I am discouraged when people attack each other, for their viewpoints and especially for personal attacks on motives and intelligence. Those are highly distasteful. I wish there was a blog site for angry people so they could yell at each other, and rip each other apart, and the rest of us would not have to listen!
I am all about dialogue, calm discussion, respect, a kind attitude, and the easy and vigorous exchange of information and viewpoints. Am I in the minority out here?
I’m sure that most people would say this. The question is how many people achieve it?
Re Mike S
Dang, you’ve got me beat like crazy. I thought I had a lot at about 3000. Clearly not. Where in the world do you store them all, and do you back them up?
Yeah, that’s at least one of the ones I had in mind.
Re Andrew-
Okay.
Re BrotherQ
I couldn’t agree more with your sentiment. One issue that I see, however, is that often times the posts/blogs/people who appear to be nice engage in plenty of Rameumptom style self-praise which I also don’t care for. Also, I’m a fan of occasionally engaging with those who are more negative if only so that I can try and understand their viewpoint. It’s too narrow for me to only give any deference to those I agree with.
@all
Here’s what I had in mind:
“Prelude/Angry Young Man” corresponds with some people in the DAMU. I sometimes get the impression that they’d just rather be angry and vindictive than engage in anything constructive. Additionally, as the song indicates, they’ve been “stabbed in the back, and misunderstood” despite their good intentions. They also sometimes allow their “cause” to dictate their lives.
“Uprising” corresponds with those who haven’t yet decided to go home with their “maps and medals” but are still fighting for their ideals. I have a lot of respect for these people, even if I don’t always agree with them. The fine folks at LDSAnarchist, and sometimes Rock Waterman at Pure Mormonism remind me of this sentiment.
“Human of the Year” corresponds with those who primarily engage in navel gazing and self congratulatory applause and accolades. They stand at the front, and wish all the sinners (the rest of us) well.
I’m not trying to indicate that these sentiments are what the original authors had in mind, but it’s at least my interpretation of what these songs might correspond with. After I posted it, I had an idea for a 4th type, but I’ll have to save it for another post.
Where in the world do you store them all, and do you back them up?
Home network (4 wireless hubs throughout house) with a 4.5 TB server to store music, movies, backups of other computers, pictures, etc. Everything is mirrored on the server in case a drive goes bad. I also regularly back everything up on removable drives and store off-site.
Re Mike S
I have a similar setup, but my requirements are FAR more modest. I bet that initial backup was NASTY! That’s my biggest problem with the movies and music. They take forever to copy anywhere (and I clearly don’t have near as much as you do). There just isn’t a mechanism to transfer that amount of data quickly enough. Maybe USB 3.0 will do the trick.
re 5:
jmb,
Yeah, I guess my earlier comment was kinda snippy and rude, but my thought was that the DAMU isn’t part of the Bloggernacle. But I can definitely see your connections as you’ve explained them.
Re Andrew
Yeah, I have always viewed the b’nacle as the collection of all Mormon themed blogs and forums.
The DAMU, NOM, etc. to me play a role in that (at least they sure get a lot of floor time).
That’s how I originally saw it, but I got the idealism beaten out of me good.
Yes, that exclusive Bloggernacle – the great Oz that decides who/who isn’t part of its greatosity.
The funny thing is, I think most blogs fit most of these titles at different times. The Angry YM song fits certain bloggers at various times (“With his fist in the air and his head in the sand. And he’s never been able to learn from mistakes…”), and others you call for fitting the Muse song can be incredibly arrogant, egotistical and often come across angry as the DAMUs are. Then, I think most fit the Spektor song at one point or another. Though everyone tries to lean unbiased, objective, etc., most aren’t as open-minded as they’d like us to believe.
Many in the b’nacle don’t ever move on from or retire from their posting days because they rather enjoy the attention, notoriety and respect that comes to them. Some of us think that what we offer to the community is just too valuable to let those poor wayward W&Tarers stumble along without our astute ways.
I think the song dedicated to the b’nacle should be some of the old classics like this one, which is a little more universally fitting:
Carry on my wayward son
There’ll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don’t you cry no more
Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion
I was soaring ever higher
But I flew too high
Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man
Though my mind could think I still was a mad man
I hear the voices when I’m dreaming
I can hear them say
Carry on my wayward son
There’ll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don’t you cry no more
Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man, well
It surely means that I don’t know
On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed around – I’m like a ship on the ocean
I set a course for winds of fortune
But I hear the voices say:
Carry on my wayward son
There’ll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don’t you cry no more
No!
Carry on, you will always remember
Carry on, nothing equals the splendor
The center lights around your vanity
But surely heaven waits for you
Carry on my wayward son
There’ll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don’t you cry (don’t you cry no more)
Here’s my song:
Desperado by the Eagles
Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses?
You been out ridin’ fences for so long now.
Oh, you’re a hard one
I know that you got your reasons
These things that are pleasin’ you
Can hurt you somehow.
Don’ you draw the queen o diamonds, boy
She’ll beat you if she’s able
You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet
Now it seems to me, some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can’t get
Desperado, oh, you ain’t gettin no younger
Your pain and your hunger, they’re drivin’ you home
And freedom, oh freedom well, that’s just some people
talkin’
Your prison is walking through this world all alone.
Don’t your feet get cold in the winter time?
The sky won’t snow and the sun won’t shine
It’s hard to tell the night time from the day.
You’re loosin’ all you highs and lows
Ain’t it funny how the feeling goes away?
Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences, open the gate.
It may be rainin’, but there’s a rainbow above you
You better let somebody love you, before it’s too late.
If we really look at ourselves, we can probably see a little of all of us in this song as well as most of the songs mentioned. The problem becomes one of personal interpretation – we read the same words and they have different meanings resulting from the experiences we have had thus far.
For me, the real question is, “how honestly am I willing to look at myself,” followed by “who would I be open to sharing that with?”
Therein lies the value of blogs…I only know names that I am sharing with. This creates a safety net where I can let myself hang out a little.
Re Daniel
Absolutely brilliant. Well said. And a great addition to the songs.
Re mudonme
Love it! I couldn’t agree more. For me this is both the value of the church and the value of blogging – self introspection. Though admittedly they bring it about in radically different ways.
Hmmm, I’ll nominate Dylan’s Not Dark Yet and PJ Harvey’s Kamikaze for something.
Very Nice Chino! The Dylan song reminds of a post by Andrew Ainsworth a few years back which he title “Dark Night of My Soul.” The song seems to perhaps describe those who are “in the struggle” of a faith crisis or something to that effect.
“The Logical Song ” by Supertramp. I suppose it’s part of the reason I am drawn to blogs such as this one. Cuz I just don’t get it all. 🙂
Re Glass Ceiling
That is indeed a good song choice. I suppose it could be applied in many different ways to most of us at some times.
jmb,
Thanks. I love the whole album. Breakfast in America.