Random Song: Jet

Somewhere, back in the many days of my misspent youth when burned CDs were as numerous as one-dollar bills in a strip club, I acquired a copy of the Best of Paul McCartney and Wings. No idea where it came from. No idea if I borrowed the CD from someone to burn it, but somehow, someway, I got this CD and honestly, it's a pretty awesome CD. 

First, let's dispense with the obvious one: "Live and Let Die" is excellent, and no, GNR did not do a better version. Knock that shit off right now. But you've also got 'Band On The Run', 'Mull of Kintyre', and 'Maybe I'm Amazed' before you get into songs like 'Listen To What The Man Said'.

And then, there's 'Jet.'

The song itself works. It rocks pretty hard. It soars pretty far. You get the feeling that you're racing through the sky in an actual jet if you want to flog the metaphor a bit. 

But then you actually listen to the lyrics:

Jet, jet, jet

I can almost remember their funny faces

That time you told them you were going to be marrying soon

And Jet, I thought the only lonely place was on the moon

Jet, jet, jet

Was your father as bold as the sergeant major?

Well how come he told you that were hardly old enough yet?

And Jet, I thought the major was a lady suffragette.

What the hell is this song actually about?

Turns out, no one really knows. Apparently, the McCartneys had a Labrador Retriever named Jet. (I also found something that says they had a pony named Jet?) But as for the rest of the song, McCartney has admitted he just makes stuff up so maybe there's no deeper meaning at play here, maybe it's just a song with a nice beat and good sound and the lyrics don't matter at all. 

And if that doesn't fit the definition of a random song perfectly, I don't know what does.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Didn't Watch The State of The Union

I didn't watch the State of the Union last night for the first time in what seems like a very long time indeed. I didn't watch it out of some form of virtue-signalling protest. I didn't watch it because it started at about eight o'clock at that is prime time for bedtime for the kids. And anyone with kids will tell you: you don't mess with bedtime. Also, I just didn't care. I know in some areas of the flaming dumpster fire that is our political discourse these days that's a hanging offense. "You didn't care? How dare you not care! Aren't you against [insert controversy of the week here]?" or my favorite, "Well, you have the privilege of not caring about this stuff." No, it's not about my privilege. (That's an entirely different conversation.) I just genuinely did not care, because it did not matter. Both ends of the political spectrum live in parallel universes, I decided. They're going to listen to the same speech
Read more

Tintin, Ranked

Image
What can you say about Tintin? He's been around for decades- was one of the most popular comics of the 20th Century. He's spawned a television cartoon ( which I remember watching on Nickelodeon ) and more recently a movie ( two more of which are apparently coming, though it's been awhile since the movie dropped .) He hasn't been free from controversy- Tintin In The Congo is hard to find these days for a reason, the least of which is (what I'm guessing) the somewhat 'problematic' portrayal of Africans in the Belgian Congo when the reality of that chapter of colonial history was dark indeed. For sure, if there's an aspect of these books that makes me cringe somewhat, it's his portrayal of Africans. Herge's portrayal of Latinx individuals and cultures tends to be a bit better, though his portrayal of indigenous folks and Asians is somewhat mixed. He's excellent in The Blue Lotus , somewhat less so with his portrayal indigenous people in Ti
Read more

Psephology Rocks: Holiday Grab Bag Edition

Well, there's lots to talk about post-Election Day, not only in America, but there's a few bits and bobs from around the world worth touching on as well.  We'll start local and work upwards: Local:  Well, I went three for three in my City Council Endorsements- Botchway, Salih took the At-Large Seats and Susan Mims took the District B Seat.  The District B race between incumbent Susan Mims and student Ryan Hall was less of a contest than I think people were anticipating, as Mims won handily 59% to 41%. I had nothing in particular against Hall, per say- but I feel like if Raj Patel who was another student who ran a few cycles back (I want to say 2010?) had serious money and a serious platform behind him and didn't win, then Hall was going to be a long shot. He checked all the right progressive boxes for Iowa City, but he was running against an incumbent who might not be uber-Progressive, but not say, Terry Dickens either. I think Hall would have had a better shot aga
Read more