Here in Chicago we've had days and nights of flooding, it's still snowing in places like Utah (!), Spring is on delay. Is there a better time to explore ennui? My fav definition of ennui is that it is like the feeling kids have when they realize they have played with all their toys! So let's look at some music videos with this feeling. Probably won't mean much if you prefer music that goes THUMP THUMP THUMP about booty calls and the like. Try these, you might like them. So grab a drink, and take this trek.
SPECIAL THEME: MUSC OF ENNUI
Roxy Music said it best, HERE IT COMES!
Peggy Lee did a song that could be the anthem for ennui. IS THAT ALL THERE IS?
I hated Sinatra as a hippie, but after you've fallen in love a couple, ok, a few times, his music and style hits you like a frieght train. Sinatra was a bar singer who played to stadiums. He made it look easy. It wasn't. This is his ennui song.
After World War 2 not everyone thought everything was peachy keen. In America during the war the blackmarket went mainstream offering goods unavaliable during rationing. After the war, all Europe was propped up by the black market. One powerful song.... by Marlene Dietrich.
Jacques Brel did this song about a 20 year old girl who does gangbangs of soldiers.
Exactly how jaded do you have to be to do a song that re-creates the sex act? When Bardot and Serges Gainsbourg did this song it became a top 3 hit all over the world. In America it hit number 1.
This version I post has the translated lyrics, you can see why the FCC now bans the song! Not ok for work, yet once on radios everywhere you went.
When Lou Reed did the concept album BERLIN about divorce it tanked in America selling less than 25,000 copies. However, in Europe where they are use to adult themes in songs, it became a cult hit. Here are two songs, THE KIDS,and CAROLINE SAYS
Lou Reed with Nico, FEMME FATALE.
All during the war we promised occupied nations in Europe they would have democracy and free elections. At war's end we turned over 200 million people over to Stalin. Thousands committed suicide. Millions were sent to gulags, never to return. Many Europeans believed their hopes of freedom were illusions. And Dietrich captured that feeling with this song.
BEST SITE OF THE DAY:
Still one powerful song by Carla Bruni
I'm told that our lives aren't worth much,
They pass like an instant, like wilting roses.
I'm told that time slipping by is a bastard
Making its coat of our sorrows.
Yet someone told me…
That you still loved me
Someone told me…
That you still loved me.
Well ? Could that be possible?
I'm told that fate makes fun of us,
That it gives us nothing and promises everything,
When happiness seems to be within our reach,
We reach out and find ourselves like fools.
Yet someone told me…
That you still loved me
Someone told me…
That you still loved me.
Well ? Could that be possible?
Well ? Could that be possible?
So who said that you still loved me?
I don't remember any more, it was late at night,
I can still hear the voice, but I can no longer see the face,
"He loves you, it's secret, don't tell him I told you."
You see, someone told me
That you still loved me
Did someone really tell me?
That you still loved me
Well, could that be possible?
I'm told that our lives aren't worth much,
Passing in an instant, like wilting roses,
I'm told that time slipping by is a bastard,
Making its coat of our sadnesses.
That you still loved me
Someone told me…
That you still loved me.
Well ? Could that be possible?
