Me and my multitude of music choices

So, I actually legitimately like a LOT of music. I really like classical and alternative, and classic rock, and would argue that I listen to these the most. I have not been to too many concerts in my life only Lady Gaga (which was incredible), Kings of Leon, Scissor Sisters, and Peaches/Bauhaus/Nine Inch Nails (I went for Peaches). I am obviously a big fan of campy music and one of my favorite bands of all time that reflects this sentiment are the Scissor Sisters. Other bands/artists I love and listen to frequently are Rufus Wainwright, CCRC, the Beatles, Mozart, Edith Piaf, Tegan and Sara, Lou Reed, The Ditty Bops, and Pink Floyd.

Here is one of my favorite Rufus Wainwright songs (of which there are many):
Hometown Waltz

I love this song because it encompasses all the lyricism, beautiful vocals, story, and whimsy that make Rufus Wainwright one of my favorite artists. He is so good at exploring, exploiting, and exploding genres and I just find him so dynamic. He also has a dreamy voice and is a vocal member and advocate of the GLBT community on top of everything else. I like this song specifically, because it has a plucky folk quality to it as well as a little Cajun quality with the accordion. I really like the juxtaposition of these genre markers commonly associated with "homey" American travel songs with the markers which describe Rufus's experience with home- Canada, gay communities, and destroying/leaving all remnants of his home.

Here are the lyrics for the song:

The drummers and jugglers of Montreal
Don't even exist at all
So I'm tearing up these tarot cards and Venetian clowns
Antique shops and alcoholic homosexuals

You may ask why I want to torch my home town
Partly it's bitterness and hopping 'round and 'round again
On Ontario Street looking up
Maybe I'll catch him on his way to the show

You travel the world and find all the answers
Everything operates on the unattainables
And then you hear your mother laugh attached to the phone
Could have walked around the block 'cause all roads lead to home

Say, will you ever ever ever know,
Ever ever ever fly away?
Will you ever ever ever go,
Ever ever ever find a way?

I think this song brings up really interesting questions about home and the American concept of "home" as being one singular place "rooted" to you. So, I would like to expose my students to a few traditional "home" songs and then show them Wainwright's response to that traditional concept. Then, I would have them compose their own "hometown waltz" and define how they view "home." Where is it? Who is there? Have they found it yet? Was a place they only occupied for a moment, or their entire lives? Is it a feeling? And, we could talk about waltz and ballad forms as a way to also teach the students about poetic/music forms.



This video I find extremely interesting because it is all about turning conventions on their head. It empowers the people generally oppressed or beaten down in traditional social structures such as the overweight high school girl, gay men in a formal setting, and people who have an "alternative" look- tattoos, piercings, etc. The video also flips traditionally masculine roles- the matador is hunted down, P!nk as a gangster, wrestler, terrorist organizer, and is put in a position of sexual power when she is shown in bed with loads of religious figures. That scene in itself turns all kinds of conventions on its head. And, what is really wonderful about P!nk is that she is this beautiful, talented, boisterous woman who is not afraid to laugh at herself and does not buy into the conventions of what is beautiful and what a woman should be. I really dig that. Yes, I would buy P!nk's album after seeing this video, and I think that because she makes herself so assessable to so many people, the music video does a really great job of promoting both P!nk and her values.