Instant Pleasure (Again)

We weren't blogging when we got this e-mail in our inbox:

"i saw and read your blog on "instant pleasure". glad you like the song. i wrote it. seth swirsky --rufus only sang it. all best,
seth"

So we're going to give credit were credit is due: Seth Swirsky wrote the song. And he's written a lot of songs, including "Tell It To My Heart". He also, apparently, has a pretty effin' cool baseball memorabilia collection.

ANYWAYS, I knew this at the time I did the blog entry but forgot to give Mr. Swirsky any credit. The most amazing thing about this song is that it was written for the movie "Big Daddy". That continues to blow my mind. How can a song so good, so 'spot on' some how find its way on an Adam Sandler film soundtrack? It only makes me love the song just a little bit more. But I didn't give Mr. Swirsky credit, so this is me giving him credit. Here is Seth Swirsky's website.

So my apologies to Mr. Swirsky, I didn't mean to slight him in the least. He wrote a kick ass song and Rufus sings it pretty damn well.

Read the original write up of Instant Pleasure here.

Instant Pleasure

Instant Pleasure by Rufus Wainwright

If there was ever a song that should be the anthem of the of 21st century, this would be it:
I don't want somebody to love me
Just give me sex whenever I want it
'Cause all I ask for is instant pleasure
Instant pleasure, instant pleasure

Of course the song is being sarcastic. It's taking shots at the world, society, and culture that we live in. This is a song that would make Rollo May proud: sex is faceless, love is meaningless, physical pleasure is what we desire, emotions are not to be considered until after the fact and forgotten about then, and finally we want all this right now. Consequences be damned.

We have, as a culture, decided that we should act first and think second. This isn't always a bad thing. But in 99% of ones daily life, thinking before jumping is necessary. But at the same time, we have been able, thanks to money, medicine, science, and technology, to redo our mistakes. In an image conscious culture, the possibility to 'redo' or 'undo' our actions has allowed us to act before we think. This has lead to much fun.

Of course this leads to a lot of bad consequences - from car accidents to shitty investments to going home with someone you shouldn't be to shitty education and educational systems were the test is more important than knowledge or intellect - the moral hazard of these decisions has decreased over the years. Instant gratification rules the day. Can you make me a buck? Can you get me off? Can you get a high score than the one town over? I know I'm drunk and I know he's drunk, but we've got airbags baby! And if shit happens, we'll deal with it, even if it tears us apart, brings stress to our familes, and bring upon emotional distress. At least we can look back and say, 'wow that was a fun night'. It's a selfish world, and everyone else has to deal with it.

Think that all these folks get laid?
Do it cause their pain is great?
What you thinkin' anyways?

If drinkin' coffee's your idea of really cool
You can't expect no crazy chick to notice you
Just sittin there dreamin' instant pleasure
Instant pleasure, instant pleasure...

I don't want somebody to love me
I don't want somebody to love me...

Watch:

Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk

Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk by Rufus Wainwright

Rufus writes pretty songs... he's probably one of the most unique artists out there right now, imo. His songs swoon and soar, they're passionate, funny yet glib, sarcastic, intelligent, and subtle all at once. As a singer-song-writer, Rufus is pretty effin' good.

A few years back some magazine did a whole, "overrated/underrated" thing. And one of the overrated items they had was "The Singer-Song-Writer". At first I thought this was sort of insane. The singer-song-writer is so pure, authentic, and cool. Bob Dylan, Jeff Tweedy, Paul Simon, Neil Young... these guys are singer-song-writers. They're great. They aren't phonies, they're real live people writing really good songs.

But as I mulled this over in the next weeks, months, and even years, I came to the conclusion that the singer-song-writer IS overrated. There are not that many good singer song writers; they come few and far between. And so many of the best songs weren't written by the same people who preformed them. Motown with Barry Gordie, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Phil Spector et all wrote kick ass songs for other people. Should I think differently of or like the Jackson Five, Diana Ross, or anyone else less because they didn't write the song? Of course not.

The fact is, most singer-song-writers are whiny boring little, pardon my French, bitches. I don't care if she broke your heart and it feels like someone is kicked you in the gut. That's a bad analogy... in fact it's an analogy that everyone in the world can/could/has thought up. If you want to be a singer-song-writer, at the very least, be as good as Mason Jennings. And if you are the next Dylan or Simon, then by all means, write your own material. But if you've got a pretty voice but can't writer a fresh hook and only think of bland lyrics... then by all means, find the next Phil Spector and sing whatever he puts in front of you.

Watch:

Movies Of Myself

Movies of Myself - Rufus Wainwright:
I was some where in the Andes between Machu Picchu and Cuzco when this song really hit me. I'm not sure what it was, but I liked it. It sort of summed up what I was feeling about my love life at the time and the girl that began to center around this song wasn't the girl I was dating at the time. I was sort of convinced that the two of us were star cross lovers and this song came to encompass that for some reason. Still today, when I hear this song, I see this girls face and smile. And if you were wondering, we never kissed and I haven't talked to her in years.

Listen to the MP3: