Music can make you believe you hear things you don’t actually hear. Think of how many times your friends have misquoted the lyrics to songs. Some of my favorites: “The girl with colitis goes by,” instead of the real Beatles lyric, "The girl with kaleidoscope eyes.” Or how about Bob Dylan’s, "The ants are my friends, they're blowing in the wind” instead of "The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.” And who can forget the infamous rearrangement of Silent Night, "Round John Virgin," rather than "Round yon virgin.” That John, he’s a roly-poly young boy.
So, I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t get the lyrics right when I first heard the song “Pumped up Kicks,” by the indie-rock group, Foster the People. Didn’t matter. I loved the song. It was so catchy and fun. I had my own interpretation of what they were saying, of course. “All the other kids, all the pumped up kids, better run through the park, better run, faster than I can. All the other kids better run through the park, better run…” You know, sort of a challenge. I can run faster than you can. Even if you’re pumped up to beat me. All in good fun.
Wikipedia describes the band this way,( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foster_The_People ) “Members Mark Foster (vocals, keyboards, piano, synthesizers, guitar, programming, percussion), Mark Pontius (drums and extra percussion), and Cubbie Fink (bass and backing vocals) formed the band while in their mid- twenties.” Really? They look like they’re still in their mid-teens now.
But they’re handsome and genial and you see them in the music video, heads bobbing to the tune, and then throwing a Frisby and singing and walking the sidewalks and being normal guys. They’re in t-shirts and jeans and they adjust their instruments and wax their surfboards and catch a few waves and leap into lakes and whistle. Whistling is a very important part of the Pumped up Kicks song. It makes you want to snap your fingers. And put on your sneakers, like Foster the People. You want all the other kids to like them.
The song is so genial, so happy, you start thinking maybe you should get the lyrics right so you can sing it without being humiliated when someone inevitably says, “Whaaa? Those aren’t the right words!” So you go to one of the cool Web sites that lists the lyrics and you read them. And you think, wow, that can’t be right. You go to another lyric Web site. Yup, that’s right – “All the other kids with the pumped up kicks/You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.” Huh? Is that right? “You better run, better run, outrun my gun.”
Wow, talk about a let-down. I haven’t felt this disturbed by a song since John Lennon wrote, “Happiness is a Warm Gun.” And of course, years later that song gave me the absolute creeps when someone shot Lennon, who was one of my heroes. I still can’t listen to it, to this day.
I will listen to other songs by Foster the People and hope I find something that I like as much as I originally liked Pumped up Kicks. The band is incredibly talented and original and I’m impressed with their simple riffs and straightforward musical ability. But I won’t be downloading Pumped up Kicks. Not that they care. They’re making a fortune off the song – and probably even more off the controversy. And I’m sure this confirms their edgy, indie aesthetic, so they’re happy that the tune got so much attention. And when some crazy person uses it as background on their Web site before shooting their fellow students, it won’t be the fault of Foster the People. They didn’t create crazy.
One of many comments on the YouTube Video for the song, this one by writingmypassion, states,
“Okay. Everybody who dislikes this song mainly say it is because of the shooting in the school theme. Yet songs about suicide, rape, and others crimes are fine. Just enjoy the damn song and stop your complaining about stupid things.”
Well Passion, baby, I ain’t that fond of songs about suicide, rape and other crimes either. But the thing that really got me about this song is it sounds so upbeat. It really hurt me to find out it’s such a downer. I love the song, but what do you think? Am I going to play it for my grandkids? Hell, no. I’m embarrassed that even I like it! Guess I’ll sing it – my way – to the cats when it comes on VH1 at 6:00 a.m.
Non copyright free image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PumpedUpKicks.jpg
This is the Front Cover for the Digital Download Pumped Up Kicks by the artist Foster the People. The cover art copyright is believed to belong to the label, Columbia, or the graphic artist, Unknown.
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