Literature is a hard master

[koganbot]

Have an hour to decide whether I'm going to review Miranda Lambert's "Dead Flowers" for the Jukebox; probably not, unless I can figure out a way to work in the line "Dead flowers can't take things off the shelf." At the moment I don't see how.

Comments

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

I love the first thirty seconds (or first verse) of "Dead Flowers," and I like Miranda's performance. But the song doesn't know what to do with the dead flowers that start off so evocatively telling the story -- she basically goes for anything that'll stick to the metaphor: Christmas lights, car tires, etc. etc. etc. Simple concept overextended into a weirdly fragmented song, but also surprisingly difficult to write about (I still did a blurb, tho).

[koganbot]

I did a blurb, threw in my joke (couldn't quite make it intelligible, but I toss it in so quickly that I hope that people will overlook its not quite making sense), didn't really analyze the song. But the song disappoints me; the verses are pretty but not extraordinary and, though Miranda pulls off a good Faith Hill wail in the chorus, it's not as good as Faith or Martina would have done it; I gave the track six points, mainly for that wail. I think she draws out her metaphors in a hamfisted way, and the main metaphor - withered flowers for a withered relationship - is old and withered itself. The theme is one that Taylor Swift would have nailed - in fact, Taylor did, "Cold As You" on her first album, where one line ("I start a fight just to feel something") says more than Miranda was able to wrench out of an entire song. (Surprised at Miranda, given that she's written some great evocative lines herself: "I sleep but I don't rest," "life ain't hard but it's too long/Livin' like some country song," etc.) And her lines about the Christmas lights going dead are labored in comparison to the equivalent by Aly & AJ ("The lights are cool but they burn out").

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

FrankFrankFrank latest CSI update: Pete Wentz and Ashlee Simpson were in Saturday's CSI:NY as opportunistic druq dealers!

[koganbot]

Holy shit! I'll have to go searching for excerpts on YouTube to see if Ashlee can act. (Taylor seemed really good in the YouTube excerpts from a couple of weeks ago, and unlike Ashlee she's had no professional acting experience, as far as I know, not counting her vids.)(I agree that the "Love Story" vid was a real disappointment, but the two that followed are ace.)

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

I seem to remember seeing it on Youtube when it aired in the states -- they're pretty goofy.

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was posted on Idolator but the post no longer exists.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Wow, I did not expect your score and my score to be lowest (aside from freakytigger's).