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Track of the Day - 10/25/07
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Voltaire - The Man Upstairs Listen to The Man Upstairs on Rhapsody I have pretty decent neighbors.  I have to say this upfront and get it out of the way, because we are going down that "paranoid neighbor" route again with this tune.  So how many times have you watched a news item about someone who has flipped out and taken someone else's life, only to have their neighbors say something along the line, "I never dreamed they would be capable of something like this - They seemed like such a nice person"?  Perhaps they would add in how the individual did keep to himself or herself a bit and how they always thought it was "such a nice neighborhood."  It seems to me that I have heard this a lot.  Maybe even enough to call it something of a cliché at this point. So where am I going with this?  Well, based on these reports, I think it is safe to say that you are never quite sure about what another person is capable of.  At least, that seems to be the general message that is passed down by the media.  With each and every report of someone cracking and "a nice neighborhood" shattered, it engrains a little more paranoia in our society and raises the suspicions just a bit more.  Perhaps it would be better just to see the people on the news say, "Oh man, I knew that guy would crack someday.  It was just a matter of time."  Maybe that would be more comforting? I remember growing up in this very neighborhood and everyone seemed to know everyone and got along.  These days, a lot of those folks have moved on and I couldn't tell you the new people's names.  We are all isolated from one another.  Sure, there are a few friendly folks (some perhaps more friendly than you want), but I probably could not even put faces to who lives where.  I suppose it is quite possible that we all fit that description of keeping to ourselves. I know that technology has come a long way with the Internet, the DVRs, video games, etc. and people tend to point that direction as to why society is becoming more anti-social.  But there are still those, "I never dreamed that they would do something like this" news reports that make you wonder if we're not all being driven somewhat by fear - And that is one thing the media is good at. Voltaire is becoming something of a regular here (if you call three songs in a year a regular), so I will not go into his unique creativity and/or the roots of his dark-cabaret music.  I'll just stick with The Man Upstairs, which is a good illustration of my point.  The song appeared on his 1998 debut album, The Devil's Bris, and involves a man that has taken his annoyance and paranoia of his neighbors to an extreme. Please, kill that man upstairs If you ever loved me, you'll do this one thing won't you sweetheart? Please, murder that man upstairs If you want to be my friend, you'll have to prove you mean it I have read people interpret this song as an allegory towards religion.  From that viewpoint, the man upstairs represents God and the man downstairs is Satan, but both are apparently annoying.  I guess in that context that the noise he suffers from is religion and the only way to stop it is by murdering God?  I don't know.  I read The Man Upstairs more simply as the "paranoid neighbor" song again, where the narrator is arguing his case, but you begin to realize that he is the more dangerous person. We went down this road just last week with What's He Building? by Tom Waits, which brings me back to my original point - I have pretty decent neighbors.  Just because I have picked two songs in consecutive weeks does not mean that I think they are up to no good.  No, these folks aren't capable of stuff like that.  It is a good neighborhood.  Everyone pretty much keeps to themselves...  Oh wait.  Uh-oh. This entry was edited on October 25, 2007, 6:59 pm.
Filed under: Music, Track of the Day	October 25, 2007, 6:52 pm | Permalink | 0 Comments
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