Fun with Textbooks

OK, that last post about classes was too full of vitriol and not full of fun. I think I sounded too unhappy. Anyway, here's some stuff that's in a bit of a lighter tone. It's about my music history textbook. Now, I'll be honest, I didn't come here expecting to take such a fluffy course. I planned on taking a modern literature course so that I could actually do some reading during the semester. But that class had a conflict and I was left with the unreasonably different task of choosing something new. (Seriously, this was really hard. You know how my schedule is weird? Well, the course catalog lists classes that are not offered this semester or even on the Townsville campus. Thin it out, JCU administration.) I only wanted to change the one conflicting class, and so the English was eliminated and this American pop music history class was the most interesting option that actually fit into my wacky schedule. But enough about why I'm in this class. Let's get to the good stuff.

We have a textbook for this class, a textbook that mostly describes the evolution of music through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, highlighting key artists along the way. It also includes what it terms "listening guides" to songs that the author feels are important in understanding the different genres. These guides explain basic information like the tempo and form of the song, list notable and/or unique moments within the song, and (here's what you've all been waiting for) give a one- or two-sentence summary of the lyrics. I'm going to assume that most of you readers have heard Bob Marley's I Shot the Sheriff. In case you couldn't pick up on what was going on, here is my textbook's interpretation of the lyrics:

The singer shot a sheriff when the sheriff was trying to shoot him, but he did not kill the deputy he has been accused of killing. He says he will pay if found guilty, but wants it remembered that the only shooting he did was done in self defense.

Truth be told, I could never understand WHAT was going on in that song. Now it's been explained to me! But that isn't the only gem to be found in this wonderful book. Here's what it has to say about the lyrics to James Brown's classic Papa's Got a Brand New Bag:

The lyrics tell us that Papa's "bag" is dancing.

Glad we got that cleared up.

Or maybe The Beach Boy's Surfin' U.S.A. is a little too complicated and needs some really in depth explication:

The song is about surfing and surfers. The singer wishes that everyone in the country had an ocean and could have fun like the surfers in California.

Fine, I'll stop making fun of the book. Generally, it gives good information, and I have no real problem with the listening guides. I just think the lyrical interpretations are a little bit unnecessary. Oh, and the listening guide song choice is a bit spotty. I mean, you have the choice between highlighting a song by Nirvana, a band which pretty much jump-started an entire genre of music, or Hole, a moderately successful group whose lead singer (Courtney Love) is widely regarded as being (a) completely insane and (b) a possible contributor to Kurt Cobain's suicide, and you choose Hole? Um, OK. The author also singles out Coolio and MC Hammer as hip-hop pioneers. But again, despite these occasional misguided choices, I like it. I like the class, I like that we get to listen to music in class, I like that I'm being forced to listen to stuff like Chuck Berry that I haven't got around to hearing on my own because, you know, Johnny B. Goode is a great song.