Songs about the pursuit of fame.

"Message to Martha" (also known as "Message to Michael" and "Kentucky Bluebird"). From the perspective of the lover left behind. Martha/Michael has left her small Kentucky town to sing in New Orleans clubs, where s/he has changed her name. Implication of new decadent lifestyle. Narrator says that Martha/Michael's "dreams of fame fell through"--what kind of sordid activities might s/he be engaged in now? (See why this works better sung by a man?) Narrator pines for lost love. Is narrator misguided?

"Do You Know the Way to San Jose." From the perspective of the would-be starlet with dashed dreams. She's decided to abandon the pursuit of fame and move to what she imagines is a more normal, laid-back sort of town. Lots of nice references to postwar car culture, but in a more suburban-prosaic fashion than, say, the Beach Boys. The bridge, though is fairly brutal. "And there you are, without a friend," etc.

***

Interesting that all of these songs wind up with a question. In "Bye Bye Johnny" it's whether Johnny is sincere about returning to his hometown or whether he's just trying to make his mama happy (this has a tragic dimension, as he may end up like Martha/Michael). In "Message to Martha" the question is, What exactly is Martha up to in N.O.? (I've always presumed s/he'll never come back to Kentucky.) In "San Jose" it's whether the narrator is just musing or whether she's really committed herself to giving up the game. What do you all think?

If that's disqualified, please may I suggest "So You Wanna Be A Rock'N'Roll Star" by The Byrds.

Kate, you must tell us the storylines.

*someone is doing a trans-gendered combination-version of the song, surely / sherman.

http://www.sanfranciscoartmagazine.com/02/july/music/missionofburma/119248.jpg

MISSION OF BURMA
"FAME AND FORTUNE"
(Roger C. Miller)

Fame and fortune, facts of life

Most of what makes it is useless tripe

So change the angle of the battle plan

To hit the target

Fame and fortune, fancy that

Nothing but rabbits come out of the hat

So try to catch a falling star,

Crush it into dust and stuff it down a jar

And throw it far away

Now the point is back to front

See-through people

See-through monuments

No empire

The beginning, at the ending (one goes up, one goes down)

Smash a face against the wall

Grind a face into the ground - Oh No

Pretty faces on the wall - They Fall

Heat to boiling, disappear in the sky

Slash the ashes, and bake into a pie

Pretty faces on the ground - Oh No, No, No

Fame and fortune is a stupid game and

Fame and fortune is the game I play

I play forever

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I love this song. Sounds like the narrator is pretty happy about the whole thing (smashing and grinding of pretty faces)...calling it a game: hence the rabbit out of hat metaphor. Rabbits being game animals. Narrator is hungry for fame and fortune and makes additional food references to tripe and the baking of pies.

Additionally, this song is very timely with the looming war...talk of battle plans and targets. Bush has nothing on the Mission of Burma.

Ironically, Mission of Burma performed this as their one song show during their acceptance of the Boston Music Awards Hall of Fame Award in April of 2002.
http://www.sanfranciscoartmagazine.com/02/july/music/missionofburma/missionofburma.html

So they must be famous now after all.

Tom: Re. "Message to Martha." I can identify with the narrator, which alarms me because I can do so for bad reasons. In the past I've had a certain possessive paternalism toward certain people; I've imagined them to be these innocents who will be lost in the big wide world. When in reality such feelings reflect more on my own naivete, my own fear. It may be that Martha/Michael is doing just fine in New Orleans--not a star, but getting by. But that thought is too scary or perhaps just beyond the ken of the narrator. (I mentioned the issue of gender b/c I saw this as being more pernicious if the narrator is male, but I'm rethinking that.)

I wonder how much of this Hal David built in to the lyric and how much of it we're bringing ourselves.

Re. "San Jose" one reason I love this song--I think it's one of the great 20th c. songs--is because the vision of San Jose life it draws is so comprehensively mundane, and yet so seductive at the same time. The lyric is so dense in the verses that it forces the singer into something of an automaton; there's little opportunity for "interpretation." Even the melody in the chorus is left sort of blithely unresolved: "...far away from home..." The music echoes this with its ersatz bossa-nova shuffle; it only really raises a sweat in the (instrumental) bridge, and then just barely.

I don't think that last graf made much sense but I haven't the energy to revise it.

AC/DC - "Long Way To The Top". But only if you want to rock and roll...

"Fame, fame, fatal fame/ Can play hideous tricks on the brain/ But i'd rather be famous than righteous or holy/ Any day, any day, any day."

Smalltown boyfriend/bandmate does everything for his girl--"I'm the guy who made her a star/even bought a brand new guitar/and paid the fare/to get her there/where the bright lights are"--and now she won't return his calls.

I guess it's a bit like Twinkle's "Golden Lights", although he (Eddy Grant, I guess) makes it clear that she wouldn't have gotten where she was without him.

Also, "Jesus Christ Superstar" is about the most famous guy ever's struggle to hit the big time, from Judas' point of view.

There's also some reminisces about the girl he met while working at a drive-in, but the upshot is that even though he got the fame he was seeking, he still considers the summer of '69 to include "the best days of my life."

"So you went to Sweden to meet Ingmar Bergman/But he wasn't there or just don't care/I think it's time for you my friend/to stop pretending you are a movie star."

And let us not forget "Rock and Roll Singer," one of the ten best songs by anyone anywhere ever.

"I ain't no fool...I AIN'T FOOLIN' CANTCHA TELL?!?"

(Boo on Mark Kozelek for leaving that part out in his cover version.)

It's great hearing the Rollers sing lines like "So you take another lude and you shoot another dime/'Cos your money is the power but your ego's on the line". J-j-j-jaded!

...but what about "Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself"?

Piss Factory is fab, the story of the life of all my peers, sadly enough. Working world's worst jobs and sighing about their fantasy futures at night, when their present path will clearly never take them there. Until someone comes along and sweeps them off their feet from their bars and restaurants...watch out in five years, world! We're coming.

Sung from the perspective of Emma's lover. They had known each other "since they were five". Everyone always told Emma that because of her beautiful looks she was sure to become a star. The narrator himself promises to "make her the biggest star the world's ever seen". THese child lovers get married and hubby is the breadwinner while Emma tries to break in. He comes home from work night after night and hears her sobs; she's not getting any parts. One night he comes home, finds her dead body and a suicide note-

"Darling I love you,
But I just can't keep on living on dreams no more.
I tried so very hard not to leave you alone.
I just can't keep on trying no more."

It's interesting because it's about this person who has been set up for fame since youth, when she was some kind of child beauty queen. The unanswered question is just how complicit in this tragedy does he view himself? He was one of the people encouraging her, he was the one working 9-5 to support them, but was he pushing her too hard? He says he'd hear her cry and "feel so distressed", and think back to when they were five. Is he feeling genuine distress over Emma's emotional pain? Or is he distressed because this childhood dream they shared is not becoming a reality for him as well?

It's kind of a schlocky song, but there is something pretty great about the part when the singer reads the note (in both versions). Just the line "Darling I love you" is double tracked with female vocals, the appearance from beyond of the dead Emma, effective. Of course, on the Urge Overkill version they also add a cheesy string wash for good measure.

Musically though the Urge Overkill version is superior (which they curiously retitled "Emmaline"). They added this fantastic, bombastic prelude which was wholly absent on the original. Typical of these guys' vision at the time to take a mildly affecting bit of filler buried on a record from a forgettable 70's band, spruce it up, make it majestic, make it the centerpiece of their album. Too bad they fell off so hard later, because around this period (Supersonic Storybook), despite all their preening, they really had it together.