A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

SEVENTEEN THOUGHTS ABOUT "THE" (PART 5): Here are 3 more songs on my iTunes list that begin with the word “the.”

13. The Other End (of the Telescope) by Aimee Mann. Can we all agree that Aimee Mann is a genius? Can we all agree that Elvis Costello, who wrote this song, is a genius?

14. The Payback by James Brown. Can we all agree that James Brown is a genius? Yesterday on this blog many of us were discussing what the world would think of U2 50 years from now. You can make a very solid case that James Brown has been more influential than U2. 50 years from now I bet that JB will be held in mighty high esteem.

This song hit #1 on the R&B charts and #26 on the pop charts in 1974. There's a lot of information about it here.

It’s the sound of blaxploitation movies. Which makes sense because Brown had recorded this with the intention of adding it to the soundtrack for a film called Hell Up in Harlem. The producer rejected it on the grounds that the song was not funky enough. Yeah, you read that correctly. Not funky enough. The single went gold. James added it to his double LP The Payback, which turned out to be the best selling album of his career to date. Let’s just say this is funky enough for me.

15. The Renegade by Ian and Sylvia. I wonder if Kim knows this one?

Pop culture has essentially ignored American Indians. This is one of the only songs I know that focuses on that subject. It's the tale of a renegade, persecuted by the culture of the white man.

It's not that much different than the subject of many hip hop songs. Imagine this passage adapted for a gangsta rap:

“Up on the hillside policemen were climbing
The ghosts of the night wind, their fantasies ceased to tell
Dark on the snow were the blood drops a-dryin';

…

Daylight came late over high coastal mountains.
The renegade stood watching with his rifle by his side
Then he emptied his gun up into the pale yellow sunrise
And he ran down the hillside the to place where he died”