Friday Video: Lil Nas X

In 2019, Lil Nas X had a monster song "Old Town Road" which featured a remix with Billy Ray Cyrus and included a video featuring Chris Rock. I feel like many people became fans of Lil Nas X simply based on his visit to Lander Elementary School in Cleveland and the reaction by the kids. It's a cool video.

His next song (Panini), arguably most notable for his sample of Nirvana, didn't do nearly as well (which is natural since I believe Old Town Road held the #1 spot on the Billboard chart for longer than any other song all time). Still, how does Lil Nas X follow this? Was he basically a one-hit wonder (or 2-hit wonder if you count Panini) and done? The answer is a clear no. I listened to a lot of pop songs this year (more on that in my best of 2021 which I'll write hopefully before the end of January 2022) and his songs Montero, Industry Baby, and now That's What I Want are all really good and smash hits. Enjoy That's What I Want though not at work since the video is a little racy and has some bad language near the end. 

The Moose Plays Recorder

The recorder. Like the harp or flute, many people think of the recorder as an instrument with the most relaxing and soothing sounds. Or not. Especially when played by a third grader. The entire third grade at The Moose’s elementary school recently got to bring home recorders from their music class. While they are apparently playing or learning to play the instrument at school, they were able to bring them home to practice along with a song book called “Recorder Karate” with five or six songs. The idea is when you complete a song, you get a belt. Successfully play the recorder classic “Hot Cross Buns” at school, you get a yellow belt. Ideally, I suppose that everyone in third grade gets a belt. Oprah can probably explain this better.



For the first day or two after The Moose brought home the recorder, he basically just blew it creating lovely original tunes. (Again) Or not. Finally, we sat down to try to work with him on the specific notes and songs. He (and we) lost patience with each other pretty quickly. We decided to try a different route and found a how to play recorder series on YouTube. The Moose watched probably four or five videos, but he didn’t exactly get the point that you’re supposed to master the notes or sounds on the video before advancing to the next one.

A few minutes later, I noticed that he was watching a video about how to play “Old Town Road” on the recorder. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t quite master this, but apparently you can play this song on the recorder.



He had to take the recorder back to school, so we haven’t been blessed to hear the majestic sounds of The Moose playing the recorder the last few days. However, he said that he’s earned two belts, so maybe he did learn how to play some songs. In that case, thank you to his music teacher and of course Lil Nas X!

Sean Analyzes Song Lyrics - Summer 2019

The 2019 MTV Video Music Awards took place on Monday night. This isn't a post about how I'm too old for MTV or me complaining about how MTV doesn't play videos anymore. Instead, this is the return of Sean analyzing song lyrics featuring some of the songs from Monday night. Please note that I'm including videos of the songs below. Some of them may not be suitable for work.

Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello - "Señorita"

Land in Miami

Before I talk about the first line of the first verse, let's look at some other Shawn Mendes songs.

Shawn Mendes - "If I Can't Have You"

I'm in Toronto and I got this view

Shawn Mendes - "Lost in Japan"

Do you got plans tonight?
I'm a couple hundred miles from Japan, and I
I was thinking I could fly to your hotel tonight

Okay we get it. Shawn Mendes is a successful 21 year-old pop star who gets to travel the world. I'm happy for you Shawn. Really I am. Now, correct the spelling of your first name.



Lizzo - "Truth Hurts"

New man on the Minnesota Vikings

I actually thought that this line was "No man" which would have been quite a shot at Kirk Cousins, Stefon Diggs, and their teammates. Oprah Magazine has a thorough break-down of this entire song, and while there was some debate about whether or not Lizzo is/was dating someone on the Vikings, it appears that she is/was not. Therefore, let's take a look at some other options about the meaning.

Terence Newman played in the NFL for 15 years most notably for the Dallas Cowboys. Now, he's the nickel/defensive backs coach for the...Minnesota Vikings! So yes, (Terence) Newman on the Minnesota Vikings.

Another possibility is that Lizzo is a Vikings fan and does some PR for the team. After every draft pick or free agent signing, she announces "New man on the Minnesota Vikings."

Lizzo may also be involved in player personnel. Perhaps she's trying to recruit Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Kevin Newman to the Vikings, or, no. She couldn't do this. No way. It's not possible!

Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus - "Old Town Road"

Can't nobody tell me nothin'

A triple negative in a 5-word sentence. This is really impressive!



Taylor Swift featured Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco - "Me"

And you can't spell "awesome" without "me"

I actually originally thought that this was "can't spell us without me" which makes no sense at all. So let's take another line from this song.

Hey kids, spelling is fun.

This reminds me of a post I did, um, several years ago where I looked into the Britney Spears song, "3." In that song, counting was fun. Now, spelling is fun. What a world!



Taylor Swift - "Delicate"

Oh damn, never seen that color blue.

This song is a few years old, but this line really jumps out. Apparently, Swift has never been to the paint section of Home Depot or to Sherwin Williams.



Please click here to see other posts where I look at song lyrics. Some of them go back, um, several years.