Greatest American Music: The Scissor Sisters and "Take Your Momma"

At the beginning of the month my family was driving back from our road trip for the summer. It was long, but fun. The length gave us time to catch up on some old podcasts, my kids got to play games, we all played car games and my wife and I, when the kids were resting, listened to older pop music.

Now what I mean by older music I mean from our generation. We grew up on late 90's, but even more so, early to mid 2000's pop. Admittedly, my wife listened to way more than I did. I know all the music but I was, and probably still am if I think about it, a music snob. I always thought that that era of pop music was trash. I listened to jam bands and hip hop. I was a cool dude. Writing that makes me feel pretentious by the way. But when we were making our way through Memphis the song "Take Your Mama" by the Scissor Sisters came on our Spotify station.

My wife and I got very excited. Our eyes blew up. We blasted the song in the car. We both sang along. I sang the chorus because that is the only part I know, but my wife, she was doing the chorus and every verse. Usually I am the one in our relationship that knows all the words to songs, but not this one. My wife was on point. For the next four minutes it was like being blasted back to the early 2010's. That song is so much fun. It is easy and breezy. It is a blast to sing along to and dance along with. Everything about that song just works. We were both so happy to have this song back in our lives. It didn't go anywhere, but we had both forgotten about it until it popped up on the radio. Then we got to talking about the song. We said everything I just wrote. It is a really, really fun song.

We then started to wonder aloud whatever happened to the band. I remember buying their CD when it came out, but I do not know any other song they have ever done besides "Take Your Mama". My wife had the single, she is a big fan of top 40 stuff so it is fitting, but she had no idea when the band became big, why this song was so big or where they were now. I thought about doing research while we were driving but I am sure I was distracted by something on the road or my kids needed me to help with their devices. My research got postponed and then I totally forgot about it. Scissor Sisters and "Take Your Mama" were gone from my memory for the second time.

Last night while doing dishes I put on that same pop station and the song played again. Just like on the road my wife and I were singing and dancing. My kids got to hear it this time and they were grooving with us. My kids are super cool by the way. We all had a blast. Again, those four plus minutes were joyous. Then it was gone again. No more talk of Scissor Sisters. I kept thinking today while out running errands why this band never stuck. I think I finally came across a proper answer. This is my first time with a true one hit wonder type song. Growing up the pop music that was played was crummy, but those bands stuck around. And when I looked at some other one hit wonders, most of them were from the 80's or very early 90's. I was too young to get why 4 Non Blondes were a one hit wonder. Natalie Imbruglia had "Torn", but that was never on my radar. I could've used Gotye here, but his hit was only five years ago, and he had some underground success prior to "Somebody that You Used to Know". Scissor Sisters and "Take Your Mama" is like my generation's Flock of Seagulls or that song "Cars" or "Three Princes". And that is fine. But this band could have been so much more. Just listening to "Take Your Mama" I get B-52's vibes. They do have a very vague Talking Heads sound to me. They are a much better version of Polyphonic Spree. I think they are a better band than The Strokes or Vampire Weekend. They, for some reason, just did not have the staying power. That bums me out.

I will say that listening to this song again yesterday has me wanting to go back and check out their other music, but I am worried it won't be as good. But I am going to listen to some more Scissor Sisters. I will find out if they are as good as I hope they could have been. Time will tell, but we will always have "Take Your Mama". That will never be stricken from their catalog.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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The Greatest American Music: Talking Heads "(Nothing But) Flowers"

As you all know, last year I became enamored with Talking Heads. That has obviously shifted into the new year, and I am still playing plenty of their music at home, in the car and when I go running. By now I have heard every album at least twice. Some I listen to more, others less. The one I listen to the least is "Naked". It, for me, is a very discombobulated album. It is kind of all over the place. One minute it sounds like their classic stuff, then the next song is totally different, and seems like it shouldn't be on the record. It is a strange record

One song, the most famous one on the album by a mile, "(Nothing But) Flowers", that is an amazing song. It is pure Talking Heads, it has great vocals from Byrne, and the band is top notch. I wish the whole album was like this. What I love most about the song is the lyrics. In my many listens recently I have been paying more and more attention to the lyrics, and "(Nothing But) Flowers" has some of the best they've ever written. I also love the message of the song, and it kind of sounds like a place I would like to visit, if only it were real.

The song starts off very simple, ostensibly telling us about Adam and Eve, and how Byrne and the person he is talking about are them in this vision they wrote about. But it shifts pretty quick from so long ago to talking about how cars have no more gasoline. It puts the listener right back into the current world, or the world of the 80's when this song was written. The very next, very short verse is one of my all time favorites. After the Adam and Eve story, and cars being gone, Byrne sings, "there was a factory/now there are mountains and rivers/you got it you got it". I LOVE this ideal. There are far, far too many factories, especially now. Factories seem to go up yearly in the US, and they replace land that was covered with mountains, rivers, trees, grass, wildlife, all of these things and so much more. I kind of wish that there weren't so many factories. I want more mountains and rivers. The next part of the chorus is about them catching a rattlesnake and saying they have something for dinner. Again, the band is going back to ruffage and survival mode. I, again, like this idea. I am not big on hunting, I think it is quite barbaric in fact. But if you have to do it for sustenance, then it makes sense to me. That is what I envision this couple using hunting for. They may not want to, but to survive, they have to. Then we get the best part of the song to me, "there was a shopping mall/now it's all covered with flowers/you got it, you got it". I am seeing shopping malls go down left and right, and if they were covered in flowers, that would be beautiful. Unfortunately we do not get to see what it could grow into because when a mall goes down, they usually build some kind of factory in its place. I prefer the nature idea. Then the song takes a turn in the final part of the chorus. After saying all these things I think are wonderful and cool and would like to see, Byrne sings "if this is paradise/I wish I had a lawnmower/you got it, you got it". I mean, I get that grass needs to be mowed, but I feel like Talking Heads have made up this utopian type of forest life, then bam, they want it gone. I disagree with this, but it is another reason I like this song. The Talking Heads never ceases to amaze me with their writing, and this is a perfect example. They give us this wonderful, idealistic world, at least to me, and then smash it, saying they want it gone.

From here on out the song just gets better and better. In verse two Byrne talks about being an angry young man and pretending he was a billboard on the side of the road. He then tells us he fell in love with a road that used to be real estate which has now shifted to fields and trees. Again, my ideal version of a town. He goes on to say that the town used to be highways and cars, but it is now "sacrificed" for agriculture. He finishes up the second verse with, "I thought we'd start over/but I guess we were wrong". I love this. It is just like the chorus. I get this beautiful picture in my head of a former bustling city being turned into a tree and leaf covered forest. But then Bryne says he just figured they'd make more of the same, but he realizes he was wrong, but he still doesn't want the forest stuff that I do. The second chorus is to the same tune of the first, but it has different mentions. The Pizza Hut's have now all been covered with daisies and the honky tonks, Dairy Queens and 7-Eleven's are now all gone. I think that rules. We don't need all that convenience so easily available. I would like to see less stores and restaurants and more forest and greenery and wildlife. But Byrne almost opines for these things that are now gone. I don't. I think this world they have built up so far sounds awesome. It sounds like a place I want to see.

The band ends the song dreaming of cherry pies, chocolate chip cookies and candy bars. They used to microwave, but now they just eat nuts and berries. The discount store has turned into a cornfield. Again, I would miss these same things for a minute, but I feel like the alternate version they are posing, I could get used to rather quickly, especially the nuts and berries. I would love to do that. The final lyrics are the ultimate turn on this world they created that I love. Byrne sings, to end the song, "don't leave me stranded here/I can't get used to this lifestyle". I, again, disagree. Humans are so adaptable, and I love the world they created. I love the idea of a forest covered landscape, scourging for food, living like people used to in the old days. That sounds idyllic to me.

"(Nothing But) Flowers" is a classic Talking Heads song for a myriad of reasons. Number one for me, the place they have created, the one that Byrne doesn't want to be stranded in, sounds like Utopia to me. That is why I love this song so much. It talks about replacing all the stuff we don't need with stuff that would be so much better, and then the band gets all upset realizing they might have to live in a world like this. I would be stoked, and when I listen, I yearn for a world like the one they made up. It would be rad.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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