Great post! Covered all the bases from touching and reflective and memorable to LMAO at “demand for 50 percent of the royalties”. Thanks for all of it!!
Thanks, Michael! Maybe Dylan wouldn't have used the word "demand," but it adds a little drama to include it here!:) I think the two of them were friendly so it may have been a decision that included lawyers too. This is what Wikipedia says about it:
"The structure of the lyrics in this song was similar enough to a Bob Dylan song of the same title that, after its completion, the song was then sent to Dylan, asking whether he had a problem with it. The two men agreed to participate in the ownership of the song and share Stewart's royalties."
I didn’t know about the Dylan version so thank you for enlightening me. . Alphaville’s version is 80s growing up and my older siblings. I must have listened or first heard around my sister. Rod Stewart’s version is teenage years and feeling immortal. I definitely had a cassette. I don’t like the sound of the Dylan one but he’s a poet, can’t deny that. Any pet dying commercial I can’t do. It’s forever put me off any Sarah McLachlan songs too even though I effing loved her in my teen / Lilith fair years. Too many mcpsa commercials
Yes! I cannot stand those commercials with Sarah McLachlan. I can never listen to her again because of it. I do think she has a great sense of humor about those maudlin ads though...
Feb 18, 2023·edited Feb 18, 2023Liked by Steve Goldberg
She definitely did. And her pixie hair was perfection. Anywho, my son can’t watch animal suffering on any media. It’s why Banshees of Inisherin won’t be watched in those house more than by my husband and I. Tbh I think that’s the dealbreaker of the friendship.
What's the dealbreaker of the friendship? I don't know the age of your son, but I'm pretty sure I would not have liked that film if I was younger than 25. I was a dumbass until that age though. Thought Banshees was brilliant. I could handle the donkey scene but if the dog got hurt or killed that would have ruined it for me (and for its chances at awards too, I think).
Interesting take, as it was Colm who ended the friendship, based on dubious and seemingly petty reasons. I don't think Colm was wanting to rekindle at the end but there was a truce of sorts. I think Padraic would eventually come to see the choking on finger as unintentional. Though, as the story was a metaphor for the war, a war that no one really understood what they were fighting over, it's kind of beside the point what would happen next. The backdrop was the war ending in a truce as well.
Colm definitely wasn't looking to rekindle but I wanted Padraic to be like, "NO, I'm done with YOU!" - In my angsty rage for how a grown person can wake up one day and basically cancel a friendship on an island that has like 20 people. Not a whole lot of options there and I guess "nice" wasn't cutting it for Colm but still, seemed pretty shallow. He longed to be intellectually and artistically challenged and met. My favorite scene was the bar confrontation with a drunk Padraic putting Colm in his place. The metaphor for the war is there, though its concrete feeling on the island latent, in contrast to the civil unrest on the mainland. How did we divert to this film??? Trying to tie it back to assisted living, Forever Young, and animal love. Ok, animal love. There ya go.
Holy shit, Steve, you've outdone yourself. Funny, moving, sad...great piece. It's not at all off base to relate your experiences with pets to readying you to take care of a person. It's a well-known truth that the way people treat animals is a pretty good indicator of how they will treat other people. Re. the music: Great that these are such different songs, and not at all conventional. I won't nominate other songs but there have been quite a few with this or almost the same title. But I think you picked the best ones.
Thanks, Charles! It's likely I first heard these three in chronological order, but it's always been the Rod Stewart version that comes to mind first -- probably the damn video with him holding the kid the whole time that hit the emotional earworm button for me. The Alphaville would have been during my high school years, right when I was a new wave junkie, so that holds great sway. And I was super late to the Dylan train -- I have always preferred his Daniel Lanois produced albums (Oh Mercy, etc.). I do appreciate his earlier stuff a lot now, but still tend to lean to his '90s stuff.
And I agree about how people treat animals says a lot about their people treating habits.
Maybe because of when it was (for me New Wave was hitting just post college) the Alphaville has the most emotional impact for me. I have to dig more into Dylan--I'm most familiar with his early stuff and with the Traveling Wilburys. Again, great column.
I saw that commercial as it aired and BAWLED. Our Big Dog is 12 and definitely toward the end. 😭
Oof. I was NOT ready for that commercial this morning!
It’s better to get it over with first thing….;)
Great post! Covered all the bases from touching and reflective and memorable to LMAO at “demand for 50 percent of the royalties”. Thanks for all of it!!
Thanks, Michael! Maybe Dylan wouldn't have used the word "demand," but it adds a little drama to include it here!:) I think the two of them were friendly so it may have been a decision that included lawyers too. This is what Wikipedia says about it:
"The structure of the lyrics in this song was similar enough to a Bob Dylan song of the same title that, after its completion, the song was then sent to Dylan, asking whether he had a problem with it. The two men agreed to participate in the ownership of the song and share Stewart's royalties."
Yep, I smell lawyers in the room....
I didn’t know about the Dylan version so thank you for enlightening me. . Alphaville’s version is 80s growing up and my older siblings. I must have listened or first heard around my sister. Rod Stewart’s version is teenage years and feeling immortal. I definitely had a cassette. I don’t like the sound of the Dylan one but he’s a poet, can’t deny that. Any pet dying commercial I can’t do. It’s forever put me off any Sarah McLachlan songs too even though I effing loved her in my teen / Lilith fair years. Too many mcpsa commercials
Yes! I cannot stand those commercials with Sarah McLachlan. I can never listen to her again because of it. I do think she has a great sense of humor about those maudlin ads though...
She definitely did. And her pixie hair was perfection. Anywho, my son can’t watch animal suffering on any media. It’s why Banshees of Inisherin won’t be watched in those house more than by my husband and I. Tbh I think that’s the dealbreaker of the friendship.
What's the dealbreaker of the friendship? I don't know the age of your son, but I'm pretty sure I would not have liked that film if I was younger than 25. I was a dumbass until that age though. Thought Banshees was brilliant. I could handle the donkey scene but if the dog got hurt or killed that would have ruined it for me (and for its chances at awards too, I think).
The dealbreaker means it would be hard for Padraic to forgive Colm in the film. Agreed if the dog had died it would have been a point of no return.
Interesting take, as it was Colm who ended the friendship, based on dubious and seemingly petty reasons. I don't think Colm was wanting to rekindle at the end but there was a truce of sorts. I think Padraic would eventually come to see the choking on finger as unintentional. Though, as the story was a metaphor for the war, a war that no one really understood what they were fighting over, it's kind of beside the point what would happen next. The backdrop was the war ending in a truce as well.
Colm definitely wasn't looking to rekindle but I wanted Padraic to be like, "NO, I'm done with YOU!" - In my angsty rage for how a grown person can wake up one day and basically cancel a friendship on an island that has like 20 people. Not a whole lot of options there and I guess "nice" wasn't cutting it for Colm but still, seemed pretty shallow. He longed to be intellectually and artistically challenged and met. My favorite scene was the bar confrontation with a drunk Padraic putting Colm in his place. The metaphor for the war is there, though its concrete feeling on the island latent, in contrast to the civil unrest on the mainland. How did we divert to this film??? Trying to tie it back to assisted living, Forever Young, and animal love. Ok, animal love. There ya go.
Holy shit, Steve, you've outdone yourself. Funny, moving, sad...great piece. It's not at all off base to relate your experiences with pets to readying you to take care of a person. It's a well-known truth that the way people treat animals is a pretty good indicator of how they will treat other people. Re. the music: Great that these are such different songs, and not at all conventional. I won't nominate other songs but there have been quite a few with this or almost the same title. But I think you picked the best ones.
Thanks, Charles! It's likely I first heard these three in chronological order, but it's always been the Rod Stewart version that comes to mind first -- probably the damn video with him holding the kid the whole time that hit the emotional earworm button for me. The Alphaville would have been during my high school years, right when I was a new wave junkie, so that holds great sway. And I was super late to the Dylan train -- I have always preferred his Daniel Lanois produced albums (Oh Mercy, etc.). I do appreciate his earlier stuff a lot now, but still tend to lean to his '90s stuff.
And I agree about how people treat animals says a lot about their people treating habits.
Maybe because of when it was (for me New Wave was hitting just post college) the Alphaville has the most emotional impact for me. I have to dig more into Dylan--I'm most familiar with his early stuff and with the Traveling Wilburys. Again, great column.