Tuesday 21 November 2017

100 Awesome Things - Part 31 - From the Vault 2013

Another 100 Awesome Things piece from 2013...
~~~~2013~~~

I've been listening to plenty of  music since my last foray into the world of 100 Awesome Things, but any free time for writing has largely been consumed by editing the manuscript of Walking in the Shadowlands or watching awesome TV shows on Netflix (For the record; Battlestar Galactica, House of Cards (both the UK original and the US remake, both fab), Castle and some other stuff that escapes me right now).

Today that all changes. I'm not going to write at length about today's choice because I'm not sure it's for me to do so. I will just sat that I think Janelle Monae is one of the most interesting, thoughtful and progressive artists at work right now. It's not for me to analyse or judge what she's doing and the reasons why - I'm not qualified to do so, but there are lots of people online speaking and writing thoughtfully and incisively about what it is to be a black woman existing in music. Janelle is one of them, actually. Search. Read. Learn. Understand a little more of what it is to be different to oneself.

I will include some interesting and useful links though:
"Janelle Monae Says "Q.U.E.E.N." is for the ostracised and the marginalised."
Janelle and Erykah perform the song at the BET Awards

I will say this: it's been a very, very long time since an artist has grabbed me as completely as Monae. I spent a long night doing nothing but listening to her tracks online - longtime readers know I do this from time to time and it has to be for someone worthy...

I will also say this: there are few songs recently that have gotten me dancing down the street like this one. I love it so much, but I find myself hesitant to sing along as I normally would because - thought its intentions are not exclusionary - this song is not for me. I am weird but I'm not ostracised. I'm an oddball who doesn't fit in most of the time, and I've felt pain over that, but I'm not truly marginalised. I love the song for the reminder of that, but also for the uplifting message of 'do your thing and apologise to no one' which I already try to live by.

I keep meaning to head over to HMV to buy the album. My hesitation to do so has nothing to do with her brilliance and everything to do with my laziness (it's all of a ten-minute walk there and back...) and financial situation.

Janelle, you are one fierce, brilliant human being and I can't wait to hear what you do next. Like a dear friend of mine posted, I look forward to seeing a Cindi Mayweather movie, but I won't hold my breath because apparently nobody wants movies about women, let alone black women. Despite the box office statistics for Mamma Mia or any of the other stats which prove that women go to the movies too and that a lot of us don't feel we need to be the same colour as the people in the movie to enjoy it... so Hollywood, get going.

And finally, the video (which is itself beautiful, complex and clever):



Listen. Watch. Love.

C 2013.
100 Awesome Musical Things

Part Two - Octopus Jig - The Dubliners
Part Three - Got To Give It Up - Marvin Gaye
Part Four - Who Cares What The Question Is? - The Bees
Part Five - Doctor Who Cold Open - Craig Ferguson
Part Six - Monster Mash - The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
Part Seven -Don't Believe A Word - Thin Lizzy
Part Eight -These Are The Days of Our Lives - Queen
Part Nine - Who Do You Love? - The Doors
Part Ten - The Mooche - The Duke Ellington Orchestra
Part Eleven - I'm Happy Just To Dance With You - The Beatles
Part Twelve - Rabbit - Chas n Dave
Part Thirteen - The Ballad of the Woggler's Moulie - Rambling Syd Rumpo
Part Fourteen - I Found a Dream - Marilyn Monroe
Part Fifteen - FBI - The Shadows
Part Sixteen - A Million Miles Away - Rory Gallagher
Part Seventeen - Mr Cole Won't Rock and Roll - Nat King Cole
Part Eighteen - The Boys Are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy
Part Nineteen - Rock Me Baby - Willie Mae Thornton
Part Twenty - Paint It, Black - The Rolling Stones
Part Twenty-One - The Ghost Song - The Doors

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