Is It Alright to Sing Cussing Songs?
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It is never-on-the-line hateful to hear someone say ‘fu** you’ when times need nothing like it. Hearing it from the radio is no better as well, but, when the jive is a crazy driver, why not?
Miraculously and rarely observed though is to have pop music show us from time to time a different set of wordings. When something very cussy hits the ground —stay away is what humans do. However, Cee Lo Green’s heavenly hit “Fu** You” shove the boards late-summer of 2010, and it created a direct and forceful momentum that drove people downtown. It became a word-of-mouth for most because although the title, some parts of chorus and several other key lyrics and phrases could not be aired on the radio, MTV or Billboard Hotkeys, the loose-like tune pushed the boundaries guiding the popularity syndrome. A Glee cover by Gwyneth Paltrow, a William Shatner rendition and several other YouTube covers twirled it swirling like a painful tornado. Even when it was settled —like totally cannily expurgated — to an extent as to entitle it “Forget You”, which was absolutely far away from what it instantaneously meant., it did not turn out to be a single bump that easily faded away from people’s recent memory. It might have even happened that the song’s sly subversion, which obviously constitute a censor-worthy language — cleaned-up chorus, definitely shout-able title, and an acceptable meaning, existed only for people who think that it was better not to belt the always awaited and addictive actual title.
Musical critiques might have viewed it as an eerie logistics towards an unguarded future of careless and bad-mouthed youth, but it was never the case as the relevance of “Fu** You”, frisky might it be, need not stow away from the greatness of its meaning. They were right to jump onto the similarities and contradictions between songs similar to the previous years of facade perfection. However, the novelty feel and appeal that cracked “Fu** You” open to the wise public turned an ode to a legend. It was never all about the critiques. Never did it happen like that. Fizz-up, touchdowns and a Motown-inspired piano introduction giggly pulled people toward the song, plus, never missing the more important and stylistic way of sensation of “
As a dedication to a ‘girl-friend’ making out with a stranger — to the boyfriend — the song was constructed out of non-stop hooks and was probably the best of its kind. How Cee Lo uttered the words was not gang-like as to make it a plate of palatable nonsense show-offs, but was cuddly enough as to mask turmoil behind humorous taunts. When one mixes the lyrics, the soul and the singer— one gets a perfect killing machine. Not in a bad way, but in a way that attractively effeminates a manly robot.
Clearly and definitely, it was a win-win situation because first, if one tries asking anyone to eradicate the itchy feeling of wanting to say the words that are not meant to be said, it is like asking Marilyn Monroe to become a virtuous model or asking Taylor Swift to sing songs that are not about her boyfriends. It is simply strenuous.
As much as this song represents the cultural and modern pop music era’s attempts at taking risks, it remains a concrete example and just as much as an instance of a song cornering into the popular zeitgeist as just about any other songs in the Billboards and MTVs. Undoubtedly, Cee Lo has turned himself into a note on the list of those included in the post-millenial’s prevailing trends. His seamless pastiche of soul colored with RnB, which sounds like a part of a joke Cee Lo is trying to hilariously portray is inevitably useful as art. Top it all off with the soulful voice of his that melts the jukebox guided by a brilliant 50’s-styled honky-tonk piano production, as if revealing the sentiments of the heartbroken that lived decades ago in a box of stuffed toys.
The song might have sounded like it was sold solely as a gimmick upper, according to the artist, or just because it contained unnecessary profanity—- but boy, was it not. Listeners might have already hated Cee Lo for doing such, but had it not gracefully reciprocated as an airwave, they might really have had. Profanity was its main selling point — and, it was sold.
The single might have been awesome but as much as brilliance is needed, the drape per se was a narrow-eyed classic synonymous to the stagger of the much less listened. Even in 2010, the whole package of Cee Lo’s album “The Lady Killer”, came to be a trouble of a listen. The artist might have described this as his return shot at his downward flow but this momentum was stronger as the overall was not as good. As a clincher, “The Lady Killer” might have been an ambitious crawl to authenticity and wherein “Fu** You” had not existed together with “Bright Lights, Bigger City” (musically readied tune for synth bars), it would’ve become a complete fade-away. Nevertheless, Cee Lo did a great job at mobilizing his capabilities such that they make a change in this seemingly crooning world.
It has been a long way around, times may have changed, and together with these comes along the thinking that music must have constantly changed as well. It might just be the case. Decades ago, music was for giving praise, worshipping, virtuous cymbals and non-satirical art, but who would have thought that a 360-degree turn around has been achieved now. Crystal clear profanity and cussing are ignored like they must necessarily happen in the scenarios that must be seen all over. However, although the songs like Cee Lo’s give the chance to speak this, it must not be forgotten that the words in those are words that were not meant to be said, casually may be, decades ago.
