Thursday, September 25, 2014

"They May Be Stupid But They Sure Are Fun"

"They may be stupid but they sure are fun" - Todd Rundgren, "We Got to Get You a Woman"

The problem is that a lot of them aren't much fun anymore.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Out in the real world, I was a pop music critic and have been mulling this line over for years -- and discussing it with various Todd fans.

My own conclusion: his "stupid" is not referring to women, but to the "things" he mentions in the previous line.

"Talkin' 'bout things about that special one/
They may be stupid, but they sure are fun."

Meaning, talking about this stuff might ultimately be stupid, but it's fun.

I could be completely wrong here, I'll admit. But Todd wrote a lot of awkward lyrics that leave themselves open to misinterpretation like Nazz's "How Can You Call That Beautiful?" "Be Nice to Me," and "Useless Begging," where he seems to reference the poet Rumi, but is actually referring to "Ruby," as in Ruby and the Romantics, who sang "Our Day Will Come," which he quotes.

However, if the "stupid" is referring to women, fine, because it makes up for the zillion whiny "I miss you" songs that Todd crammed all of his other records with -- his magnum opus "Something/Anything" being the biggest offender.

For a really politically incorrect Rundgren tune, check "Marlene" from the aforementioned LP -- a scenario about dating an underage girl apparently drawn from his real life. Or the nasty "Heavy Metal Kids" from "Todd," which I believe was the basis for the Beastie Boys' "Fight for Your Right (To Party)."

-- Days of Broken Arrows


Anonymous said...

You're dead on about most of them not being fun anymore. I'll admit, my definitions of 'fun' are likely archaic and useless to many. But damnit, at some level, fun is fun. And I run across very few women who know what fun is, aside from their own predispositions that now dictate that 'fun' must also include staring down at their media device. Or taking pictures with that media device. Or simply ignoring you with that media device.

When fun happens across their path, they miss it.

It's no new phrase to say, "that's just the kind of thing only men/women really enjoy" but these days, what's considered fun across the aisle comes down to seemingly one thing: sex. It seems to be the only way in which so many can conceive of having genuine fun with the opposite sex. No wonder women aren't fun anymore---not only have they forgotten how, men have forgotten how as well, thanks to spending all THEIR time attempting to figure out what's fun for HER.

Black Poison Soul said...

Yeah, just do what's fun for yourself. She can do what she wants.