Today Jordan welcomes Bobby back to the podcast after a short absence and the two engage in a lively discussion about great movies, pop culture, AI, current events and what not.
Some people like to listen to us faster… (We sound smarter.):Change playback speed real time: 1x – 1.25x – 1.5x – 1.75x – 2x
Referenced in the Podcast
- The Other Guys – 2010
- Killers Human
- Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – 2023
- Gamer – 2009
- Speaker for the Dead (Book)
- The Good Place (TV Series)
- True Grit – 2010
- Oh Brother Where Art Thou – 2000
- Fargo – 1996
- Raising Arizona – 1987
- No Country for Old Men – 2007
- The Big Lebowski – 1998
In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.
― Franklin D. Roosevelt
I have not yet been able to listen to this episode, but I was just thinking what if y’all did some episodes reviewing the content of the constitution and or the amendments to the constitution. Specifically taking note on the 12/14 and 16th amendment.
Killers made a whole album about small town Nephi and it’s great https://provomusicmagazine.com/2022/03/24/the-killers-visit-nephi-utah/
My head was about to explode when you were trying to list off Coen brother films and you didn’t (at first) name off the Big Lebowski. Obviously you two are not fans of golf.
If you do a Coen brother marathon, I want to be there with you guys for the showing of The Big Lebowski.
It’s not about golf. You’re thinking of Bill Murray in “The Royal Tenenbaums”
“The guy who kicks the other guy”
“…but long as there are stars above you – it’s kinda high! – you never need to doubt it”
P.S. I’m surprised that neither of you commented on the fact that the LDS Church could have funded US involvement in the Ukraine Russia war using only one of their bank accounts (the one made public).
Jordan, my friend.
While you did jokingly say something to the effect of “one of the things we love to do on this podcast is to ask you for your comments, and then rip you on the show or just disregard everything that you say,” I don’t think that’s what you were trying to do. Regardless, you very much misunderstood (or read too much into) the brief point I made about the lyrics in “Human” by the Killers. If my musical preferences demanded grammatically correct or even coherent song lyrics, would Nirvana be one of my very favorite bands? . . . but I digress.
You made an excellent point about song lyrics and imagery–people can have different interpretations from one another. You even provided an excellent example, as you interpreted the “Are we human or are we dancer?” line differently from Brandon Flowers. The line in the song is based on a quote from Hunter S. Thompson: “America is raising a generation of dancers, afraid to take one step out of line.” In this case, the dancer is looked at disparagingly. Your stated interpretation was that “dancer” is something greater. You embraced the opposing word . . . and that’s OK, since that’s the meaning you instilled within yourself.
I agree that “God Only Knows” by the Beach Boys is a wonderful song. Not to take away from the genius and beauty of the song, I do think that your understanding of the titular lyrical phrase’s history is a bit presuming. This phrase wasn’t the invention of the Beach Boys, nor does it reinvent the rules of grammar as you postulated. This song wasn’t even the first to use this title–The Capris released their debut single “God Only Knows” in 1954, twelve years before the Beach Boys’ song of the same name. The phrase “God only knows” was an idiom (long predating these songs) that meant “it’s impossible to say/know,” similar to alternatives like “heaven only knows.”
My intention isn’t to be “inciteful” (rather, insightful), which is why I decided not to discuss any criticism of “Human,. You did specifically ask for my comment, so I’ll at least respond to the other topics you associate with me.
-Dmitri
PS – I are not dancer. Is you dancer?
PPS – OK, maybe I’ll play a long and fan the flames just a bit with this article. I think you want me to . . . and maybe you “deserve it.” 🙂
The Killers Tops Poll of Weirdest Lyrics with ‘Are we human? Or are we dancer?’
https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-killers-35-1228853
I think you’re probably right about “God only knows” as an idiom being in use prior to 1966 (clearly there is prior art in the 1954 song) but Wilson made certainly made it famous. The documentary I saw made note that they changed the lyrics at some point to this (much?) less well known phrase from “Only God knows.”
I still disagree about Flowers and explain why in podcast 143 (today). I don’t think he was being fully transparent about the meaning. For that matter I think most artist remain guarded about the true meanings of their creations. And there’s some doubt as to the authenticity of the Thompson quote also. See below:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/brandon-flowers-wound-up-over-misquoting-of-killers-human-78756/
https://web.archive.org/web/20090216205826/https://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1598299/20081030/killers_the.jhtml
https://nowordsnosong.medium.com/human-the-killers-678b126468d
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Hunter_S._Thompson#Human_or_dancer
Don’t worry, we lampoon you again on the podcast today!!! We’ll definitely have to get you on for a pop-music bonanza podcast at some point in the future.
Oh … and just because the majority of people don’t understand something …