Favorite Song Tourney Matchup #16 Shop Vac vs. That Spells DNA

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Comments

  • BryBry
    edited January 2009
    Angelastic (re: your last post, I mean) : The idea, I guess, is, "Hey, this is awesome! Wait, this is a tedious chore. When did I start thinking chores are awesome?" I get the same way -- not about chores, usually, but I do stupid things and enjoy them, then in the middle of them I wake up and realize: "Wait, this is stupid, how come I'm enjoying it?" I envy anyone who can have that realization happen and continue to enjoy whatever he or she is doing.

    Recall that JoCo has a history of thinking electronic "toys" are awesome (from miniature remote-control aircraft to Zendrums and Tenoris-on), and so an immensely powerful vacuum cleaner would appeal to him on that level. I can picture him (by the way, I imagine he's got some form of ladder / stair / fire escape that leads onto the flat roof of his building, and he's got an extension cord connected to his portable Shop-Vac), blithely cleaning out leaves from the gutter, and then realizing that he's got this awesomely powerful vacuum that can pick up solids or even liquids, and he could use it for anything, really, but he's using it for this chore, and then thinking, "Wait a minute, this sucks."

    And it's not just moving to the suburbs, it's the entire adoption of his lifestyle (and here I'll shift from talking about JoCo's rooftop anecdote to talking about "Shop Vac" guy). The move to the suburbs (and assumption, in the "taking up" sense, of paraphernalia associated with suburbia) is pretty much just the external signifier of the fact that he's moved out of free-and-easy bachelorhood into "adult life" with its responsibilities.

    Besides "You Ruined Everything", which as Angelastic mentions takes that theme in a different direction, compare also "Brookline" (with its list of "things that I do now that I've been imprisoned in the suburbs"), "Camp Bachelor Alma Mater", etc.
  • I was talking to my friend who just graduated from college and is on the job hunt, and he lives in what would be considered suburbia. He recognizes that it's a great place to live if you have/want to have a family and a good sized house and a dog and kids and whatnot, but that it's a terrible place to live when you're 23 and just out of college. There is nothing to do there for fun (probably hyperbole on his part, as I just found out there's an Edward Hopper museum near there. Nighthawks ftw, but that's beside the point.) and all his HS friends have work or relationships. He doesn't enjoy the bar scene, and his situation living there was comparable to Shop Vac's idea of just going to strip malls and eating at Applebee's. I get that the song is describing a wholly different situation, but it rang true.

    I'd also like to add that while I think I want Shop Vac to win (I was undecided until I saw all the deluge of posts for That Spells DNA, then I was compelled to support Shop Vac) I wouldn't be terribly upset if That Spells DNA won. Maybe I want Shop Vac to lose so I don't have to think about it and get depressed. I just went and compared the two songs and one is upbeat and depressing which technically makes it more depressing, while the other is just depressing.
  • edited January 2009
    All this talk about suburban angst and the mechanisms underpinning biological heredity are missing the bigger picture: Musically speaking, Shop Vac is a vastly better song than That Spells DNA.

    Shop Vac kicks off with the peppy 2-bar intro -- a simple phrase that will later be echoed by the background vocals during the chorus. These eight beats set the tone for the entire piece. The verse that follows jumps in on the V chord, which is a little unexpected from a Coulton composition. A steady, purposeful rhythm carries you through the verse... V, I, V, I... then builds with a familiar V, #vo, vi progression, before pausing on a suspended #vi that just aches to be resolved (Edit: it's probably more like V, III7, vi, I7/bVII, per this discussion). The next two bars mellow out with a IVmaj7, which resolves to the minor-7th chord (a signature Coulton maneuver). The build into the chorus is nothing short of brilliant. The bass and guitar parts walk along the inspired I, III7, vi, IV progression while the melody weaves a perfectly balanced phrase around the instrumentation. The final build into the chorus recalls the augmented chord used earlier in the verse, and the entire package is wrapped up with a tidy ii7, V7.

    The chorus that follows is pure pop bliss. The simplicity of the chord structure gives the layered vocals room to flourish, while the syncopated clapping punctuates each four-note phrase. Notice how the background vocals build a bridge between the two halves of the chorus. The second half reaches its satisfying coda with a fun little hop to the IV just before finally coming to rest on the I. After four beats you're right back into the driving rhythm of the V chord as the second verse takes off.

    After the second chorus, you get to the bridge. We kick it off on the #V (yet another Coulton signature). I've always felt that the chorus sounded a bit thin. There's a little bit of empty space between the bass frequencies and the guitar appregio. And if I had one complaint about the song's structure over all, it would be that the bridge could be twice as long.

    That structural gripe aside, the rest of the song is exquisitely constructed. In fact, Shop Vac is a masterpiece of power pop ennui, and it deserves your vote.
  • I think much of the point of "Shop Vac," based especially on the chorus beating the issue to death, is the dysfunctional relationship between the narrator and his wife, assuming the gender stereotypes can be taken at face value. I suspect that they had previously been somewhat emotionally distant from each other, and the added space that suburbia afforded allowed them to translate that emotional distance to physical distance, resulting in further emotional distance, lather, rinse, repeat. All that space just helps them to drift further and further apart. It's like the breakfast table sequence in "Citizen Kane."

    Independent of the relationship aspects, life in the suburbs has other noted disadvantages. As someone who has done quite a bit of shoveling this winter, I can assure you that a driveway is a royal pain in the neck. The freeway and the difficulty in turning left reflect the frustrations of longer commutes. The Applebees and Starbucks references draw attention to the cookie-cutter nature of suburbs; there's no character or uniqueness to the community.

    To top it off, the swingset reference clearly implies that, shall we say, everything has been ruined, which doesn't necessarily help matters.
  • Thanks for all the explanations of Shop Vac, and thanks SpaceParanoids for reminding me that even before all those excellent explanations, Shop Vac at least meant more to me than music theory jargon.

    My computer's in a narcoleptic mood, and frankly I'm feeling rather sleepy myself, so I won't reply to everything. But there are two things in particular that I'd never even thought of before, which change the songs even on the surface level:
    shop vac is looking at the suburban family post-kid, where you have the couple whose relationship and lives have been dominated by the kids until all of a sudden that prop was kicked out from under them, and now they're sort of in free fall.
    I never realised it was post-kid, I assumed they still had the kids. It certainly makes sense as a post-kid family. Is this how other people interpret it?
    Besides "You Ruined Everything", which as Angelastic mentions takes that theme in a different direction, compare also "Brookline" (with its list of "things that I do now that I've been imprisoned in the suburbs"), etc.
    I never thought of it as "things that I do now that I've been imprisoned in the suburbs". I thought of it as "things that I do now that I've been imprisoned in Brookline." Brookline, though it may well be a suburb, is this creepy, insular place where these things happen. Is it supposed to be a representative of all suburbs? He sure seemed to be saying that there was something peculiar about Brookline in particular when he played it in Brookline. He has a complex about it. I sure hope other suburbs aren't like that.
  • It certainly makes sense as a post-kid family. Is this how other people interpret it?
    "...waiting for the day when all the kids grow up and leave us here..."

    I don't see how it could be post-kid, am I missing something?
  • Why do they need a swing set if the kids have left? No, it's clearly implied that they moved there with at least one kid. Jmonkee's point is equally valid.

    Having lived in Brookline, I would say that Brookline is a very special suburb. I can go into greater detail if you like.
  • edited January 2009
    He sure seemed to be saying that there was something peculiar about Brookline in particular when he played it in Brookline. He has a complex about it. I sure hope other suburbs aren't like that.
    The narrorator wasn't a suburbanite until he was taken in by Brookline. Brookline made him into one. The difference in Shop Vac is that the narrorator already was one.
    "...waiting for the day when all the kids grow up and leave us here..."

    I don't see how it could be post-kid, am I missing something?
    They start off moving there at the beginning of the song, the children leave by the end?... meh.
  • BryBry
    edited January 2009
    No, you're right, "Brookline" the song wouldn't have worked with just any suburb. My point, which I kinda mumbled through, should've been that "Brookline" is similar in that the narrator gets trapped not only in a place but in a seemingly-idyllic lifestyle he doesn't really want to be in, which seems to have gradually and insiduously sneaked up on him, and it's reflected by minor but telling details about his day-to-day life.

    (Also note that between Angelastic's copying my comment and posting hers, I edited mine to add "Camp Bachelor Alma Mater" as another point of comparison.)

    Just to say I really enjoyed SpaceParanoids's post, jargon and all, and I'm interested in taking it into a music theory discussion, which I'll start shortly. I'll edit this post with a redirect in a moment.

    ETA: Here's the new thread, "Music theory and the JoCoeuvre".
  • It's reassuring that other people also think the kids are still there, I thought I'd completely misinterpreted it (not that I interpreted it much anyway, since I admitted not understanding it.) But wen three08 mentioned it was post-kid, I thought maybe they were mentioning the swingset etc. to set the scene ('we moved here to raise the kids') but that the song was actually set years later, which would further explain why they're not happy there any more, since the suburban dream is only a dream for raising a family. So it kind of works both ways.
  • If enough time had passed for the kids to actually "grow up and leave us here" (which I read as a distant future event), we'd here more commentary on aging. I take the "kids grow up and leave us here" as a hint that the kids are the only thing nominally holding the marriage together. This reading may be influenced by personal experience; my parents split up less than two months after I left for college.
  • I wouldnt say so much holding the marriage together as the narrarator feels that is the only thing they are living for at the moment. It's the whole reason they moved out to the burbs after all. The irony being when the kids grow up and leave you is when you get your life back but to old to do anything with it.
  • Re handclaps:
    Huh, I had honestly never noticed those before. Shows how unimportant they are :P
    My main thing against handclaps in Shop Vac is, admittedly, the delusion one or two forum members have that it has been handclapped-to when playe live. As we all know, that's patently nonsense :P

    Re Shop Vac:
    I'm still not voting for it. Even though I voted for it last time (with good reason!)
  • DNA is a fun song, but I've always felt that it makes a jarring leap in the lyrics. I get that if you have certain DNA, you'd better not eat shrimp or nuts, but the song plainly states that "it's a spiraling staircase and you're nothing but dead at the bottom", as if your DNA is what's going to kill you. Whether or not that's true, it doesn't fit well with the opening lines about the father and mother meeting, which I like quite a bit. I know he wrote those songs under a really tight deadline, but I've always felt like if he'd had more time, DNA could have told a more cohesive story.

    Shop Vac tells a highly cohesive story, and although I agree that the "suburban angst" thing has been done to death, and doesn't even make much sense to people like me who enjoy living in the suburbs, I think it's a better song.

    Shop Vac FTW.
  • Just as an aside (it was Spiff's post that made me think it...
    I'm sure I saw a year or so ago, that it actually *is* the fact that our DNA starts to unravel that leads to "death by old age"...
    (Basically the aging process...)
  • But if it's so obvious that living the American Suburban Dream causes [actually, I don't really see the causal connection, apart from that you have a roof to vacuum. Well, I guess kids are a major part of it, but we have a much better song about that] such angst, then why does the dream persist?
    Because lots and lots of people are shallow and not introspective, and for them, this is a perfectly acceptable, if not desirable, lifestyle. This song is a relative of Talking Heads's "Once in Lifetime," where the protagonist wakes up from sleepwalking through his life: "And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile / And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife / And you may ask yourself-well...how did I get here?" It's the classic mid-life trope. What the hell happened to me? It speaks to how the little decisions that we make throughout our lives can lead us away from those things that we wanted to pursue when we were young. It's a song of regret. And Angelastic must be very lucky indeed if she can't yet relate to that. :-)

    As I was driving the three hours home form central CA today, I got to thinking that a gender-bent version of Shop Vac could be very interesting. Mostly the same lyrics, but with the narrator switched, some of the lines become even more heartbreaking. "When I need you / You are downstairs / With the Shop Vac ...."
  • This song is a relative of Talking Heads's "Once in Lifetime,"
    Yes! I'm reminded of that song, too!
  • As I was driving the three hours home form central CA today, I got to thinking that a gender-bent version of Shop Vac could be very interesting. Mostly the same lyrics, but with the narrator switched, some of the lines become even more heartbreaking. "When I need you / You are downstairs / With the Shop Vac ...."
    record it record it record it! ;)
  • edited January 2009
    Yes, record it!
    It speaks to how the little decisions that we make throughout our lives can lead us away from those things that we wanted to pursue when we were young. It's a song of regret. And Angelastic must be very lucky indeed if she can't yet relate to that. :-)
    Not lucky. Just young. Or am I? Oh no, I'm getting old and haven't made any obviously bad decisions yet... I have wasted my youth!

    Well, you can always steer back towards the things you wanted to pursue. JoCo did it. I mean, it was too late for the whole suburbia thing but at least he became a rock star.

    ETA: I regret not learning music theory. Well, I did work through my sister's 'Master Your Theory' books when I was too young to do multiplication properly, and from that I learnt the difference between quavers, crotchets, minims and whole notes, which I think I've partially forgotten. But that wasn't enough to understand the conversations here.
  • I forgot to respond to this:
    and even today i could easily imagine someone who's never heard of fountains of wayne and hasn't seen the sopranos and doesn't really hear that message very much.
    I've never seen The Sopranos, and I've only heard of Fountains of Wayne in the context of 'Fountains of Wayne hand claps during Shop Vac'. So now I'm intrigued.
  • Fountains of Wayne, best known for the huge hit single "Stacy's Mom", is the band that JoCo specifically cites as the inspiration for Shop Vac:
    This is me doing Fountains of Wayne - you know, funny tragic suburban angst power pop ennui, etc. I started recording this one before it was written, which is something I never do. But I knew I was going to do hand claps in the chorus and I couldn’t wait. I came up with the chorus when I was actually using a shop vac (which is awesome by the way, it sucks up everything).
    I've shared 3 songs here -- two FoW originals (Utopia Parkway and Bright Future in Sales, language advisory on the latter IIRC) and Robbie Fulks's classic parody, which does make reference to both music theory jargon and songs that you've probably never heard, but if you ignore those there's probably still something amusing. The two originals aren't meant as a representative sample -- just trying to pick songs heavy on the "suburban angst power pop ennui".
  • Well, you can always steer back towards the things you wanted to pursue.
    Not always. Or at least, sometimes it's very difficult, which is why people can feel trapped in their suburban lives. Life planning for one is much easier than for two or more.
  • edited January 2009
    Well, the JoCo example involved two and more, but I didn't say it was easy. Obviously it's nowhere near as easy as going in the right direction in the first place.
  • Obviously it's nowhere near as easy as going in the right direction in the first place.
    Yes. Would that all of us were perfect enough to do this. ;-)
  • Or that the direction didn't change as you did, based on where your journey took you....
  • Wow, a lot of discussion on this one in just three days.
    Time to put the discussion into action!
    Vote!
  • Based on sheer number of plays, I have to vote for Shop Vac.
  • Covenant, you better vote for the Vac after all of the trouble you caused... (jk)

    ...DNA can't you see? Your just not the one for me...
  • I caused no trouble.. I merely took a suggestion, put it into rhyme...and sparked debate !

    ;' )

    And I'm still waiting for decent offers vote-wise BTW !!
  • Wait, if you desire/enjoy suburban life than you are, by default, shallow and/or lack the ability to think about your station in life? Really? That's what this debate is turning into, an offensive against the suburban lifestyle? I don't live in one, but I sure think of the safety of those in my family who do and it compares very favorably against mine, and I live in a medium-sized city. A suburb to me is a place where you have a decent-sized home, people live in their houses for longer periods of time, creating neighborhood stability, and your kids can ride their bikes and play on the sidewalk without the specter of imminent death driving by non-stop (I live on a three-street corner). My family members don't live a few blocks away from gas stations that get robbed, or by apartment complexes that have parties and police throughout the year (which is not to say I do live as such, but rather for point of argument).

    One of the reasons I voted for "That Spells DNA" is because suburban angst is specifcally when someone does what they think they should without realizing they never wanted it. I have no pity for someone who realizes they're not living the life they want, especially in the Western world, where opportunity is everywhere.
  • I think what people are saying is that if you desire that suburban life simply because it has been advertised to you and it actually turns out not to be very suitable for you, then you are shallow and/or lack the ability to think about your station in life. If you actually enjoy suburban life, then perhaps you are there because you thought about it and knew it was what you wanted before you went there, so you're not necessarily shallow.

    Covenant: Had you even heard of a Shop Vac before hearing that song? Probably not. Vote DNA and I'll give you a photograph of a chocolate fish. No wait... a photograph of a 50p coin (I should probably check that I have one before promising this, but there's a cute little teddy bear sitting in the snow outside looking distressed, and it really needs its picture taken. I'd rescue it, but I'm not one to tamper with wildlife.)
  • I still have no Idea what Shop Vac is.
    (I assume its a form of vacuum cleaner.)
    Would the UK equivalent be "It's loud with the Dyson on!" ??
    Or the Hoover!? ;' )
  • only if you do as suggested earlier and gender reverse the roles.
    I know i'm going to get lambasted for this...
  • Joe Lambasted???
  • edited February 2009
    FYI here are some more appropriate UK equivalents i guess.
  • BryBry
    edited February 2009
    Covenant et al: It's a tremendously powerful wet-dry vacuum (powerful enough to clean up liquids). (The brand name has a hyphen in it, by the way.) I've already linked to the Google Image Search results for Shop-Vac; to save you the trouble of clicking, here's the first result:
    Shop-Vac

    JonathanL: I disagree with the premise of your post but I don't like the post I wrote, so I'll rewrite it and repost shortly.

    (edited to address the person who actually posted, thanks Shruti)
  • (JoAnn = JonathanL?)
  • BryBry
    edited February 2009
    whoops! Confusingly enough, I'm pretty sure I mistook JonathanL for JoAnn because of their respective user icons, even though they're not really that much alike.

    ETA: Also I don't like the way I made my points, so I'll delete and repost.
  • edited February 2009
    @Covenant: I proved Lex wrong on an insignificant point. What else do you want?

    @Bry: Has JoAnn even posted in this thread?

    Edit: JoAnn has, but it was like half of the way down the second page, in response to the rhyming.
  • @Covenant: I proved Lex wrong on an insignificant point. What else do you want?
    ;' )

    I thought it was obvious...

    I want someone to buy my vote !!

    ;' )
  • I didn't think you would accept USD.
  • ;' )
    At this exchange rate I'd gladly accept USD.
    I've had $80 sitting in my house for a while... used to be worth around £40... worth around, what, £55 now??

    But anyway.. I'd ALSO accept goods and services!

    ;' )
  • I'll make sure you are the first to know when I eventually get around to cutting up my recordings of JoCo in London and Paul and Storm in Manchester if you vote for DNA (that on top of the photograph of the 50p coin.) Also, if you'd like a photograph of a cute little teddy bear sitting in the snow outside looking distressed, I could provide that.

    But how can you prove you voted? How do we know you haven't already voted?
  • I have to admit, this one is a lot closer than I thought it would be.
  • 15ish people haven't voted yet... :/
  • @Angela...
    I'd quite like to see a photo of the NEW 50p piece (the 'flag' series)
    But I also don't want to see it till I find one!! (Oooo the humanity!!)

    How do you know? Because I would say!
    (My word is my bond....Brooke Bond....)
  • Covenant: This should be easy, then. When you find one (and only after you find one) send me a new 50p piece (the 'flag' series.) If you have voted for DNA by then, then I will take a photograph of the coin and send you the photo.
  • I have to admit, your logic is flawless....
  • I haven't voted yet. I'm really leaning to Shop Vac, but I'm still not convinced.

    OK... How about I vote for Shop Vac because it contains a fan-written solo.
  • Wow, I actually convinced someone to vote for the Vac.
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