Musings in Search of a Muse

On the way home from Bible study tonight I thought I'd listen to something other than the local Christian station or a good Christian CD so I put in a Rock mix from some favorites in iTunes. One track that really struck me -- probably because I listening to a lot of R&B earlier today -- was "Brown Sugar" by ZZ Top from the box set Chrome, Smoke & BBQ - The ZZ Top Box. I hesitate to recommend it as a Song of the Day, however, not because it isn't a great tune, but that after finally listening to the lyrics I think they refer to heroin and promoting drugs is not something I like to do.

The band's lyrics can be covertly "sinful" (Ex., "Rough Boy" or the Sam and Dave cover "I Thank You") as often as they are obviously so (Ex., "La Grange" or "Tush"). Knowing the band's tendency toward the more sinful pleasures, however, it's fairly easy to interpret any things vague unless you don't think about them too much. That's part of my problem. I really don't listen to lyrics until the 3rd or 4th play of most songs, particularly Rock songs. Why? I don't know. But I was rather surprised when I first really "heard" ZZ Top's "Pearl Necklace." And tonight "Brown Sugar" surprised me.

Lyrics aside, this song is a great example of the band's ability to modernize Rock's roots in R&B by blending Bluesy riffs and vocals with contemporary beats and arrangements. It opens with guitar work worthy of B.B. King or Eric Clapton and neatly transitions into the signature ZZ Top style. Southern-style Rock more so than other forms of Rock rather closely recalls the whole genre's origins in Jazz and the Blues. You can hear this in Lynyrd Skynyrd's music, too, particularly "Sweet Home Alabama," "Swamp Music," and "Red, White, and Blue." And if it weren't for his covers of the best stuff from John Lee Hooker and other Blues pioneers I don't think rocker George Thorogood wouldn't have much of a career.

Regardless of my qualms I will make "Brown Sugar" my Song of the Day. Unless a song's lyrics are patently offensive or harmful by intent I cannot sit in judgement. Writers can only work with material they know -- their life experience. Only a fool would fail to recognize that some of the greatest works of music, art, and literature were inspired by the Seven Deadly Sins (Al Pacino playing Satan in The Devil's Advocate had a line that was surely inspired: "Who, in their right mind Kevin, could possibly deny the twentieth century was entirely mine?"). It is up to us as responsible people to use our morality to find something that we can value in a piece. In the case of ZZ Top's "Brown Sugar" I'll simply not pay attention to the lyrics.