It’s just restating the idea to me, which is what’s so wrong with the “but.” “Thus,” “hence” or even “so” would make sense if Isaac needed one syllable there, but I don’t feel the need. His complication doesn’t directly cause the lack of understanding they’re really one and the same. I guess you could try “He’s a complicated man THEREFORE no one understand him but his woman,” or “He’s a complicated man ERGO no one understands him but his woman,” but those seem a little precious and double the syllables. “Consequently” is way too long-you don’t want a four-syllable word in pop music unless you’ve got the triple single syllable double negative of “can’t get no” to take the curse off your “satisfaction.” “Consequently” is also not exactly the right word. The only being understood by his woman doesn’t really add information. “He’s a complicated man, but no one understands him but his woman.” What? “He’s a complicated man BUT no one understands him but his woman?” Why is the first “but” in that line? How the fuck does that conjunction introduce something contrasting or contrary to what has already been stated? Huh? Are we to believe that complicated men are usually understood by most everyone other than their women? The word should not be “but.” “He’s a complicated man, AND no one understands him but his woman” is not very good either. The lyrics start out just right with rhetorical questions that are still answered with “Shaft.” It’s lush and inspiring and then… it turns into an Italian air show as the wings come off with one sloppy line. He gives us a few measures of hi-hat for nothing, and the vocal doesn’t even start until we’re knocking on two minutes. Isaac Hayes puts that quadruple wah orchestra to use to get the perfect classy, funky, sexy sound. If Beethoven were writing today, he wouldn’t consider an ensemble without two wah-wah guitars to be a proper orchestra. You know that the brown-chicken-brown-chicken-brown-chicken part is wah-wah, but the other guitar is wah-wah too.
Penn jillette into the trash it goes full#
It’s recorded with a full orchestra including two wah-wah guitars. I’ve listened to the “Theme from Shaft” a lot and it’s an almost perfect song. I’ve read the Bible and I’ve listened carefully to all of the popular Christmas carols. It’s about joy to the world, and there is a world of difference there.
The music is consonant with joy in the world.īut it’s not about joy in the world. When the Sex Pistols’s music descended directly down the scale, the lyrics were “No future,” and those clever boys go back up and start down again a few times until they land on the tonic with “for you.” I’m not going to get too programmatic with “Joy to the World.” It is a descending scale, but it’s major and confident and root landing makes it safe and jubilant. The melody descends right down the major scale on its way to hell, but lands firmly on the saved tonic. The music was either adapted from a song by Handel or ripped off from part of his Messiah. It’s not at all secular Coca-Cola Christmas. While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains More Magical Tales from the Author of God, No! Whether he’s contemplating the possibility of life after death, deconstructing popular Christmas carols, or just calling bullsh*t on Donald Trump’s apprentice training, Jillette does not fail to shock and delight his readers. And as ever, underneath these rollicking rants lie a deeply personal philosophy and a generous spirit, which find joy and meaning in family, and peace in the simple beauty of the everyday. Every Day Is an Atheist Holiday! is a hysterical affirmation of life’s magic from one of the most distinctly perceptive and provocative humorists writing today. Don’t believe it? Well, consider this: For nonbelievers, every day you’re alive is a day to celebrate! And no one celebrates life to the fullest like Penn Jillette-the larger, louder half of legendary magic duo Penn & Teller-whose spectacularly witty and sharply observant essays in Every Day Is an Atheist Holiday! will entertain zealots and skeptics alike. Let’s be honest-nobody has more fun than atheists. Genre: nonfiction,humor, Every Day is an Atheist Holiday! Penn Jillette