#347) "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour - Our uber-PC world might not accept talk like this today, but back in the late 1980s, a black rock or heavy metal band was a novel concept, something most of the people I knew at the time, among family, the underclassman sweat sock gang at school, and even those on MTV, were talking about before talking about the song itself.
Of course, we were also jamming, because "Cult of Personality" is killer. To me, this was positively electrifying in 1988, and 30+ years on, I think it sounds just as fresh and urgent and of the moment as it did when I was fifteen. And what it's saying about the world we live in, our relationship with our leaders, our influencers, our movers and shakers, is no different today than it was back then. In fact, it's probably three times more relevant today. "I've been everything you want to be...", indeed.
Great song.
"I tell you one and one makes three..."
#348) "All Through the Night" by Cyndi Lauper - Ask ten people what their favorite Cyndi Lauper song is, most them will say "Time After Time", and that's fine as far as it goes, but I've always been partial to "All Through the Night", and while most of the reason for this has to do with specific memories in childhood, like "Cult of Personality", I think it could also be said that it still sounds fresh, has managed to last all through the night, as it were.
It's one of those sublime blends of instrumentation, rhythm and vocals that can't really not hold up over time, it's just so well done, and therefore naturally preserved. Although it's a beautiful melody in any context, Lauper's re-stylized version greatly eclipses the original by singer/songwriter Jules Shear (always noteworthy to me, when a cover manages to pull this off), and I was pleased to learn recently that the magnificent falsetto at the end, one of hallmarks of Lauper's version (and always the element, outside of perhaps the lyrics, which has provoked the longest thoughts in me), is Shear himself.
"Until it ends, there is no end..."
