#i like the song too it's going to be very radio friendly tiktok friendly and a hit

[buscandoelparaiso]

//////

[xxjadeablexx]

Alastor

Alastor, also known as ‘The Radio Demon,’ is part of the main cast of Hazbin Hotel, as you may have guessed. He is one of the main overlords in hell and feared by a lot of people. We learn in Episode 5 that he is feared for killing a lot of “heavy hitting overlords.” We also learn that he is called ‘The Radio Demon’ because he actually broadcasted their screams across hell. He isn’t really known for being the most friendly, always having an alternative motive. Appearance wise he is like 7 feet tall, only a foot shorter than Angel. He is also always smiling. There's a scene where he is having a complete breakdown and doesn’t stop smiling. Commenters on tiktok, when discussing the scene, have mentioned that they don’t think he even wanted to smile at the moment. Vivziepop has said that Alastor is actually based on the song “You are never fully dressed without a smile.” 

In his past life, Alastor was a radio host and a serial killer. His wiki says “Vivziepop declined to give out details of Alastor's killings, but described him as ‘not going after just anyone’, highlighting his ‘weird moral code.’ “ He died in the 1930’s which leads to some pretty fun, yet dark jokes. An example is in episode 1 when he makes the comment “So many orphans!” when talking about The Great Depression. Him being alive in the 1910’s-1930’s explains why he talks the way he does. He calls the tv a ‘picture box,’ says that he loves the ‘picture show,’ and when annoyed about making an advertisement says “Noisy picture box advertisement!” instead of just calling is a noisy ad. He also, despite caring about appearance to a certain degree, repeatedly claims his face was made for radio. Despite not using/understanding modern lingo for what i consider most the show, he does seem to know some terms. During ‘Stayed Gone,’ (one of my favorite songs,) he says “Now he’s (vox) pissy, that's the tea.” Almost immediately after he says “Uh-oh, the TV is buffering.” He knows gossip is ‘tea’ and that it is a TV, but he goes with the words he's used to. It’s interesting since it seems like everyone else uses pretty modern speech even if it's not from the time they were alive. I feel like the only other time we see something like this is when Angel calls himself a ‘schmoozer.’ 

Alastor also has an ongoing feud with Vox. Vox is basically Alastor but like, TV. He has a tv as a head, can teleport using electricity, and pretty much has eyes all over hell, much like Alastor used too. He took over after Alastor disappeared for 7 years. Episode 2 is called ‘Radio Killed the Video Star,’ a reference to MTV’s ‘Video Killed the Radio Star.’ In the episode, Vox is very much stressed about Alastor being back, because Alastor is way more powerful. The show shows Vox panicking and speaking about how his fans should ignore Alastor. Vox even says “Pulling my viewers, impossible!” but, only seconds later a radio is set out and everyone starts listening to Alastor. At the end of the show, when people think Alastor is dead, Vox says (or rather sings) “Nature abhors a power vacuum. It leaves room for you and me.” Which I personally think shows how Vox and Alastor see each other, which is purely as competition. It’s kinda funny to watch. 

The real interesting thing about Alastor, at least in my opinion, is that he also has a Contract. Sure, he owns people's souls. He’s an overlord, of course he owns souls. But in one scene, Husk stands up for himself, telling Alastor “Big talk for someone who’s also on a leash.” This is a huge development to only be mentioned in the last episode. Alastor is considered a heavy hitter, so how could he be under someone's control? Fan’s speculate that it’s actually Lillith, Charlie's mother, who holds his soul. Some of these theories simply come from the fact that Alastor likes to fight Lucifer for who the better father figure is. One twitter user was like “OMG WHAT IF ALASTOR IS DATING LILITH AND THATS WHY HE WANTS TO BE HER DAD!!!” But Vivziepop has said that Alastor is asexual/aromantic, not showing any interest in people romantically or sexually. So I don’t really pay attention to the theories that involve some sort of romance. From what I can tell, most people only really think this because Alastor disappeared for 7 years, and it had been 7 years since Charlie had spoken to Lillith. Honestly, I’m excited to see his deal explored more in the next season. My original theory was that he sold it to Zestial, seeing as his chains are green and so is Zestial. Reddit user Xeonan thinks that since it is mentioned that Lillith wanted the best for the sinners in hell, maybe she is making Alastor help Charlie with the plan. All in all, not much is yet known about that situation. 

Feel free to add your theories! I’m excited to hear other peoples thoughts!

[maneskinss]

Måneskin won Eurovision, then they took over the world

When tickets to Måneskin’s 2022 European tour went on sale, the members of the band placed bets on how long it would take to sell out the dates. “I was like, ‘OK, maybe one week.’ And (everyone) was like, ‘One week! That’s too little time! We need more time!’” says bassist Victoria de Angelis. “And after two hours, we saw our phones. We were like, ‘Fuck!’” The entire tour had sold out, with the Brixton Academy date selling out in 25 minutes.

Måneskin, meaning ‘moonlight’ in Danish (De Angelis is half-Danish), formed in Rome in 2015. David, De Angelis, and Raggi went to school together in Rome and found Torchio through Facebook. Having started out busking in the city’s streets, the group came second on Italy’s version of The X Factor in 2017, releasing their debut album Il Ballo Della Vita (The Dance of Life), a triple-platinum seller in Italy, the following year.

In March of this year, the band won Italy’s Sanremo contest, which meant they would go on to compete in Eurovision. Their song, “Zitti e Buoni”, with its blaring bass and wailing guitars, may have seemed an unlikely contender for the pop-friendly competition, but ended up taking home the top prize – making Måneskin the first Italian act to win the contest since 1990, and the first rock act since 2006.

Måneskin are dedicated to making rock music, favouring loud, gritty guitar, bass, and sprawling riffs, evoking the glam and classic-rock styles of decades past. Their influences include a mix of older and modern bands, including Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Nirvana, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, the Sex Pistols, and Slaves. David says that he and his bandmates were drawn to the genre’s “energy and the fact that it allows you to express yourself in many, many different ways”.“It's not just a kind of music, it’s also an attitude,” says Torchio.

However, Måneskin were discouraged from making rock music throughout their career, as guitars fell out of favour with younger listeners. “We feel like we made everything by ourselves and I think that makes it even sweeter,” says David. “We had to fight a lot for what we believed in because everyone was telling us not to do it. But in the end, we did it and we did it to the top.”

Following their Eurovision victory, the band started to take off on TikTok, despite not being on the app themselves. The tag #maneskin now has more than four billion views. “I think that the cool part of TikTok is that any song can go viral, even after years,” says De Angelis, pointing to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” as an example.

Måneskin experienced that first-hand when their 2017 cover of The Four Seasons’ “Beggin’” blew up on the app this summer. The song has been used more than ten million times on TikTok, and claimed the top spot on Spotify’s Global Top 50 chart for four weeks.

The band members, who recorded the cover as teenagers during their X Factor run, have mixed feelings about the song’s success. “Of course we were really, really happy (with) what was going on but when we look at the picture on that song, and we hear the mix, we just think that many, many things could have been done better,” says David. “We were very (young) when we made it,” says De Angelis. “(Whereas now) we have other songs we wrote ourselves which we think were done better.” “And other clothes!” adds David.

Thankfully for the band, “Beggin’” – which David compares to “the cringey video that your parents show at Christmas dinner… but it’s global” – wasn’t the only song of theirs to perform well. Måneskin became the first Italian band to have two songs – “Beggin’” and “I Wanna Be Your Slave” – in the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart simultaneously, with the songs peaking at six and five, respectively. Over the past year, charts and radio are proving more amenable to guitar-driven music and rock has surged in popularity, as pop artists like Miley Cyrus, Willow, and Olivia Rodrigo turn to the genre, with Måneskin becoming the leaders of rock’s resurgence.

It’s not a position the band take lightly. “We feel like we have the power and a huge number of people listening to us,” says David. “So we feel like we can do something meaningful and useful.” Måneskin are committed to using their platform to share their message of self-expression and to empower those who face discrimination. Says De Angelis: “Growing up in Italy, which can be a very narrow-minded and conservative country, we experienced a lot (of discrimination), especially in the music industry, with the way we look and everything. And so it’s just a thing that is part of us and that we feel we can speak about.”

Their latest album, Teatro D’Ira: Vol I, released in March, has a running thread of refusing to conform, with recent single “I Wanna Be Your Slave” subverting gender roles. But these messages also come through in the band’s glam style, which landed them a starring role in a recent campaign for Gucci. “We hope we can inspire people to dress as they want and to behave as they want in everyday life,” says David.

The members of Måneskin proudly challenge gender norms and encourage others to express their sexuality, taking a stand against homophobia. In June, David and Raggi shared a kiss on stage at the end of a performance in Poland, amid rising anti-LGBT sentiment in the country. “We think that everyone should be allowed to do this without any fear,” said David during the performance. “We think that everyone should be completely free to be whoever the fuck you want… Love is never wrong.” It’s a message which has helped them connect with fans around the world, according to De Angelis: “A lot of people tell us very meaningful things and that we are helping them in many ways and this is unbelievably precious for us.”

At the same time, there are many who don’t understand what Måneskin are trying to do, and act “like we were doing something that was too much, too weird, too freak,” says David. But the frontman points out that Måneskin aren’t the kind of band to let reactions like that faze them, instead using them as fuel for their latest track, “Mammamia”. “It’s about doing something great (which) people don’t want to understand and just (make) judgments and bad comments. But in a very funny way, of course. We made fun of haters, basically.”

The brash song, with tongue-in-cheek lyrics like, “They ask me why I’m so hot / ’Cos I’m Italiano,” was written soon after the band won Eurovision, and came together quickly. “From the first time, we were like, ‘Mamma mia, this is a good song!’” says Torchio.

It’s been a whirlwind year for the band, with their summer filled with festival performances including Global Citizen in Paris – a far cry from the streets of Rome they played as teenagers. When asked about what advice they’d give to their younger selves, De Angelis says, “Nothing. Do exactly what you did. But make a better picture for ‘Beggin’.”

x

[wank127]

expelled/drop out musician denki au!!!

(this has been in my drafts for a while now(also ik it’s a lil out there but it’s an au so shush))

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

he’s on mics radio show a lot

bc they’re besties✨

publicly hates on ua and hero society cause it sucks

has a tiktok where he posts snippets of songs, the occasional dancy dance, rating pro hero’s/teachers, swag things y’know

he calls out anyone and everyone when he needs to (boy does he shit on endeavor and nezu)

i can’t decide if he would be in a band or a solo artist

i also can’t decide if his music is like harry styles, andrew rannells, pierce the veil, green day, P!ATD, melanie martinez, bo burnham, joe iconis, one direction, fall out boy, anthony ramos, or even billie eilish. like he could do anything. it’s all fits to me

SMUDGED.

AND WINGED.

EYELINER.

has that one pair of trousers(pants ig) that klouse from umbrella academy has. y’know the leather lace up ones? yeah those

has like a lot of water bottles and snacks at the front of stage and round the sides of the crowd at his shows

his merch isn’t expensive or any more money that it needs to be

he sells sick hoodies and t-shirt’s man

has a youtube (obviously) but makes like videos to raise awareness, makeup/hair/beauty toturials/tips and just like vlogs of when he’s doing something really interesting

he uses his platform to speak up and help people

updates the little linktr.ee things on every account he has whenever he sees something to put on it

every once in a while he’ll tweet something like ‘ayyy drop y’all’s gofundmes and fundraisers down below. i’m in a retail therapy kinda mood’ and donate to every single one

still talks to everyone from ua

gives them all free tickets and shit if they want it

has a whole album with jirou

and another one with the a band

he’s really good at composing and writing lyrics. like they’re so beautiful and perfect

he can’t read sheet music that well. he definitely learns by ear

made songs about how shit the hero society is and school and just everything that did him dirty

his most popular tiktok is of him just fucking around but accidentally meeting up with present mic when he was on patrol

they had a lil unplanned dance party together. they did the same moves and synchronized with each other on accident

they were both on the floor but the end of it

thirst posts about all his friends from ua

pretends they’re strangers in interviews when they’re actually best friends

best fucking music videos ong

best fashion and makeup

PLATFORM.

BOOTS.

sponsored by skittles

no one knows why or how

he just is

once at an award show he won(duh) but when he had to go up on stage he got his hand stuck in his glass/cup

did the whole speech with a cup hand

has wayyyyyyy too many memes made out of him

very open about his views and values, what he does and doesn’t support and who he is as a person

reads all the fanfic and looks at all the art of himself

reposts them of course

y’know that one tiktok audio? the ‘goddammit which ninja turtle are you?!?!??’ that was him 100%

SOMEBODY NEEDS TO BE THAT STUPID RAT

fell off the stage at least 38 times

actual WORLD tours

mf goes everywhere

amazing visuals in music videos and concerts

makes autism/epilepsy friendly non-flashy/stroby versions of his videos so everyone can enjoy

posts pages of a ‘where’s waldo’ book on twitter for his fans but instead of waldo it’s aizawa

sheesh this was very all over the place, apologies

all in all he’s amazing 10/10 would record to a friend or coworker

[femchef]

@shanastoryteller okay! So story time. So during wwii, my great aunt worked as a nurse and a very silly young man she was acquainted with in town had been drafted and they’d both gone to Europe around the same time. They were friendly, but she didn’t give him too much thought - until one of her nurse friends who was tuning her radio to an illicit station waved her over really excitedly to come and listen because “Honey, I think it’s about you! You’re from Maine, right?”.

So as it turns out, the group my uncle had been sent over with had been captured pretty quickly and had been lumped into a POW camp in Germany. They were incredibly bored, and miserable, and decided to cobble together some electrical bits and make an illicit evening radio show - and they were really good at it? They hosted very silly shows, put on sketches and sang songs very badly - basically imagine a vine or tiktok or Weasley twins radio.

Of course among other topics, they discussed matters of the heart, and my uncle was waxing about a brilliant woman who’d gone off to be a nurse that he regretted not asking to go dancing.

Now. She knew who this was. She thought he was ridiculous - and my aunt had to tell it like it was apparently - but how do you communicate with an illicit station like that?

Apparently the way to do it is to put more messages out on a similar frequency and hope the other end hears you. So, she got a radio tech to give her a hand, and leaned into a microphone, and said “You’re absolutely ridiculous.” More or less. That’s it, that’s the message - and what started from that was an absurd radio wave he said/she said for about a YEAR.

In the end, he very nervously got on the radio one day and just baldfacedly asked my aunt to marry him. He waited nervously for about a day and a half, and he and his fellow prisoner radio hosts finally found her frequency recording - complete with other nurses and techs laughing and sniggering in the background by the way - “Of COURSE I’ll marry you, you ridiculous man.”

And that’s the story.

[edit: they did, in fact marry when they both returned to Maine a year ish later, and were quite happy up until his tragic death changing a tire on the side of the road - which is horrible, but also kind of unsurprising for Florida]

[idy-ll-ique]

We're Together!

Pairing: Chris Evans x F!Reader

Genre: Pure Fluff

Warnings: None

Requested: by @katrynec

"heyy, could you do a Chris Evans one where they meet on set and announce they're together at comic con, thankyouu"

Summary: Chris and Y/N make their relationship public at the San Diego Comic Con.

Author's Note: Hey guys!!! First off, thank you @katrynec for sending the prompt, I enjoyed writing this! Also just wanna say I completely forgot to mention the genre of my fic in the last fic (and I oop—). Anyway read this!!

Y/N - Your Name

Y/L/N - Your Last Name

---

"Hey, I'm Chris! You're Y/N, if I'm not wrong?" Chris introduced, holding his hand out. Y/N smiled, shaking his hand. "You're not wrong, I am Y/N," she chuckled. "Awesome! Sebastian has been talking a lot about you, I was eager to meet you," he grinned at her. "Aw, really? That's nice, thank you." Chris nodded, running a hand through his hair.

"He loves working with you, he can't stop talking about you. I hope someday we get to work together as well." Y/N blushed, knowing damn well that she was playing Sebastian's love interest in the movie. Whatever did Chris mean? Did he want them to play love interests as well? "I hope so too. Wanna go back to the sets?" Y/N offered with a strained smile. He grinned again.

"Yeah, of course."

They started walking towards the sets again. "So, uh, don't think of this question as intruding, but… you see, you and Seb are really good friends, your scenes seem extremely natural— which is good— so I'm just wondering, are you and him…?" Y/N burst out laughing at his question. "No, no, no, we're not dating in real life. I'm single," she wheezed.

"Ah, okay," Chris laughed along, rubbing the back of his neck. They reached the sets to see Anthony and Sebastian standing nearby, chatting. "Hey guys," Chris called out. The two men looked over at them. "Hey Chris! M'lady Y/L/N," Sebastian teased, winking at her. "Zip it, Stan," she snorted, shaking her head. "Where have you been?" Anthony asked Chris when Y/N walked away.

"I went to talk to her," he offered, shrugging. The thing is, ever since Chris had seen her, a little crush has started manifesting in him for her. She was brilliant. Beautiful, kind, polite, intelligent… He wasn't on the sets most of the times when Y/N was, and the other times when they were actually on set together, he refused to talk to her. He didn't want to make a fool of himself.

After a lot of pestering from both Anthony and Sebastian, he finally decided to have a chat. Hopefully, he didn't ruin it. "Did you ask her out? Because I think she's not going to say no," Anthony smirked. "I… I didn't," Chris sighed. "Man! Half the movie is done, you're a grown man! Just ask her out, goddamn it!" Sebastian groaned, shoving him.

"Look, there she goes!"

All three of them turned to see Y/N walking out, her backpack with her. "Hey, uh, Y/N!" she turned to them. "Hi Chris, what's up?" she asked, a blush creeping up on her cheeks. She had liked him for a while now, but she knew it would never work out. Why would he like her back? "Hey, I was wondering if you wanna have a coffee with me sometime," Chris asked, wringing his hands in nervousness.

"Like, a date?" she blurted out, her eyes going wide. "Like— Yeah, yeah, actually; a date. Please?" He cringed at his own words. Please?! Who fucking says please? "I-I would be honored, Chris. Send me the timings and the place," she laughed. They exchanged numbers and she left, waving at him. A squeal escaped her lips once she was out of earshot. A date with Chris?

She didn't know that could happen!

Inside, Chris turned to look at Sebastian and Anthony. Both of them were smirking at him. "See? Easy! I told you she won't reject you," Anthony laughed, crossing his arms. "You were right, I guess. I hope I don't ruin it," Chris chuckled nervously, shaking his head. "You won't, I'm telling you. Let's get you a drink to help you calm down," Sebastian grinned.

---

"Right, four of you, get in the car."

Amongst the cast and the crew, the fact that Chris and Y/N were dating was now common knowledge. Three months had passed since their first date. Chris hadn't, in fact, ruined it; it was the best date Y/N had ever been on. "Fine!" Y/N huffed, getting into the car. They were going to the San Diego Comic Con. Anthony, Sebastian and Chris got into the car, too.

Anthony sat in the front with the driver while Chris, Sebastian and Y/N sat in the back. Y/N was in the window seat, Chris in the middle and Sebastian in the other window seat. "Are you comfortable, love?" Chris whispered to Y/N. "I'm good, Chris. Thankfully I didn't have to wear a dress and they allowed me to wear jeans," Y/N laughed, patting him on the bicep.

He put his arm around her shoulders, smiling. "Hey guys? I'm really happy for you two," Anthony commented, turning around to grin at them. "Thank you Anthony, you say that every time Chris and I interact," Y/N joked, smiling at the man. "Well I can't help it, y'all too cute!" He winked. "When are we going to reach?" Sebastian asked, looking out of the window.

"We literally just got into the car, dude," Chris sighed. "I know that. I'm bored," Sebastian huffed, crossing his arms. "Why don't we listen to songs or play some games?" Chris suggested. "Let's listen to songs!" Y/N squealed, clapping her hands. Anthony turned the radio on just as the advertisement on it ended. Say So by Doja Cat started playing.

"I know this song," Chris mused. Meanwhile, Y/N happily sang along to the song, nodding her head. "Isn't this the song that got really famous on TikTok?" Sebastian asked Y/N. "It is the one. Y'all don't know Say So?" Y/N gasped dramatically. "That's the one! By Doja Cat, right?" Chris blurted out. "Mm-hm, yeah," Y/N confirmed. Half an hour later, they arrived at the SDCC.

All the fans gathered outside started screaming with joy as they got out of the car. Loads of flashes went by as the paparazzi took photos. "I'm your biggest fan, I'll follow you until you love me, papa… paparazzi," Y/N whispered to the guys, which made them burst out laughing. Y/N grinned at her brilliant but not so brilliant joke, signing the papers and other things the fans handed her.

Chris and Y/N took some pictures together, she had some solo photos, some in a group with all three of the guys, some with Sebastian and some with Anthony. Finally, a long time later, they went inside. Inside, too, they took a lot of pictures and talked to the fans. Y/N was used to the media life, but sometimes the interactions could be a little overwhelming. Soon enough, it was time for their panel.

---

"So, uh, we all know that you and Sebastian are supposed to be a couple in this movie, your chemistry is great, you're really friendly… so— I hope you don't think this is very personal— are you guys dating in real life too? I only ask because the scenes seem very natural and it doesn't look like you're acting." Y/N grinned at the question a fan had asked her.

"You know, that's the same question Chris asked me before we—" A nudge to her foot made Y/N pause and look at Anthony, who then nodded his head towards Chris. She turned to look at him; he was already looking at her with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. She faltered, maybe she shouldn't reveal they were dating just yet. All of a sudden, a smile bloomed on his face and he nodded.

"When you what?" the fan asked excitedly, eager to get some tea on Y/N's social life. "Before we started going out." The entire room became silent. Sebastian and Anthony looked around, daring people to comment against their relationship because oh no no, nobody messes with their best friend's relationship and his girlfriend. The whole room then burst out in applause and cheering.

"When did you start going out? I'm so happy for you!" the fan grinned, clapping her hands along with the others. Y/N could see a few faces in the audience sulking, but paid no attention to it. "It's been three months. I… I really like him," Y/N spoke into the mic, sending a shy smile towards Chris. "I really like her, too!" Chris grinned. Sebastian got up, nodding at Chris.

Both of them exchanged places so Chris and Y/N could sit together. Chris wrapped his arms around his woman, giving her a noisy smooch on her cheek. The audience laughed as Y/N scrunched her nose, shaking her head. "Aren't they cute," Anthony snorted, leaning back on the couch they were all seated on. "They are, very much. Oh my God, I love you all," the fan smiled, jumping in excitement.

"I love you, too, I love you all so much! Thanks for all the support, we really appreciate it!" Y/N announced on the mic, which made the fans cheer loudly again. Y/N smiled to herself, this went better than she thought it would. After the event got over, Chris, Sebastian, Anthony and Y/N headed back to their car. "Did we make a mistake, announcing our relationship?"

Chris turned to Y/N, looking incredulously at her. "Of course we didn't! It's our relationship, what matters is that we're happy. Don't listen to fans who don't support it, most of them in the room were cheering loudly," he explained and she gave him a tired smile, snuggling into his arms. "I still think we shouldn't have, not so early…" she mumbled.

Both of them stopped in their tracks, facing each other. Sebastian and Anthony paused too, looked at each other and nodded. They went back to the car, deciding to give the couple some space. "Y/N, I'm going to be honest with you. I love you. I've been in love with you for a while now. I know it's early but I can't help it. I know what I feel is real. So don't worry about making our relationship public. I don't care. I only care about my love for you."

Y/N froze, staring at him in shock. This was the first time he had said those three words to her. She knew she loved him, too, but she wasn't expecting him to come clean first. Tears brimmed in her eyes as she jumped forward, hugging him tightly. "I love you too, Chris, I love you so much," she whimpered. Chris hugged her back tightly, trying to keep his own tears at bay.

Y/N pulled away and pressed her lips to his. Their other kisses were good, but this one… this one had more meaning than all previous ones. Y/N's hands played with the hair near Chris' neck while Chris put both his arms around her waist, bringing her close. Sebastian and Anthony, who were watching them from the car, smiled broadly at each other.

It was at that moment that they realized— this pair was meant to last a lifetime.

---

A/N: Please leave a like, it will be highly appreciated! Thank you for reading!

[fencesandfrogs]

sea shanties, work songs, tiktok

so apparently tiktok and sea shanties (technically they’re usually sea folk songs, based on the ones i’ve heard, which is not many) are having a moment and as someone who’s always been a fan of work songs, esp. sea shanties, i just wanted to take a moment to talk/think about them.

[this is abt 1.4k words with a lot of music, incl. 4 embeded videos. i included this break because scrolling past long posts is annoying but like. there’s some good music to listen to in here even if u don’t want to read the whole thing.]

call & response is a pretty common musical idea. i’m not sure at all, but i’d wager a good deal that it’s probably some of the oldest stuff we have. but, like, if you’ve ever sung anything in a group, it’s there. the classic call and response is shorter, but i just want to also say a lot of music can be thought of as call and response, like verses/choruses, etc.

i think it just speaks to a human desire to participate in music. many people know what i’m talking about here (maybe most? i come from a musical family so i don’t have a good breadth of experience but i’ve met very few people who don’t jive to music), and so we make this little welcoming come sing with me environment.

anyway, so work songs are a type of music meant to coordinate labor. a lot of work songs are formed by slaves, because for a work song to be helpful, you need to be doing work that requires coordination.

sea shanties are a specific type of work song that use the general structure of the american slave work song combine with irish, scottish, and english folk music.

folk music as a whole is a wider genre that overlaps a lot with work songs, especially as you start to turn to industrial work songs and cowboy work songs and the like which have a less specific rhythm than sea shanties specifically.

musical edification complete, i’m going to focus on sea shanties and industrial work songs b/c that’s what i listen to the most.

so call and response. sea shanties usually have a soloist part that’s a bit more musically complex, and the response is “simpler”. i’m not here to talk abt music theory or why they developed like that, but you know when you’re bad at singing, having a simple part to join in with is positive. hits the warm gooey spot of participating in group music. here’s a recording of blow the man down which i think demonstrates this quality really well:

(it’s a pretty popular shanty which is why i picked it. the “truth”of my argument is not at all universal, and it’s not just about speed, but also the rhythm, melody, etc.)

anyway there’s a lot of shanties and what typically comes to mind is drunken sailor which i know “all” the words to (as much as anyone can) but you’ll see theré’s no call and response

what do you do with a drunken sailor

what do you do with a drunken sailor

what do you do with a drunken sailor

early in the morning

right? that’s not a call and response, it’s just repetition. lyrically, its a call and response:

put him in bed with the captain’s daughter

(that’s my favorite line bc as kids we didn’t understand it so it made us laugh)

but musically you’re not having a back and forth. and so they’re things everyone just gets to sing together.

and that brings me to more industrial work songs. my favorite is sixteen tons, because i’m a basic bitch, and the line “saint peter don’t you call me cause i can’t go” is eternally stuck in my head. here’s a full version:

so as you can see, there’s no call and response, but the melody is relatively simple. it’s repetitive, the range is decent, and it’s got a really flexible tempo (the video i chose is pretty moderate, but here’s a fast one (and this is pure performance), and i swear i have a slower version on my computer but i can’t find it for the life of me).

(aside: one thing to notice in the johnny cash version is the backing. his is far more complex than ernie ford, and that’s because it’s dropped all pretense of being a work song. work songs don’t have much behind them because they’re almost always a capello. this isn’t super relevant to the discussion i just wanted to point it out.)

so mining work songs are generally like this (see black waters, another favorite of mine), and it’s not hard to see where folk music as a genre develops:

i just really like this song it’s probably not the best example.

on the other hand, other folk music maintains the structure. lets look at oh susanna (i hate this version, but the vocals are very clear so uhhh here’s a random cool fancy one listen to this it’s super cool).

the whole thing is fairly repetitive, it doesn’t have a strictly definite end, etc. the melody is still pretty simple, although i will say, having sung this in a choir, it can get more complicated in arrangement pretty easily.

anyway, this becomes bluegrass which is basically the folk version of country, here’s callin baton rogue which is absolutely one of the best songs to ever be written. this version is done by garth brooks, country singer, but listen to that fiddle and tell me it’s country.

(this is future matthew with an edit just to say, like, i’m not trying to establish a *strictly* factual chain of music genres here. bluegrass is, i believe, related closely to jazz & blues, while country was formed directly as an opposition to jazz & music history is really complicated.)

you get a lot of ballads here, eg ballad of john henry. i’m not going to say that’s good. but uh there’s a lot to filter through and i’m supposed to be working on my computer science assignment not doing an exploratory discussion of work songs and associated genres.

so this brings us to scottish/irish/english ballads. the clancy brothers are a popular band here, my mom had them on in the car a lot. here’s the work of the weavers for a slower song, but a good one, and here’s moonshiner, which is both a good song and takes me to my next point: sea songs, folk song, and tiktok (see its almost the same as the title it’s a joke).

i’m happy to see folk music making a resurgence. it was really a shame that we spent such a long time listening to not singing friendly music. that’s not a diss on any particular genre (except for edm fuck edm, everyone who makes dance remixes should have their music liscences revoked), because in isolation every genre is fine, but then you take it all together, and there’s a lack of the group singing, safe for bad singers, simple to play, music as a wider genre.

when did we stop singing lullabies? i mean i assume we still sing them to children, but how many do you know? how long has it been since a song like you are my sunshine has been popular? *caveat that i don’t listen to the radio, but if you have a counter example, make sure you think about how long it is and how large the range is and how complicated the rhythm is, etc., because that all is part of it.

at the camp i used to go to, we would sing bohemian rhapsody walking down the hill to the waterfront. someone would start it, and those interested get to join in sometime around “easy come easy go", but then you get to a guitar solo, and the thing kind of fizzles without a backing track.

and that’s what i mean, i mean people keep singing together, and wouldn’t it be better if more people made music that was meant to be sung? i mean sure you can gather your friends and sing anything, but will it resonate in the same way “what do you do with a drunken sailor?” would? will everyone be able to sing it, will it sound okay if you sing it badly? why did we stop making music that sounded best when we sing it the way we always have? why did we stop listening to it?

anyway i don’t have a deep take on this except like folk music is really good, and traditional songs exist for a reason. since i’ve focused really heavily on america and gaelic tradition, because that’s what i listend to growing up, and therefore can speak about in a qualitative sense, i would like to just leave this south african lullaby here, because my mom used to sing it to me, so it’s got a real soft spot in my heart. i didn’t really talk about lullabies because again comp sci assignment but they’re related, so anyway, this has an english translation in there which may or may not be the standard? but you can know what it means too: