Rip Out a Piece of my Heart
This is surely a sign of the apocalypse. I expect to see it raining huge balls of flame, cats and dogs will be sleeping together, and yes, this portents well for the Cubbies to win the World Serious. (Shameless plug -- SpinDentist will be teaching a themed literature course entitled Baseball and literature in the fall. It is noncredit community ed sorts of stuff, but should be fun as we examine Baseball, the American Dream, immigration and assimilation, the Jewish experience, and a whole lot more. Of course, you'd have to be in Central Florida to take advantage.)
I was in the car this morning and punched the button for the country station, because sometimes a ballad can do a soul good. What do I find? The most elevator-music, softest, silky and TOTALLY inappropriate voice doing a cover of "Piece of My Heart," a song that can only be sung by Janis Joplin, with the exception of those of us who sing along at the tops of our lungs to the car radio when Janice comes on.
More than that, this is heresy. That anyone could even conceive of a soft country remake of that song says worlds about the state of our culture. Rap remake? I could take that. But Janice is all about edge, and this version had all the edge of a balloon animal.
I can't get the taste out of my mouth! And I'm at work all day. Folks, this is worse than death by Yanni. This is more perverse than Michael Jackson and adolescent monkeys in bed. This is my YOUTH they're playing with!
I'll bet it's George Bush's fault.
