Plus Ca Change . . .

31. GNARLS BARKLEY, "Crazy"
Produced by Danger Mouse; written by Brian Burton, Thomas Callaway, Gianfranco Reverberi, Gian Piero Reverberi
WMI R1251791 2006 Billboard: # 2

32. SEAL, "Crazy"
Produced by Sean Chennery, Guy, Trevor Horn, William Orbit, and Tim Simenon; written by Sealhenri Samuel and Guy Sigsworth
ZTT/Sire 19298 1991 Billboard: # 7

Two snapshots of R&B, fifteen years apart, showing how far we've come and gone.

Despite what you might think, the later track is less produced. It's just drum and bass for the most part, with strings on the choruses. Even though the earlier track had Seal, the later track trusts the vocalist more, and Cee-Lo soars more on a GB single like this than he ever could with Goodie Mob, even on a beautiful track like "Inshallah." Perhaps because it has so many producers, the earlier track has more elements to its sonic surface and more outright polyrhythms.

And then there are the lyrics. Both songs are about alienation, even dissociative disorder, as a response to the protagonists' condition, but Seal's track seems to be more about the presumed conditions of African American life, so much so that Spike Lee used it for Clockers, some years after its release. The GB track, on the other hand, is less race-specific. Even when viewed from the point of view of class, it's much more of a middle class track than a working class one.

What difference does this make? Well, if the songs can be read synchronically, for the working class schizophrenia is a way of coping; for the middle class, it is a way of life. Which might make you rethink the whole question of whether society should really present assimilation as a desirable goal.

Because "Assailant" Scans Better than "Perpetrator"

911. WYCLEF JEAN ft/MARY J. BLIGE, "911"
Produced by Wyclef Jean and Salaam Remi; written by Jerry Duplessis & Wyclef Jean
Sony 79460 2000 Billboard # 38

Not to be confused with the Cyndi Lauper quickie B-side, which is best listened to alone.

As I believe the record will reflect, I am a big fan of metaphor. What's more, I believe the best metaphors are the ones that you beat like a dead horse almost to the point of allegory, and my man Clef is certainly doing that here. At points in this single, the language gets so tangled, it's hard to tell if Clef's in real or figurative danger, if he's been truly felled by a love supreme or if he's just on the verge of being shot by a jealous spouse.

Ultimately, though, this song is more about a feeling than a specific set of circumstances. Especially when you take Blige's contribution into account (the best guestshot on The Eclefic, an album filled with much less successful appearances by well-known soul and r & b performers), this song is desperately operatic in a way that pop balladeers have found it hard to be since the heyday of Phil Spector. Since the 1980s, most pop ballads have fallen into one of two categories: vapid or ironic. In our century, wallowing in the full-on bathos of something as scary as love and passion is just so Your Mother's Pop Music.

But this is the love the old folks warned you about. And no matter how smart you think you are, trust me: you're never really ready for the bullet with your name on it.