{"id":8210,"date":"2012-01-30T21:44:09","date_gmt":"2012-01-31T02:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=8210"},"modified":"2012-01-30T21:44:09","modified_gmt":"2012-01-31T02:44:09","slug":"song-of-the-day-574","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=8210","title":{"rendered":"Song of the day"},"content":{"rendered":"

“How You Like Me Now?” by the Heavy<\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Earlier today on Twitter, I was making light of the fact that Newt Gingrich has reportedly been told to stop using the song along the campaign trail<\/a>, having apparently never obtained permission from either the record label or the band. (And the band is reportedly no fan of the candidate either.)<\/p>\n

This follows in a long tradition of politicians using songs without permission — see, recently, Tom Petty and Michelle Bachmann<\/a> — or without a clue — see…well, again, Petty and Bachmann, but also these song blunders<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n

But with Newt and the Heavy, there’s just so much going wrong here. Let’s leave aside the band’s name, which raises the specter of Gingrich’s weight and the idea of him as<\/i> the heavy, a big, often outsized character who’s more often than not the villain of a piece. (Iago, for instance, is the heavy in Othello<\/i>.) Let’s dive right into the lyrics of the song itself:<\/p>\n

Now there was a time
\nWhen you loved me so
\nI couldn’t do wrong
\nNow you need to know<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That time, for Newt, was a brief moment in the ’90s. You know, before all the ethics violations, affairs, and forced resignation.<\/p>\n

See I been a bad bad bad bad man
\nAnd I’m in deep ya<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Aw, baby, Newt only hurts you ’cause he loves America so damn much. Why you gotta be like that?<\/p>\n

I found a brand new love for this man
\nAnd I can’t wait till ya see<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh yeah, you’ll all come crawlin’ back to Newt. What’re ya gonna do, vote for Romeny? Oh, you are? Damn.<\/p>\n

Remember the time when he took over
\nYa I was a lie that you can’t give up
\nIf I was to cheat on
\nNow would you see right through me
\nIf I sang a sad sad sad sad song
\nWould ya give it to me
\nWould ya say
\nHow ya like me now?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So just to recap here: Gingrich is playing a song about a man who lied and cheated, then comes back with an apology he admits right there is bullshit, easily seen through, and then (a little petulantly) asks, “How you like me now?”<\/p>\n

I first encountered the song about a year ago, when I saw it used really effectively in The Fighter<\/i><\/a>. Gingrich’s use is anything but effective. It reveals a pettiness at his heart — or, at the very least, a cluelessness about that that’s how it will be perceived. “Yeah, you kicked me out,” Gingrich seems to be saying with it, “because I was a bad bad bad bad man. And screw you, I haven’t changed. How you like me now?”<\/p>\n

I will say this much for him, though, it’s a damn catchy song. It’ll put a bounce in your step, maybe even make you<\/i> want to run for President or build a moon base.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“How You Like Me Now?” by the Heavy Earlier today on Twitter, I was making light of the fact that Newt Gingrich has reportedly been told to stop using the song along the campaign trail, having apparently never obtained permission from either the record label or the band. (And the band is reportedly no fan … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[155],"tags":[14,6,240],"class_list":["post-8210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-song-of-the-day","tag-movies","tag-politics","tag-song-of-the-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}