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In Rainbows, Radiohead (digital download), October 10, 2007 Track Listing: 1. 15 Step, 2. Bodysnatchers, 3. Nude, 4. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, 5. All I Need, 6. Faust Arp, 7. Reckoner, 8. House of Cards, 9. Jigsaw Falling into Place, 10. Videotape Part II: To Be Free Note: For Part I, see Kid A. Clean up those hard drives, kids, the suits were coming! The suits were coming! In one instance, a single mother of two was forced to pay a record company $220,000 dollars for sharing 24 songs on a peer-to-peer file sharing service. Her life and perhaps her children’s lives too were now destroyed forever. Over sharing music. The rich get richer? It begged the question: who really won here? Forgetting the dollars and cents of it for just a moment, if the ultimate goal of any artist is to achieve a wider audience so that the fruits of their labor can be enjoyed, then wasn’t file sharing their Holy Grail? Of course, only the most naive of consumers would subtract green from the equation. But, were the record companies the winner? The recording industry? If, in this instance, making an example out of a single mother who already lived paycheck to paycheck translated into victory, then what exactly was the prize? __________________________________ We can’t seem to stretch. We wiggle in coffins that don’t fit quite right. Our bodies stiffen in the darkness. Maybe it us stress over the next month’s bills. Morning approaches but you are not ready. “Wakey wakey -from “Fast Arp ” It was ripe before it was fresh before it began to turn the color of a bruised eye that had seen too much. “You used to be alright -from “15 Step” Your mortgage has been underwater since the housing collapse. Looking down on the sidewalk from your leaking fortress in the sky, you see the leaves scatter in the wind. “Forget about your house of cards -from “House of Cards” As you ride the Red Line into the new day, you suddenly catch a whiff of perfume mixed with piss. “Has the light gone out for you? -from “Bodysnatchers” But you keep going. You work harder to pay more. You’ve got a new computer. Ok. Computer. And on it, at least this time, they say you can pay what you can. Really. They say you can have their album for any amount you are willing to pay, even take it for free. It’s all good, at least this once. “It’s all right -from “All I Need” What’s the catch? It’s just one of those perfect days I guess, a taste of of how free and easy life can be. It’s as if you ended up somewhere over the rainbow and can forget for one day the $4500.00 special assessment that needs to be paid, the grim jobs report, the recession, the layoffs, the lawsuits, the foreclosures, the doctor bills, all bills, and all the rest. “No matter what happens now -from “Videotape” Living in rainbows sure would be nice. |
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