Song 39:
"Ain't It Fun" by Paramore
Peak: 10
Year: 2014
Year end position: 47
Alphabetical Songs by Artist: 1/1
Chronological Songs by Artist: 1/1
Video?: Yes
Wikipedia?: Yes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ain't_It_Fun_%28Paramore_song%29
Spotify?: Yes
Today is the fourth day of the "Ain't" run. It's a little different than the previous
three songs, in that if you change the title to reflect correct grammar, you
get "Isn't it fun". That's a versatile
word. It almost doesn't matter who the
speaker is, or what tense you are using, "Ain't" seems to work. I'm beginning to understand the appeal of
such a word.
This is the one and only song we currently have on the blog
from the band Paramore. This also ends a
run of seven consecutive solo men on the blog.
There are some times where I don't think the pop charts accurately
reflect the influence of the act. This
is one of those times. As of this
writing, Paramore has had 10 top 100 songs, and 5 top 40 hits, including two
other songs that peaked at #24 ("The Only Exception" and "Still
Into You"). Lead singer Hayley
Williams has had 2 songs where she was listed as a featured act make the top
20, but those are going to be credited to other acts that were listed first
("Airplanes" by BoB, and "Stay the Night" by Zedd).
For those unfamiliar with Paramore, they are currently a
three person act out of Franklin, Tennessee.
Hayley Williams is the lead singer, and she has been with the band since
its inception. The other current members
(Taylor York and Jeremy Davis) have been with the band since at least
2007. There were a set of brothers who
were original members that left the band in late 2010, leaving just the current
trio.
Paramore has been pretty well represented at awards shows
over the years. This song won a Grammy
award for Best Rock Song, but prior to that, they were nominated for 3
others. I was also able to find that
Hayley Williams won a Kerrang! Award for Hottest Female in 2012. I'm sure she has that one on her mantle right
next to the Grammy award. I've never
heard of it. I guess it's a British
magazine and awards show. Maybe it's a
big deal over there. Like I said, I've
never heard of it. I also see that
Hayley Williams won the Female Fashionista Award in 2009 from MTV
Latinoamerica. As a friend of mine once
noted, "Those entertainers sure do love to give awards to each
other". When you see awards like
the last two, it's kind of hard to argue against that. This also bolsters my claim that the pop
charts maybe aren't the best way to measure a particular act's influence on the
culture.
Getting back to the song, I was trying to figure out what
about this song made it so different from other Paramore songs that it wound up
being the only top 20 song they have had.
I'm not sure I have come up with a good answer for that. The song has some strange instrumentation and
a choir, which makes it stand out a little.
Maybe it just hit the culture at just the right time and the other songs
didn't. I can't really put my finger on
it.
The strange instrumentation that I mentioned before comes in
the form of a xylophone that is pretty prevalent throughout the song. The song opens with a xylophone solo, and it
plays in the background throughout the first verse before dropping out during
the pre-chorus and coming back in the chorus.
That cycle repeats in the second verse.
I can't think of too many times a xylophone makes it into a song, so
maybe that gives this song a little bit of an edge. There is also a choir that shows up at the
bridge and comes back at the end of the song.
That gives the song a little bit of heft, which may be helpful also.
As for the lyrics of to the song, I read that this song was
written not long after Paramore moved their operations to Los Angeles from
Franklin, Tennessee. The song seems to
be asking how it feels to go from being the proverbial big fish in a small pond
to being a small fish in a big pond. As
a matter of fact, the entire pre-chorus is this question asked two times:
" So what are you gonna do when the world don't orbit around you?". The chorus asks the title question
"Ain't it fun?". This question
is obviously being asked sarcastically.
The rest of the song is telling you how not fun things are. Even the
chorus is unsympathetic. They keep
singing " Don't go crying to your mama", which is not the positive
uplifting message that you usually hear from choirs. The take away from this song, is that it
seems that Paramore feels that they made the move and survived, but that they are
commiserating with anyone currently going through the same experience.
There is a video for this song, and I don't think it adds
much to the song. It's essentially the
band being filmed as they try to break various obscure world records. What any of that has to do with this song is
beyond me. It's fun if you are a fan of
the band though, so if you like seeing them in action, it's OK. Just don't expect it to add anything new to
the meaning of the song.
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