Sunday, December 03, 2006

Song of the Week: Taylor by Jack Johnson

From Jack Johnson's second album, On and On, it's "Taylor." I had no idea, the first few times I listened to this song that it was about a young prostitute. I think this is because Johnson avoids the modern tendency towards blatant sexualization. The inclusion of Ben Stiller is funny, but probably leads a lot of people away from the actual message of the song.

lyrics:

They say Taylor was a good girl
never one to be late,
complain, express ideas in her brain
Working on the night shift
passing out the tickets
you're gonna have to pay her
if you want to park here.
Well, mommy's little dancer has
quite a little secret:
working on the streets now
never gonna keep it.
It's quite an imposition
And now she's only wishin'
That she would have listened to the words they said, poor Taylor.

Well she just wanders around
unaffected by the winter winds, yeah
and she'll pretend that,
well, she's somewhere else
so far and clear, about 2,000 miles from here.

Peter Patrick pitter patters on the window
but Sunny's silhouette won't let him in
and poor old Pete's got nothin 'cause he's been fallin',
but somehow Sunny knows just where he's been.
He thinks that singin' on a Sunday's gunna save his soul,
now that Saturday's gone
Well sometimes he thinks that he's on his way
but I can see that his brake lights are on

And he just wanders around unaffected by
the winter winds, yeah
and he'll pretend that,
well, he's somewhere else
so far and clear
about 2,000 miles from here.

Such a tough enchilada
filled up with nada
givin' what she got to give to get a dollar bill
she used to be a limber chick
time's a been tickin'
now she's finger lickin to the man
with the money in his pockets
flyin in his rocket
only stoppin by on his way to a better world
if Taylor finds a better world
Taylor's gunna run away

8 comments:

Jake Belder said...

Yeah, including Ben Stiller is a major distraction, but reading the lyrics on their own first definitely helps. I only know one other song from Jack Johnson, but I've heard that he's definitely one who has lyrically depth, unlike all those other shitty new bands like Theory of a Deadman and crap like that.

Dave said...

Cool video.
I like this song--is the rest of the album any good?

John den Boer said...

Jake - yeah, he usually has lyrical depth. I could see how listening to too much of him at once could get annoying, but I find his music soothing.

Dave - I think On and On was his best album, he has two other ones that are also very good but On and On is my favourite. Yeah, if you like this song I think you'd like the album it comes from. Glad you like it!

PietHarsevoort said...

This is indeed a good song, and an entertaining video, but how exactly do the two relate? It seems to me as if the video does the song a disservice, first by interrupting the musical flow and, second, by making a joke out of a serious song.

John den Boer said...

Yeah, anyone watching the video would be justified in assuming it was about a funny little surfer named Taylor.

Aaron said...

i like ben stiller but his antics take away from the song.
i personally like his album brushfire fairytales better than on and on. i think that these are his best albums though.

John den Boer said...

Yeah, Flake is my favourite song from Jack Johnson, but On and On is still my favourite album.

Anonymous said...

Meh

Who deh?

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