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25 October, 2009

Whatever Happened to LFO?: An "Every Other Time" Lyrical Analysis

Recently, scrolling through my ipod while riding the t,  I've been harkening back to my childhood through song. A lot of what I'm listening is mid-to-late 90s boy-band pop songs.

Most (if not all) of the songs I listened to back then I only knew about because they had a huge amount of radio play. As a bookworm with no money and before the invention of Limewire,  how else would a pre-teen have found new music except through the saving grace of the radio waves? The INTERNET? Scoff scoff. (I wasn't allowed to use the computer without parental consent.)

LFO was (and is) still a popular choice.  LFO stood for "Lyte Funky Ones," which is a great indicator of the type of music they made. (Crap.)  I LOVE LOVE LOVED LFO's songs because they were played often on the radio and they were catchy. They talked about things that were near and dear to me (summer love, girls who wear Abercrombie and Fitch) and the guys in the band were seemingly very cute (to my 13-year old heart.)

My favorite song of theirs was "Every Other Time," off their album "Life is Good." (They loved the three-word phrase. Lyte Funky Ones. Every Other Time. Life is Good. They found a recipe for success, and they rode that puppy to 'til the bitter end.)

"Every Other Time" is about a rocky high school relationship. They highlight other opposites to demonstrate the opposite-nature of their love. What follows is lyrical gold:

"Sometimes it's black, sometimes it's white
Sometimes shes wrong, sometimes I'm right
Sometimes we talk about it or we figure it out, but then she just changed her mind
Sometimes she's hot, sometimes I'm cold
Sometimes my head wants to explode
But when I think about it, I'm so in love with her-
Every other time"

Tell me you haven't had a relationship like this (at least in high school.) Note the poor grammar, improper verb tenses, and the nameless "it" that changes color. After the second chorus, the best lyrics born by any boy-band ever were made:

"Sometimes we sit around, just the two of us on the park bench
Sometimes we swim around like two dolphins in the oceans of our hearts

But then I think about the time that we broke up before the prom
and you told everyone that I was gay.
Ok.
Sometimes I walk around the town for hours just to settle down
But I take you back, and you kick me down
'Cuz thats the way- uhhu uhhu- I like it."

...What? So many questions raised here, LFO.

I like to think of this as "the prom debacle." In real life, if your girlfriend told everyone that you were gay, would you just shake it off with an "ok"? Probs not. 8-1 you would have broken up. This is high school we're talking about. Kids be ruthless. But in song-world, he laughs it off and chalks it up to the nature of their relationship. And though I can't fully comprehend the metaphor that LFO is going for, I like the idea of swimming like two dolphins in the oceans of our hearts. Also note the gratuitous reference to KC & the Sunshine Band's "That's the Way (Uh Huh Uh Huh) I Like It." Why did he take her back, just to use those lyrics? Genius.

LFO gave me the hope that one day I, too, could write top Billboard hits. Their lyrics were so nonsensical that they probably just used a random phrase generator to string ideas together. Take, for example, their hit, "Summer Girls", which debuted at #3 on the Billboard Chart. (#3!)
"Hip Hop Marmalade spic and span, met you one summer and it all began
You're the best girl that I ever did see, The great Larry Bird Jersey 33
When you take a sip you buzz like a hornet, Billy Shakespeare wrote a whole bunch of sonnets
Call me Willy Whistle cause I can't speak baby, something in your eyes went and drove me crazy
Now I can't forget you and it makes me mad, left one day and never came back
Stayed all summer then went back home, Macauly Culkin wasn't Home Alone
Fell deep in love,but now we ain't speaking, Michael J Fox was Alex P Keaton
When I met you I said my name was Rich, You look like a girl from Abercrombie and Fitch

New Kids On The block had a bunch of hits, Chinese food makes me sick.
And I think it's fly when girls stop by for the summer, for the summer."

If we were to divide the song between the girl-romance storyline and the informative, unrelated pieces here's what we get:

"Met you one summer and it all began, you're the best girl that I ever did see
When you take a sip you buzz like a hornet, something in your eyes went and drove me crazy
Now I can't forget you and it makes me mad, left one day and never came back
Stayed all summer then went back home, fell deep in love, but now we ain't speaking
When I met you I said my name was Rich, you look like a girl from Abercrombie and Fitch

And I think it's fly when girls stop by for the summer, for the summer."

Why... except for the fact that it doesn't rhyme, this is actually a half-decent song! Now let's look at the lyrics that were omitted:
"Hip Hop Marmalade spic and span
The great Larry Bird Jersey 33
Billy Shakespeare wrote a whole bunch of sonnets
Call me Willy Whistle cause I can't speak baby    (Ed. Note: What?)
Macauly Culkin wasn't Home Alone
Michael J Fox was Alex P. Keaton.

New Kids On The block had a bunch of hits, Chinese food makes me sick."

What? We're left with some interesting pop-culture tidbits and a bunch of uncomfortable facts about the singer (possible speech impediment and he has an allergy to Chinese food.) Not a song, just mostly random. But edifying? I guess. And this was top five of the Billboards in 1999.

Oh, LFO. Why aren't you still popular?

2 comments:

  1. read the lyrics.. and figure it out.. and it is an you sol..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Didn't read the whole blog, but must comment real quick on the 3 word phrase: my favorite LFO song - "The Reason Why". Good eyes, Flynn, good eyes.

    ReplyDelete