#ranting and raving | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rollercoasterwords · 2 years

Text

the tiktokification of ao3

or: some of you fundamentally misunderstand ao3 and it really, really shows

i was talking about this with a friend a few days ago and since then i've seen multiple posts of various sorts that have just made me think about it more, so. here is me breaking down a disconnect i see particularly with younger members of the marauders fandom (i say marauders specifically just bc that's the only one i'm plugged into):

okay, so i've seen many (usually younger) marauders fans either talking online about how they wish ao3 was more like social media (specifically regarding algorithms) OR talking about ao3/fanfiction/fanfic writers as if they are operating under the same etiquette/guidelines/assumptions they would bring into social media platforms. this ranges from being mildly irritating to genuinely harmful, and i want to talk abt why.

first - you have to understand that social media, in this day and age, exists in a profit economy. and when i say social media here, i'm referring to platforms like tiktok, twitter, instagram, etc. all of these platforms exist in a profit economy where content is a product that can be monetized. this leads to a few important distinctions:

people posting on these social media platforms are generally posting with the intent to get their content seen by as many people as possible, as quickly as possible

they post with this intent because once their content is consumed by enough people, it becomes a product that they can monetize

therefore, if that content gets popular enough, these people can become influencers, where content creation is an actual job and their audience are, in a sort of vague and obscured way, similar to consumers purchasing a product

because of the profit economy surrounding social media, there are certain assumptions + forms of interaction that bleed across almost all social media platforms. the ones relevant to this little essay include:

operating under the assumption that anyone posting anything on the internet wants to go viral, ie. be seen by as many people as possible as quickly as possible in order to grow an "audience"

these influencers are creating content for us, their audience, so they should want to please us. they should also be trying to appeal to the broadest possible audience. therefore, if we dislike their content, we have a right to make that very, very clear.

in that same vein, we have a general right to critique content creators, as they are making a profit and we are the consumers purchasing their product--much like you might feel entitled to a certain standard of service in a restaurant where you are paying for the food.

when you carry these assumptions over to a platform like ao3, it creates problems. why? in a nutshell: because ao3 exists outside the profit economy

ao3 is a non-profit. it does not have an algorithm because it is not trying to sell you anything. this means that the writers posting their work on ao3 are not making a profit. we are not influencers. we are not creating monetized content to sell to a consumer-audience. where consuming content on other social media platforms might be comparable to eating at a restaurant, reading fanfiction on ao3 is more like coming over to someone's house and eating cookies that they made for free. you are in their house. the cookies are free, given as a gift. so what happens when those assumptions outlined above start to bleed over from other social media?

assuming that anyone posting fanfiction online wants their work to go viral -- i've seen this with popular fic writers getting questions like, "are you worried x isn't going to be as popular as y?" those questions are usually not ill-intended, but they demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding about why writers post work on ao3. it's not to go viral. it's not to build any sort of online following. most of us who post on ao3 have jobs or schoolwork or other commitments, and writing fanfiction is something done for fun, out of a love for writing. those sharing their work online might be seeking community, but that is fundamentally different from seeking an audience, and in no way involves internet virality. if someone is posting fanfic on ao3 with the hope that it'll "go viral," then they likely either won't continue writing fanfic for long or will reach a point where they have to re-evalute their motivations, because seeking joy and validation by turning your art into a product for consumption just isn't very sustainable.

influencers are creating content for us, so we have a right to let them know if we don't like it -- nope!! fic writers are not influencers. yes, even the popular ones. no matter how much other people might blow their work up on social media, fic writers are still outside the profit economy. they are not creating content for an audience. they are not creating content for you. they are writing because they love it, and they are generously sharing it. if you don't like it, don't interact with it. you are never entitled to loudly and publicly proclaim how much you dislike a fic. i talk about this more here

we have a general right to critique fic writers, the same way we do with content creators/influencers -- again, no. you should not be treating fic writers the way you would treat an influencer on another social media platform, no matter how popular they may be. this is not to say fic writers are beyond all reproach; rather, it is a call-in to check your entitlement. fic writers are not little jesters entertaining in your court. they are not subject to your whims. they do not have to do things for you. they do not have to write things you like. in that post i linked on point 2, i talk about what etiquette might look like if you're really concerned that a fic writer is doing something harmful, but that is not what i'm talking about here. i am talking about the proliferation of negativity i have seen, especially on twitter and tiktok, where people essentially just talk shit about fics or fic writers as though they are entitled to have those fic writers working to please them. this is gross, and it needs to stop. you wouldn't go over to someone's house, eat the cookies they baked to share, and then spit those cookies back in their face and start shouting about what a shitty baker they are. or maybe you would--in which case, congratulations! you are Not A Good Person.

anyway, at the end of the day, a lot of this can be boiled down to: Because ao3 exists outside the profit economy, fic writers are not influencers, and you should never be treating them as though they are. i think i see this disconnect largely with younger people just because they've maybe only ever really understood social media within this sort of influencer-consumer-culture economy, and genuinely don't understand how to interact differently with the internet. so, consider this post a call-in to reevaluate the way you interact with fic writers and the etiquette you use when it comes to engaging with fanfic on ao3! i promise that ao3 being different from social media is a very, very good thing, and also a very, very rare thing, so let's treasure it and focus on fostering community rather than trying to morph it to fit the mould of influencer-audience dynamics that we see almost everywhere else <3

#tldr: fic writers aren't influencers #stop acting like they are #it only creates problems!!!!#anyway if you have engaged in some of these behaviors that doesn't make u a bad person #it just means u should maybe shift ur perspective moving forward #capitalism is a lifeless desert that grows every day and ao3 is a little oasis #let's all enjoy it while we can #instead of trying to place it within a consumer economy #ranting and raving #txt

20K notes · View notes

trixree · 2 years

Text

I hate using the language of "canceled/canceling" because it feels delegitimizing but this thing with John Mulaney and Dave Chappelle is a situation where canceling can be something positive and meaningful. On the one hand, people have overblown canceling as this rabid force attacking everyone and everything. On the other, it's become a glib "oh no, don't let the libs cancel you" joke for ultimately pretty harmless shit. But this is someone immensely popular with a platform and a large audience inviting an infamously transphobic comedian to deliver a surprise transphobic, homophobic, and weirdly ableist opening on their tour and then calling that person their best friend.

The first tweet hits particularly hard because it's a reminder that being the butt of a joke that 12,000 people laugh at isn't very far from being the victim of a hate crime. It's not just offensive, it's fucking dangerous. It's demonstrably unsafe.

Transphobia isn't "brave" or "unsanitized comedy", it's a crucial tool for maintaining the status quo of interpersonal and legislative violence.

So yeah, cancel John Mulaney. Hold public figures accountable for targeting us, over and over again.

#trixree speaks #ranting and raving #tw: transphobia #queer tag #john mulaney #dave chappelle #trans rights

4K notes · View notes

cosmicjoke · 4 months

Text

Why in God's name are so many people on this site obsessed with Levi's sexuality? What the fuck difference does it make to anything? I swear, I'm this close to turning off anon asks, because nobody will shut up about it. Stop projecting. Just because you're obsessed with your own sexuality doesn't mean everyone and everything has to be like you in order to have value. I think that's the thing that pisses me off the most. These people only seem to care whether Levi likes men or women, and nothing else about his character is worth discussing or caring about. He's literally just an avatar to them, to use as a stand-in for themselves or as a stand-in for their fantasies. Fucking write your own OC if seeing yourself "represented" is so important to you.

Anyway, I've got some news for these people. Levi is an ideal man. He isn't really like anybody. He represents the hero archetype within the story of "Attack on Titan", and so few people in reality are actually heroes. How many of us would actually be willing to do what Levi does? Give up our entire life for the sake of others? Give ourselves over completely to the dreams of others? Live our life entirely for others? He's more like what people should strive to be, rather than what they are. It makes him not so much relatable in terms of us seeing ourselves in him, but more so relatable in being what we all wish we could be.

Certainly, some qualities of Levi's may be relatable, such as his social awkwardness, his difficulty expressing himself in words, his violent temper, etc... But the core of him, the essence of who he is, is idyllic. The depth of his compassion and selflessness, that's what matters most about Levi. That's what defines him. Not whether he's sexually attracted to men or women. But not many people can claim for themselves that level of empathy and generosity, so instead they latch on to what they can relate to. They become obsessed with whether Levi is queer or not, and if he's not, then apparently he isn't worth shit.

Anyway, yeah, I've just had it with these idiots. Stop asking me about Levi's sexuality. I don't care what it is. We don't know what it is, and it doesn't matter. Stop acting like you do know. You don't. It shouldn't ever matter to anyone. The fact you think it does, the fact it's the obviously most essential and important aspect of his character to you (even though it's a completely irrelevant and unknown aspect of his character), shows your own, inherent bias. You're unable to accept anyone who isn't like you. You have to make every character into yourself. Just stop. It's unbearably tedious and stupid.

#Levi Ackerman #attack on titan #shingkei no kyojin #ranting and raving #done with this shit

99 notes · View notes

snowe-zolynn-rogers · 1 month

Note

u don't sound like ur taking this well

Ya know what? I'm not taking it well!

(vent under the cut)

We can't have a single character that used to be evil have a good, decent, or even proper redemption arc. The writers have proven this over and over with three different Eclipses, Old Moon, Kill Code's shamble of a redemption arc, Old Blood Moon, New Blood Moon, very likely New Eclipse, and now Ruin/Jigsaw.

It is absolutely ridiculous that the writers have decided that, instead of properly putting together a cohesive storyline where someone formerly evil can change and redeem themselves, they would rather go kill-crazy.

I find it absolute bullshit that Lunar is the only 'bad guy' that has ever received a proper redemption arc and, even then, it was never a redemption arc, but instead a realization of being abused and turning to the only other people Lunar had at the time (Monty and Moon).

And, on top of that, Solar is the only person we have seen (besides the one-off with Moonless Sun, who we've never seen or heard about since) that is apparently 'allowed' to be a good person from another dimension. And, as much as I love Solar, I refuse to believe that Solar can be the only person to come from their own dimension to the main dimension and become a part of the daycare family that can be a good person.

I find it absolutely ridiculous that they can't find a single dramatic plotline that doesn't involve making a formerly evil character evil again. Let alone that the writers don't seem to know how to space out or even properly solve dramatic plotlines at all.

#sun and moon show #sams #five nights at freddy's #fnaf #snoweyanswers #anon #vent #tw vent #ranting and raving #foaming at the mouth #slowly losing my mind #and my interest #tw cursing

26 notes · View notes

mr-saavik · 2 years

Text

#laura!!!!!!!!!!#twin peaks #ranting and raving

1K notes · View notes

alharringtonfan · 1 month

Note

honestly I haven’t been that involved with the whole Alex stuff but am I somewhat not surprised how Chezz and many others are acting this way since the whole “the holier than thou” and “oh don’t worry guys I’m unproblematic and safe uwu” stuff some analog makers have if that explains it and please correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t one of the people that “came out” like also tried accusing Martin of the same shit? Like what.

Honestly I don’t wanna accuse people of anything but I would not be surprised if one day something similar comes out about them.

it’s just feeding a monster that will soon come to bite them in the ass.

I'm pretty sure it's Mitcha who started the grooming thing (always has to be them huh). They also went against Alex but the thing that confuses me is that they warned him about Ven making a callout doc... so, are they a hater or not? I don't know about that whole thing really well because I'm a donut specialist© but searching around the alex tag you'll finds tons of information about them.

100% my friend. Alex tried the same thing back then with Urbanspook and it just reflected back to him like a boomerang. This thing with pretending that you're better than everyone else is complete bullshit, because good people don't have to prove to anyone that they're good in the first place. Same thing with humility. People who are humble don't go around screaming "LOOK! I'M HUMBLE!!! LOOK AT ALL MY GOOD ACTIONS!!" because they don't need to. They show it through their actions and people see them and recognize them as such.

Chezz and Martin are disgusting people that try to mask their filth with a facade of kindness and acceptance. They try to pander to as many people as possible to convince the world that they're genuinely "good"; and to do that, they go for the narrative that's most widespread and accepted by the general public. Because if they would dare to even think about going against the masses, people would pile up on them. And they will do ANYTHING to prevent it from happening. What Martin fears the most (aside from cats apparently) is people hating on him. The guy is so fucking insecure that some mean things said about his series prompted him to take a year-long break. Oh and on this topic I recommend that you check out Radal's reaction to The Walten Files. It's funny and it pisses off Martin so win-win. Their public image is everything they have, they don't care about being genuine. If people will pat their backs and praise them for their behavior and "courage", that's good enough in their books. Same thing with donut, the slanderer queen and master of the anti-alex death cult.

So, don't ever trust people who are too overly accepting of everything, everyone, all the time. Especially if it is compatible with modern culture and media. EVERYONE has the things that they hate, the things that they disagree with. Milquetoast creators like Alex Kaizo and Tyler Osborne, who will just nod along to whatever their audience says and not even conjure a single original thought of their own because they're too afraid to face backlash are fake. They're all plastic without a hint of morality in themselves.

Also, it will DEFINITELY bite them in their asses. Believe me. Kwite and Squizzy collaborated with Slazo's ex girlfriend to try and cancel him over false allegations of abuse. Both of them got canceled. Alex went along the mob and tried to cancel Urbanspook because that was the hip new thing to do at the time. He got canceled as well. It's just something that happens on the internet, and it'll never change because people are willing to remain or at least pretend to be dumb if it gives them likes and a bit of notoriety. Nobody is perfect, and if a meh relationship was enough to get Alex to face all this shit, who knows what will be the catalyst of the next drama. Martin and Chezz are horrible people that do not deserve the audiences that they have. I am without a doubt when I say that they HAVE done something infinitely worse than this. Chezzkids is a serial clout-chaser and grifter, who let the little "fame" he got after calling Urban names (just like the toddler he is) get to his head and inflate his ego to an immense degree. People who are too full of themselves and think they're the best of the best mess up due to a lack of forethought. They are so confident in their abilities that they won't even think about if what they're doing is the right decision to make. And that's why the twat won't ever back down. He's too egotistical to accept defeat just like Ven's cult members defenders. If Chezz is willing to stain the relationship he had with Alex over some crappy highschool level drama, you can already pinpoint his morals and character, and how he truly treats others within his vicinity.

Martin has a server with a security tighter than the CIA. He's afraid to bite the hand that feeds him but it will punch him back when time is most appropriate; despite the lengths he will go to try to keep his image squeaky clean. One can only imagine the shit he has in there and when it'll eventually surface.

Urban "boogeyman" Spook is a better person than 99% of these cardboard cutouts that dare to call themselves creators. They can only destroy. All they create is hate, the sole things they know how to spread are lies and manipulation. They're nothing more than greedy, hateful, cowardly sycophants.

Phew. I feel a lot better now. Thank you for the ask, anon! I hope you're doing fantastic today 🫶

#ask #sue gang rise up #ranting and raving

17 notes · View notes

hecketernal · 5 months

Text

Sig's Foreshadowing (Or Lack Thereof)

(Spoiler Warning: Cause I am talking about major spoilers in the Jak and Daxter games, even if it is an older game series.)

It kinda always bothered me how they handled Sig's spywork in Jak 2. I know Sig isn't the main character (and hell they might have not even planned him being a spy until Jak 3), but all the other characters who are spies or double agents get a moment or two of build up or foreshadowing. ((Unless everyone else is just super shit as spies and Sig is just that good whilst still not managing to find Mar))

Tess gets the scene with Torn as well as the scene where she explains that she is a spy to Daxter. Kor gets all the scenes where his reactions foreshadow/make sense with the knowledge that he is the metalhead leader. Ashelin gets her own scenes to show how she works against her father. So...Sig's lack thereof just kind of sticks out like a sore thumb to me.

I really wish we had gotten more development there. Instead of the mission where Sig sends you into Haven Forest to take care of special camouflage metalheads (which like...why the hell would Sig even care if there were special metalheads in the forest), we could have had Sig sending Jak into Haven Forest to take out guards that have prototype camouflage armor. Sig can't risk blowing his cover, but Jak is a KNOWN Baron Praxis hater. Jak as per usual wrecks the KG's day. They could have then had the last KG enemy drop a data chip or something with Sig then asking for it. Hell, I wouldn't have complained about a full on cutscene with Sig rockin in after Jak takes out the KG. I'm just imagining the scene with Jak walking away with the camera lingering on Sig, as he wonders aloud, "What are those Krimson Guards up to out here?" Hell, maybe let the man look at the data chip with a determinded look.

#Sig #Sig jak and daxter #jak and daxter sig #jak and daxter #jak 2 #jak 3 #so how obvious is it that Sig is one of my all time favs?#lmao it's not like almost all of my aus revolve around patching the plotholes around him #but yeah i kinda just wanted to rant and bitch about it #give sig more screentime and development dammit #ranting and raving

34 notes · View notes

iammistressofmyfate · 5 days

Text

Ranting and raving

I've been working in therapy about remembering that I am an adult.

So much of the contention between me and specifically my mom is that my mom can be a bully. She has a lot of strong opinions about things and will unabashedly express her opinions. She'll try and belie this with saying that "it's your life" but like... will just carry on.

My SO and I are buying a condo.

I'm not on the deed or title for reasons that we discussed and agreed on.

I haven't really kept my mom in the loop about this because it's my life and my relationship and she doesn't need to know. But I kind of let it slip and she was quite upset and saying that she didn't think me not being on the deed or title was a bad idea.

Now I feel "bad" because I "did something wrong" when like, I didn't. It's my life, my decision.

To add what feels like insult to injury, my brother is getting married this weekend and I'm in the wedding and will have to spend the weekend with my family with this whole "you're not on the deed" hanging over my head.

I'm doing my best to remind myself that I can do what I want and my mother's opinions don't matter in regards to my life because she's not living my life.

I would just love for people to support me and be happy for me, even though I'm doing things differently...

So now I'm not even excited about getting this condo and I'm dreading this wedding because I'm going to be made to feel like the problem.

We ended our phone call fine (my mom and I) and she wasn't angry per se, but like "disappointed" that I had lied (by omission)... but goddamn, why can't I just not have to worry about this BS?

#ranting #raving #ranting and raving #irl venting #mothers

6 notes · View notes

noirshadow · 1 year

Text

#absolutely deceased #ranting and raving #this chapter omfg #lore olympus #hades and persephone

102 notes · View notes

milkchuu · 8 months

Text

i just saw a post that said "i want more media with no drama and no problematic characters where nothing horrible happens" and someone responding "do you even want a story?"

i lost the post before i reblogged it, so i'm gonna make my own.

i want more media where bad things don't happen, where tensions aren't high, where the stakes are low and where all the characters are good people. i want more comfortable, happy slice of life books and shows and movies. i want media that feels like a nice warm hug after a hard day. media that comforts me, gives me joy and hope. i don't wanna stress over a story, or have a crisis over liking a character who's a bad person (i have slight morality ocd). i want to pick up a book and not take damage

i want more media designed to be a comfort, a sip of joy. i don't want to get attached to characters and see them suffer for hours. i want to get attached to characters and then see them be happy and do cute stuff like adopt animals or go on coffee shop dates or study at the library for an upcoming final

a story doesnt need to be gut wrenching and thrilling to deserve to be told

#this my inspiration to be a writer #i'm gonna write so many cute comfort novels #media #rambles #ranting and raving #comfort media #comfort character

26 notes · View notes

rollercoasterwords · 2 years

Text

i don't want to hear about your diet i don't want to hear about your weight loss "journey" i don't want to hear about your clothing size i don't want to hear about your "healthy alternatives" recipes i don't want to hear about your fucking nutrient dense protein pancakes or your green juice super smoothie metabolic booster lemon water cayenne honey tea i don't want to hear about your workout routine i don't wanna hear about your slimming shapewear i don't want to hear about how much you hate your arms or legs or stomach or hips i don't want to hear about how "bad" you've been for eating too much dessert i don't want to hear about the number on your scale i don't want to hear your casual fatphobia dressed up in the language of "wellness" or the excuse of self-hatred!!!!

#sorry i simply. am so beyond pissed off #i'm never going to congratulate you for your stupid fucking diet!#i'm never going to congratulate you for weight loss!#i'm never going to commiserate with you over weight gain!#saying oh sorry but i'm just insecure abt my body isn't a fucking excuse #i'm sorry but i DON'T CARE!#work on ur fatphobia or shut the fuck up and hate your body privately #like i know it's a hard pill to swallow but being afraid to be fat is something you should actively be challenging!#and no matter how wrapped up in the language of wellness it is #anything you share or say publicly about wanting to make your body smaller is only ever going to contribute to fatphobia #no matter how rooted in personal insecurity it is #tw fatphobia #tw ed #sorry babes but dieting IS disordered eating. it is #ranting and raving #txt

2K notes · View notes

therecordconnection · 4 months

Text

Ranting and Raving: "Come Dancing" by The Kinks

youtube

When looking at the British Invasion of the sixties, there is something known today as “The Big Four.” That group refers to the four bands that led the musical invasion on American shores: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and finally, The Kinks. The Kinks were entered into that club way later than the other three. It took more time for people to realize that the band were of the same caliber and helped pave the way for a lot of music we hold dear today just the same as the others.

But the Kinks ended up having a wildly different career trajectory than those other three. Mostly because they were banned from playing in America from 1965-1969.

The exact reasons for why tend to boil down to this: When attempting to tour America in 1965, there was tension between primary songwriter/guitarist/vocalist Ray Davies and his brother, guitarist Dave Davies (who also had beef with at-the-time drummer Mick Avory, sometimes losing it and fist-fighting him on stage), they all had beef with their tour promoter, Betty Kaye, who was unable to pay them in cash (which was the agreement that was made and unable to be fulfilled due to poor ticket sales at the beginning of the tour) and when that happened, the band was pissed and decided to retaliate against her. This in turn led her to filing a formal complaint with the American Federation of Musicians (basically the organization who has the power to withhold work permits for overseas musicians in the event that, you know, they piss you off and are difficult to deal with). That complaint held weight and the band were, well, banned from playing in the states. By the time the ban was lifted in ‘69, the British Invasion was over and done with and the tastes had changed.

In a way, I think this actually ended up being a blessing in disguise for them. The other three bands they’re grouped with all ended up getting Americanized in some way due to spending extended time here and trying to appeal to us. By contrast, The Kinks were stranded and remained aggressively British, so they stayed weird and their music remains all the more fascinating to Americans because it wasn’t made with any of our sensibilities in mind. The only times the band snuck over here and scored a Top 40 hit twice during the seventies. “Lola” was the big one in 1970 (peaked at #9 on Billboard) and “Rock and Roll Fantasy” was the other one in 1978 (peaked at #30). So as far as America is concerned, the seventies weren’t the best decade for the band in terms of chart success. They would go mostly ignored.

The Beatles, The Stones, and The Who all had a great time here in the seventies... but the eighties belonged to the Kinks, who had a way more fun time during that decade than any of them. By the start of the eighties, the Beatles had been broken up for a decade (one of them would be dead by the end of 1980, one of them sits out most of the first half of the decade, one of them doesn’t know what the hell they’re doing, and one of them is Ringo) the Stones were about to go on autopilot and enter suck for a decade, and the Who were quickly suffering burn out. On the other hand, The Kinks had been enjoying critical and commercial success and enjoyed experimenting with the new wave and punk sound that had been sprouting up in Britain. It certainly helped that a lot of new wave and punk bands loved them and were covering their songs. Listening to albums like 1981’s Give the People What They Want and 1983’s State of Confusion are good examples of Ray Davies’ versatility and adaptability as a songwriter. He just seemed to understand the changing times better than the rest of the old British Invasion bands. I mean, bloody hell, you don’t call an album Give the People What They Want unless you’re damn sure you know what they want. The Kinks have five songs that have been Top 10 hits on Billboard: “You Really Got Me” (#7 in 1964) “All Day and All of the Night” (also #7 in ‘64), “Tired of Waiting For You” (#6 in 1965), “Lola,” and finally, their last and quite possibly the best song Ray Davies wrote in his long career, “Come Dancing” (#6), released in April 1983 (for America, Britain had it in October ‘82) and our subject today.

“Come Dancing” is one of those hits that defies most explanations. By all accounts, Americans at the time should’ve wanted nothing to do with it and it never should’ve been a hit here. By the time the song hit its peak in July 1983, It didn’t fit in with anything else that was on the Top 10. That is, unless there’s a part of your brain that thinks the Kinks can share a playlist with the likes of The Police, Irene Cara’s “Flashdance... What a Feeling” (from, you guessed it, the movie Flashdance), Michael Jackson, Culture Club, and Kajagoogoo, which sounds like a name I made up, but I swear to god I didn’t. Adding to the anomaly is how Ray Davies didn’t write this with an American audience in mind at all. For starters, he makes no attempt to hide his accent (although Ray is so aggressively British you’d have to be the most daft and schtewpit wanker alive not to notice). Other giveaways are how the song talks about dance halls (which is primarily a British concept. He also uses the French word “Palais” to mean “dance hall,” which only further alienates us Yankees) and the song borrows its title from a popular British dancing show, Come Dancing (it’s mostly known today through its revival, Strictly Come Dancing).

“Come Dancing” is mainly concerned with two topics: 1) It’s a song examining the changing times and memorializing the past. The dance hall of Ray’s childhood is long gone and has been replaced with several different things ever since. 2) It’s a story song about his older sister, Rene. More on her later.

If this song became a hit for any reason, it’s because Ray Davies’ ear for melody never failed him. That main melody that plays through the song is ridiculously infectious. It does what every great song wants to do: sneak into your brain and have you hum it for a long time after it’s over. Musically, it’s delightfully strange. The chorus has that British Invasion sixties sound that taps into boomer nostalgia (which would quickly wrap the eighties into a vice grip tighter than a rattlesnake) but it never fully consumes the song. The main melody has that sixties sound when played on a guitar, but it’s almost drowned out by the odd choice in keyboard sound, which sounds like something you’d hear on a calliope or a boardwalk in the summer. While being odd, it’s an immediately recognizable sound that works really well. It’s very easy to start dancing to it and, more importantly, it’s such a great melody that it never gets obnoxious or annoying to hear.

The most interesting thing about it is that it’s a melody that feels like it’s fighting to find a spot in a specific time period. Dave Davies’ guitar makes it sound sixties, the keyboard turns it distinctly into 1983, and then it travels back to the big band era of the forties and fifties when horns play it at the end of the song. It’s a melody that’s clearly nostalgic for something, but it and its creator never find exactly what it’s nostalgic for. There’s an argument to be made that the entire song is nostalgic for everything and that’s why there’s no specific choice. In that sense, the song perfectly captures that feeling of experiencing changing times. What you knew is gone forever and you’re having to come to terms with the new. The overall production, the keyboard doing the main melody, that new wave sound and Dave’s heavy guitar riffs during the halfway point of the song, and the chorus are all firmly in the new. The keyboard during the verses, the acoustic, folksy guitar heard throughout the song, and the big band horns at the end are all the faded voices of the old trying to be new again. Ray Davies is very well aware of time and the way time changes things as major themes within this song. Those themes show up as early as the first lines of the song, when he lays out the history of the local palais in just four lines:

They put a parking lot on a piece of land Where the supermarket used to stand Before that they put up a bowling alley On the site that used to be the local palais

Local palais -> bowling alley -> supermarket -> parking lot. Anybody who has lived in a small town for decades or has lived long enough to see major changes to places can rattle off history like that to you. Even if you haven’t, sometimes you can just walk into a store and you can faintly see the remnants of what used to be there, possibly something to the tune of, “This coffee shop used to be a Pizza Hut.” Ray Davies establishes that theme from a distance immediately so that he can zoom in just as fast and begin to tackle the song’s real reason for being: a story song about his older sister, Rene.

Ray Davies has six sisters, all of them older than him, but it’s Rene who hit the jackpot and got this song written about her. The backstory of “Come Dancing” is this: Ray wrote the song in honor of his sister’s love of dancing and to honor her passing away from a heart attack on the night of Ray’s thirteenth birthday while out dancing at the local palais. She was also the sister that bought Ray’s first guitar for him (you can see the kid in the music video air strumming a tennis racket, which I’ve always assumed was a nod to Ray being given a guitar). In a 2014 radio interview with NPR, Davies recounted the stories that inspired the song:

...she was told she had severe heart problems, but she loved to dance. And the doctors told her, she walked down the road, she would probably have a heart attack. So she bought me this not-very-expensive Spanish guitar and gave it to me on my birthday. And she - we played a few songs. She played a song on the piano. And I tried to play with her. And she said she was going out now. And I would watch my sister go out. It was a sunny afternoon. And she walked down the road, and my mother stood at the gate. And that was it. And the next morning, we got a call from the police. She'd been - she had died dancing at the ballroom in London in the arms of a stranger. And they came to break the news to my parents. So it was - the birthday was forgotten, but that's irrelevant.

From the last line of the first verse to the end of the song, it becomes a beautiful eulogy about the loss of Ray’s sister and the dance hall that held her happiest memories. The story that Ray tells in that NPR interview is found all throughout the song’s lyrics. Ray mostly focuses on the boyfriends and dates that his sister would go on and even how Ray could see her coming and going (“Out of my window, I could see them in the moonlight / Two silhouettes saying goodnight by the garden gate”). Ray paints a fun, upbeat, and bouncy picture of his sister as your typical fun-loving girl who loves to dance and would make her dates work for (limited) satisfaction.

Another Saturday, another date She would be ready but she'd always make them wait In the hallway, in anticipation He didn't know the night would end up in frustration He'd end up blowing all his wages for the week All for a cuddle and a peck on the cheek

The lyrics stay just as light and peppy as the song they’re attached to. Despite the fact that Ray is writing this song about a woman who passed away twenty-five years before this song existed, the only sadness to be found is the death of the palais (The day they knocked down the palais / Part of my childhood died, just died).

The final verse of the song is the most important part. We’ve established that in real life, the person this song is written about passed away twenty-five years prior. In the song, she isn’t. Ray Davies utilizes the power that comes with being a songwriter and fully rewrites her ending. This part is real: “Now I'm grown up and playing in a band / And there's a car park where the palais used to stand.” These lines aren’t:

My sister's married and she lives on an estate Her daughters go out, now it's her turn to wait She knows they get away with things she never could But if I asked her, I wonder if she would

With this final verse, “Come Dancing” becomes a song that resurrects the past and gives it new life. “Come Dancing” isn’t just a nostalgia song, it’s a resurrection song. A nostalgia song usually is too preoccupied with the yearning for days gone by, the dread that comes with knowing that the old days are gone forever and you wish like hell that they were back. “Come Dancing” isn’t that. The final refrain of the chorus has Ray singing, “Come dancing / Just like the palais on a Saturday.” The key words are “just like.” Ray knows that he can’t literally bring the palais back (or his sister, for that matter), but as a songwriter, he can resurrect the feelings and the memories of the palais on a Saturday. He can resurrect the feelings and the memories of his sister and how she would go dancing.

It’s a beautiful and loving tribute to someone dearly departed. If you believe in any variation of the phrase, “The dead are never truly gone so long as the memories remain,” then this song does what a lot of songs do when they make us think of the people closest to us: it resurrects their memory and helps us remember them and how we carry them with us.

It’s the most unexpected hit they could’ve had during the second half of their career and it remains one of their sweetest and most lovable songs. It represents the romanticism, the cleverness, and the theatricality that made the Kinks such a wonderful band and so distinct from their peers.

“Come Dancing” is the best possible tribute. It brought Ray’s sister and the old local palais back to life every time he and the Kinks played it. They come back to life every time you play it on something. If you have someone special to you who loved this song to death, they come back too whenever you play it. Hell, when Ray Davies eventually leaves this Earth, this song will also bring him back to life every time someone plays it.

Time moves, whether we want it to or not. But if we’re lucky, we’re able to capture a few magic moments and make them immortal. Nothing is ever fully dead so long as there’s someone there to fill it with love and resurrect it.

So, why not come dancing?

It's only natural.

#original post #ranting and raving #the kinks #ray davies #Youtube

8 notes · View notes