Also, I encourage you to watch the video (linked above) if you enjoy unnecessary reaction shots, impassioned pleas to statues of Abraham Lincoln (presumably to suspend habeas corpus or something in order to allow Starship to keep on rockin'), statues of Abraham Lincoln that spontaneously come to life in order to rock out, floating emotionless disembodied heads, oversized killer dice that terrorize entire populations, and of course, big hair!
Let's get it on!
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll / Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
I like songs that get right to the point. Here. Listen. See this city? We built it. On what? Funny you should ask. Not on bricks or mortar or asphalt or dinosaur bones, but on good old fashioned rock and roll!!! It's a metaphor, you see, because obviously you couldn't ... I mean it would be ridiculous to suggest that ... heh heh. Ahhhh.
OK, now that that pesky chorus is out of the way, let's bust out the first verse.
Say you don’t know me or recognize my face / Say you don’t care who goes to that kind of place / Knee deep in the hoopla, sinking in your fight / Too many runaways eating up the night
Clearly this song wants to rebel against something, but I'm not sure what. I'm not sure the four writers of these lyrics really agree on what, either.
Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, don’t you remember / We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
I was going to make an obscure joke about Guglielmo Marconi here, but after a little research it appears this lyric actually refers to Guglielmo Marconi. My goodness. Marconi's Wikipedia entry reveals that not only was he a Nobel Prize winner and a pioneer in wireless communication, but was, later in life, "an active Italian fascist and an apologist for their ideology and actions such as the attack by Italian forces in Ethiopia." Umm, maybe not the guy to whom you want to hitch your fake-counter-culture wagon here, Starship.
Wikipedia is silent on whether G. Marconi ever actually played the "mamba," which is a kind of snake. Did you mean "mambo"? Maybe "samba"?
Or, maybe we should take this literally and believe that an early 20th-century Italian inventor is attempting to play a deadly reptile like a musical instrument. Makes about as much sense as any other interpretation.
Hold on a second ... Marconi!!!! LOOK OUT!!!!
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll / Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Phew. That was a close one.
Someone always playing corporation games / Who cares, they’re always changing corporation names
Yeah! Take that, CORPORATIONS!!! How dare you establish yourself as a legal entity for the purpose of doing any kind of business! You suck!!!! Except, of course, for RCA Records, the good people that marketed and distributed this song.
We just want to dance here, someone stole the stage / They call us irresponsible, write us off the page
What are you angry about? Seriously. I'm getting sleepy.
It’s just another Sunday, in a tired old street / Police have got the choke hold, oh then we just lost the beat
What? How do these lyrics make any sense together? The first line makes me think everything is boring and people have stopped rocking because of complacency or something, but then you tell me the police have "got the choke hold," which then caused you to "lose the beat."
I think the songwriting process for this tune was like an exquisite corpse-type scenario in which Bernie Taupin and his collaborators would each just contribute one line, then pass it off to the next person, and so on until this #1 hit was complete!
Who counts the money underneath the bar?
Probably the bartender.
Who rides the wrecking ball in two rock guitars?
Ummm .... I don't know. Ronald Reagan? Anthony Michael Hall? Is this a trick question?
Don’t tell us you need us, cause we’re the ship of fools / Looking for America, coming through your schools
The exquisite corpse will drink the young wine.
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a belated kudos to reader Jamie P. for the suggestion.
ReplyDeleteGrace Slick refuses to show her face in public to this day, and I think this song has something to do with that. The anti-"White Rabbit" if there ever was one.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been better to acknowledge their tenuous relationship with the original Jefferson Airplane and sing "We built this city! We built this city on L! S! D!"
if Marconi was playing the medieval instrument known as a serpent, he may have named his "Mamba" as a sign of affection.
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, a couple of days ago my 12-year-old son asked me which song I thought was the worst of all time. Without hesitation, I answered, "We Built This City."
ReplyDeleteI stand by that judgment. Good job.
As someone who's endured a lifetime of people wailing "SAAARAH! SAAAAAAAAAAAAAARAH! STORMS ARE BREWIN' IN YOUR EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYES!!!" at me and acting like it's the very soul of wit, I feel it's only fair to warn Grace Slick that if I ever encounter her, she's got a hearty punch in the face coming to her.
ReplyDeleteThis song is even worse though, even if it lacks the personal insult of the other one. Grace Slick is the poster child for the benefits of choking on your own vomit and dying before 30. Live fast, die young, don't make embarassingly awful "rock".
Marconi also founded a company that produced radio sets, mainly in Europe. I know that for a while people referred to the radio by the brand, and since this song was written by some Europeans, I take it to mean that the radio is playing some mambo or samba music and the writers got the spelling wrong.
ReplyDeleteSarcasm as a substitute for objective analysis.
ReplyDeleteYou know what makes the song even worse? That it's SO DAMN SINGABLE! It's been stuck in my head for weeks now, and shows no signs of leaving. Sure, I can use "Wake me up Before you Go Go" to silence it for a while, but even a solid chaser of "Karma Chameleon" can't keep it quite for long!
ReplyDeleteThe song is about the legal problems the various factions of Jefferson Starship/Airplane/Starship were having at the time.
ReplyDeleteThe truth is that the song may widely be regarded as the worst of all time, but it's obviously a song that people love to hate. So why is that? Because, as awful as it is, it's also great. It's fucking fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI understand that the lyrics don't make sense, but its pop!!
DeleteI have always wondered, "What is it, exactly, that made this song become the 'Worst Song Ever'?" - as it has been billed". After reading just a little bit about this issue, what I have learned is that the group of people that dislike it so much (...because of what? Their 'taking sides' in a 'John-vs-Paul type' of interpretation of the breakup between an old band and one of its members?) is more knowledgeable (and skillful) than most in two things concepts: 1.) Human nature dictates that people are much more apt to latch on to something negative than latch on to something positive; and, 2.) The PR concept (based on #1) that states "Negative PR spreads exponentially faster than good PR". It's a certified Gold, #1 selling song, is it not? Has anyone from the previously mentioned group done better?
ReplyDeleteGawd! So sad to see ignorant people trying to look knowledgable. There are a lot of things going on in the song (NONE of which have anything to do with Marconi's political views) but do reference to his invention of the radio and first tranmitting trans-Atlantic radio signals. In other words... if not for Marconi's invention, no one would have listened because there would BE no radio... no tv... no MTV Music... no CDs or DVDs... no USB drives and no smartphone or laptop computer for that matter. It is a chain of events that leads to Pop music, blues, swing, rap, hip-hop, goth, heavy metal... whatever you listen to, you owe a nod to Mr. Marconi and his radio.
ReplyDeleteAs far as "building the city"? Yeh. Got that right, too. Much of what was counter-culture music of the time actually DID cause a financial, as well as population, growth and resurgence in major cities, especially San Francisco.
The rest of the song is a political statement just as relevant today as in 1987. Corporations owning the govt, the few controlling the mass of all wealth, thus controlling the masses.
And, the fact that, after so many years, this song is still being listened to in 2009, 2012, 2019, speaks for itself.
Think about it.
It’s now April2021 and that police verse makes sense, tragically.
ReplyDeleteI like the rhythm and the bass line. I like the lyrics. I can remember and sing to the chorus. I can dance to this. I can do cardio to it. Whats not to like?
ReplyDeletePerhaps Mamba sounds better sung there than Mambo or Samba.
Whats wrong with inventing a word?
We built a culture of Rock that reverberates unto this era.
My kids know all the hits from the 70’s and 80’s
Its built on radio….
Thank you Marconi for the invention
Thanks Starship for a song I like to hear…