Owen Pallett has a great article on Slate explaining why Daft Punk's and the song
" Get Lucky ", was such a huge success through the lenses of classic Western music theory.
It may be a little technical but, if you know a bit about music it's fascinating stuff.
This bit is not music theory but very interesting too:
... let me draw your attention to the irresistible abuse of the word good:
"We're up all night for good fun" vs. "Remind me to spend some good time with you."
... First, this is a specifically Francophonic idiosyncrasy; native English speakers do not ask
their lovers to remind them to spend " good time " with them, nor do they identify " good fun "
as their motivation for staying up all night.
... Secondly, the weighting is all wrong.
Good is a word that needs to fall heavy, needs to be placed at the beginnings and endings of phrases.
Remember Sir Paul McCartney's placement of good in " Good Day, Sunshine "—always settling on heavy
syllables. " GOOD day SUNshine." " I'm looking GOOD, you know she's LOOKing fine."
Worlds away from its apostrophic weighting in " WE'RE up all night for good FUN."
For Daft Punk and Phoenix, this little bit of language mangling works in their favor.
It sounds off-balance and playful and sexy, like a foreign exchange student who might be a little drunk.
As any European—foreign student or not, myself included—can tell you, this is all true.
The effect feels like being Kal-El and coming to Earth from Krypton. ( The Movie, Superman ).
Regards.
" Get Lucky ", was such a huge success through the lenses of classic Western music theory.
It may be a little technical but, if you know a bit about music it's fascinating stuff.
This bit is not music theory but very interesting too:
... let me draw your attention to the irresistible abuse of the word good:
"We're up all night for good fun" vs. "Remind me to spend some good time with you."
... First, this is a specifically Francophonic idiosyncrasy; native English speakers do not ask
their lovers to remind them to spend " good time " with them, nor do they identify " good fun "
as their motivation for staying up all night.
... Secondly, the weighting is all wrong.
Good is a word that needs to fall heavy, needs to be placed at the beginnings and endings of phrases.
Remember Sir Paul McCartney's placement of good in " Good Day, Sunshine "—always settling on heavy
syllables. " GOOD day SUNshine." " I'm looking GOOD, you know she's LOOKing fine."
Worlds away from its apostrophic weighting in " WE'RE up all night for good FUN."
For Daft Punk and Phoenix, this little bit of language mangling works in their favor.
It sounds off-balance and playful and sexy, like a foreign exchange student who might be a little drunk.
As any European—foreign student or not, myself included—can tell you, this is all true.
The effect feels like being Kal-El and coming to Earth from Krypton. ( The Movie, Superman ).
Regards.
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