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A humorous wake up call about the real nature of most of the television we watch based loosely on Shakespeare's Hamlet.
james curley james f curley radio fade toms cafe manufactured meaning
Artist picture
Songwriter James Curley and his band, Radio Fade, perform rhythmic, rootsy Americana-tinged Folk Rock in the tradition of The Band, Little Feat, Allman Brothers
James Curley & Radio Fade perform lyrically literate original acoustic-electric classic American folk-rock in the tradition of The Band, The New Riders, Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, Little Feat and Little Village.
Song Info
Genre
Rock • Folk Rock
Charts
Peak #1,825
Peak in subgenre #104
Author
James Curley
Rights
James Curley
Uploaded
March 30, 2008
Track Files
MP3
MP3 3.7 MB • 128 kbps • 4:03
Story behind the song
I was channel jumping one night between Hamlet starring Laurence Olivier and various other programs and commercials for pro wrestling matches and bizarre reality shows and these lyrics just came to me.
Lyrics
Like a 21st century Hamlet, I have seen my father’s ghost Slain king on a lazy-boy, eating cheese and Melba toasts Before him pale turquoise haze induced a waking trance Polonius wore a cowboy hat on the Ponderosa Ranch There was Vaudeville in the living room, Broadway in the house If mom was making too much noise, he could always tune it out To work, to eat, perchance to sleep, fill the hours in between With folderol and social glue on a nineteen inch screen TV or not TV ? Begins the soliloquy To paraphrase the Danish prince’s Musings on mortality TV or not TV ? Life begins on channel 3 To see and not perceive Is the real tragedy Something is rotten in the state of Everyday Get us to a nunnery and put the keys away Lest the cameras follow and intrude upon us there Offering a cash reward to the last surviving pair Or fleshing out a sitcom about a pack of zany nuns Whose wacky antics charm us as they make religious puns While buried in the script’s a message serious and sweet If everyone watched more TV the world would be at peace On CNN I thought I saw a threat to humankind One click of remote control ….it vanished from my mind Hamlet laid a trap to catch the conscience of a king But channel surfers cut him off to watch pro wrestling Rosencrantz and Guildenstern work for daytime talk TV Spying on the private lives of stars and royalty Ophelia is branching out and has her own magazine Regurgitating platitudes from pop psychology So I kidnapped Shakespeare and hijacked him to Nepal You can see it all on VH1 on “Where are they now?”
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