{"id":3350,"date":"2013-10-05T21:11:46","date_gmt":"2013-10-06T04:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danielharper.org\/yauu\/?p=3350"},"modified":"2013-11-05T16:04:16","modified_gmt":"2013-11-06T00:04:16","slug":"i-think-they-did-it-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/2013\/10\/i-think-they-did-it-again\/","title":{"rendered":"I think they did it again…"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Oops, I Did It Again,” a song written by Max Martin and Rami Yacoub, has gotten a bad reputation. In an introduction to his own version of the song, Richard Thompson says that unfortunately, the best-known performance of the song was done by “a rather crass pop artist”; yet, Thompson says, the song itself is lovely, with a chord structure “reminiscent of other centuries,” and “if we just take it out of the original hands, and give it a slightly different interpretation, … we can reveal its splendor.” 1<\/a>”<\/p>\n

Since this is such a splendid song, it seems a prime candidate for adaptation: instead of a song addressed to a confused lover, why not make it into a song addressed to some of the people who are behind the growing economic inequality in the U.S.?<\/p>\n

Oops, They Did It Again<\/em><\/p>\n

I think they did it again,
\nThey made us believe
\nThat they were our friends.
\nOh, baby,
\nThey might think act like they care
\nBut it doesn’t mean
\nThat they’re serious;
\n‘Cause to make empty promises
\nThat is just what CEOs do.
\nOh, baby, baby —<\/p>\n

Oops, they did it again,
\nThey played with our hearts,
\nTo them it’s a game.
\nOh, baby, baby,
\nOops, they cut back our pay,
\nTook benefits away;
\nThey’re not so innocent! <\/p>\n

And if those CEOs need
\nMore money to feed
\nTheir corporate greed,
\nOh, baby,
\nLet them cut their own pay
\nGive their perks away,
\nLet’s get serious.
\nWe don’t want empty promises,
\nThey will have to do better than that.
\nOh, baby, baby —<\/p>\n

Oops, they did it again,
\nThey played with our jobs,
\nTo them it’s a game.
\nOh, baby, baby,
\nOops, they cut back our pay,
\nTook benefits away,
\nThey’re not so innocent!<\/p>\n

Oops, they say, “There’s no blame,”
\n‘Cause they have no shame,
\nTo them it’s a game.
\nOh, baby, baby,
\nOops, they think we won’t see
\nHow greedy they can be;
\nWe’re not that innocent!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(I wish I could put my SATB arrangement online — it’s pretty funny to see this pop song in four-part harmony — but it’s important to respect the rights of songwriters and composers.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Oops, I Did It Again,” a song written by Max Martin and Rami Yacoub, has gotten a bad reputation. In an introduction to his own version of the song, Richard Thompson says that unfortunately, the best-known performance of the song was done by “a rather crass pop artist”; yet, Thompson says, the song itself is … Continue reading “I think they did it again…”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,36],"tags":[133],"class_list":["post-3350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political-culture","category-pop-culture","tag-occupy-movement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3350"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3352,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3350\/revisions\/3352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}