Innocence, pepperments

Posted Jan 5, 2012 By Desmond Devoy

EMC Editorial - How do you dodge Bruno Mars' afternoon delight?

Not that I'm all that caught up on Mr. Smoothmoves personal relations, much though my daughter loves the video for 'The Lazy Song', but I am certainly glad that she is too young to know what is really being said in the song's lyrics.

She's just delighted at the sight of monkeymen dancing and clowning around in Mars' bedroom. As are we all.

But one of the standard gifts from the Granny for that hard-to-buy-for tween girl on your list is K-Tel's Mini Pops CDs. My sister got one, yes, on LP, back in the '80s and the fresh-faced kids singing to the top 40 hits of the day is still around.

(My mother once darkened the door of a music store at Shoppers World - or, Shoppers Third World as it was known in its pre-renovation days - and asked for a copy of 'Big Slimy Tunes'. The nice man with the nose ring and tattoos behind the counter smiled and pointed her in the direction of the 'Big Shiny Tunes' collection.)

But 2011's crop of music, and Mars' 'Lazy Song', pose a particular problem. Yes, there's the clean version of Cee Lo Green's 'Forget You', and Pink 'Perfect', but Mars' song is a little bit more tricky, especially these lyrics: "Turn on my P90X/Meet a really nice girl/Have some really nice ..." Well, you can rhyme, and figure out what's on a young, single man's mind.

My wife and I had some fun coming up with alternate lyrics that the kids could sing out. My wife came up with, "Meet a really nice girl/Ride my BMX," while I kept it old school, and old world, with "Meet a nice Gypsy girl/place a really cool hex."

It would certainly work with the Twilight fans, that's for sure.

Now, Lady Gaga's 'Baby I Was Born This Way', was on the CD too. "Don't be a drag, just be a Queen" can certainly be read as an empowering message.

Don't feel down in the dumps, feel like the good person you really are, would be the 'Up With People' way of looking at it. Of course, there's the pride week way of looking at it too, but sometimes, you can enjoy the music, without necessarily delving into the deeper meaning of the words.