Once in high school, a friend asked me what song I would want to have play every time I walked into a room. It’s the sort of question that made me think about the hypothetical consequences before making the hypothetical decision.
It had to be something that I wouldn’t get tired of listening to, and it couldn’t be too loud. It had to be interesting and expressive, but not something that would become cliché. It had to be unique enough that no one else would have chosen it, but not so obscure and odd that it would alienate me.
I was going through a Devo kick at the time, so I decided on “Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy.” It fit both the hypothetical criteria, and also, it’s a great song.
“Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy” from the album “Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!” follows a five-act, dramatic structure, but it’s just shy of five minutes. The introduction brings you into the song and acquaints you with its theme and style. It builds slowly to the rising action that happens as soon as the vocals are in the mix and then speeds up to the climax. The falling action, albeit short, begins with a pause before the “Slap Your Mammy” portion of the song begins.
What I love about this song is that it tells a story that isn’t a narrative so much as it is a feeling — the feeling that time has passed, events have occurred and emotions have been expressed. But it doesn’t tell a linear, event-based story. If the ultimate objective of music is the call and response of artist expression and artistic interpretation, then “Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy” is one of the few songs that is really music to me, and that’s why it’s my favorite song ever, this week.
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favorite song ever