Plenty of superb songs use that word. Abandoning the songs altogether isn’t the answer IMO. Not singing the word is a better approach than never listening to the music.
This sounds like a decent approach, although it might struggle in instances where the n word is key to a rhyme.
For example, in Nas’ NY State of Mind, there’s the sequence:
But just a n___a walkin’ with his finger on the trigger
Make enough figures until my pockets get bigger
If I’m singing along to that, I now tend to leave a blank space rather than substitute another word. Especially because another word which rhymed could easily be mistaken for the real thing!
I would absolutely never use the word in casual speech, but there was a brief period in the past where I felt that it was more respectful to the artist/material to use the words exactly as written.
However I realised that I would only ever do that when I was alone - and thinking about why that was the case made me rethink what was really most important and stop doing even that.
[email protected] for more 😁
Just finished Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 for the umpteenth time. Always a classic.
That’s funny, I’m literally just about to start The Year of the Flood (it’s on the bed next to me), the second in that Atwood trilogy! I thoroughly enjoyed Oryx and Crake when I read it a while back.
Hello doggy :-)
House music :-)
Croatia (which was part of Yugoslavia when we went!), New York, and Mauritius. All spectacular in their own way, and I would love to visit them again.
Beef is fabulous. Utterly nuts, and some much fun.
I know people who use subtext, and they’re all cowards.
Jam is a great shout (as are the others!). Such a messed up show.
Could maybe throw in The Day Today and BrassEye as well.
Colombia
Columbia
Colón
Colombo
Columbus
Colomb
Colom
Uhhhh… Just one more spelling, Sir, if you don’t mind…
Dancing Queen by Abba. Something about the baseline makes me feel physically sick (literally, not figuratively). Can’t bear it.
UK here - dearly wish we would take up the No Kings thing… 😔
Idris Elba and Dominic West will always be Stringer Bell and Jimmy McNulty for me.
John Goodman will always be Dan from Rosanne for me. And Buscemi will always be Mr Pink 😁
Mid 40s here - I mostly listen to stuff I’m already familiar with (albeit a pretty wide range, or at least I think so), and/or stuff which is from the same eras/genres/etc, particularly if it’s something acknowledged as influential on something else I know I like
Eg 1 - I’m a huge R.E.M. fan, and via them I discovered (some time ago, admittedly) artists like Patti Smith, the Velvet Underground, Leonard Cohen, etc.
Eg 2 - I am very much into house/techno, and have discovered so much great stuff old and new via a regular recommendations event on BlueSky (#RaveyardShift, Saturday nights from about 10pm, UK time, if anyone is interested!)
Eg 3 Although I don’t do this so much any more, I found that getting Tidal to generate a radio station based on a single song I like is often a great way to discover other great music in that genre whether it’s funk/soul, hip hop, post punk or whatever.
In all of the above, almost none of it is new… but it’s usually new to me, and that’s good enough.
I used to worry that I wasn’t keeping up with new music, but after a while I realised that that’s ok - there’s really no need to worry about that as it’s literally impossible to hear everything, so just find stuff you enjoy, let others do the same and don’t worry about it.
As an aside, I’m not religious at all, but I’ve long had this concept of “heaven” as a place where you simply have the time and resources to experience EVERYTHING you could ever want to. Every song, every movie, every flavour, every sensation, etc.
That’d be kind of cool. Although I’m conscious that that’s the Côtes du Rhône talking… 😁🍷