| Jefferson Starship – We Built This City Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
Ha ha! This is funny and, given how old the comment is (8 years), I"m only taking the time to correct Shuke's comment for the sake of anyone who might read this. Shuke got the Marconi reference right, but that's about all he got right, LOL. Please note that none of what I write here is my opinion. These are facts that anyone who wishes to learn or look up can easily do so. Don't you love the Internet? Let's start with the "La Bamba" song just for the sake of knowledge. The song, "We Built this City," never mentions Richie Valens or his rendition of, "La Bamba." The song, "La Bamba," was not written by Richie Valens, though he did change enough to get partial songwriting credit when it became a hit. The song, "La Bamba," is a traditional Mexican folk song and it is about a Mexican dance. It is commonly sang and danced at Mexican weddings. Richie Valens and "La Bamba" have nothing to do with "We Built this City." Now that that's out of the way ... Shuke must have confused the lyrics, "Marconi plays the mamba," which makes absolutely no sense, for "Marconi plays 'La Bamba.'" Too funny. Anyway, a "mamba" is a big snake. So why would the father of radio, Marconi, be playing a snake? Most folks think that the writers meant to say "mambo," which is a style of music that originated in Cuba a long time ago. The primary lyricist, Bernie Taupin (famous for being the lyricist on nearly all of Elton John's songs) says he originally wrote it about Los Angeles, and it was somber, slower, song with with no happy "WE BUILT THIS CITY!" repetitions. Bernie says his demo is unrecognizable from the song as it was recorded by Starship. He also admitted that the song was probably deserved of the "worst song ever" label that it got from some critics, but he doesn't care because the profits from the hit song paid for his kids' college tuition. In regard to "Marconi plays the Mamba," he said that he meant "mambo," and it might have been an overlooked typo, but thinks that it's more likely that one of the people who changed his version of the song probably made the error when copying the lyrics. I hope that Shuke has taken his own advice and learned the roots and is no longer a "noob" himself. Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to go listen to some Jay-Z. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.