Another four albums down can mean only one thing: it’s Johnny Time. As I struggled this past month with the future of this project, so too does this song take inspiration from the turmoil that has inhabited my very soul. This blog… investing… they could be so easy…
Also, of course, note the influence of JB’s last few albums:
- Write profound-sounding lyrics. And don’t look back.
- Non sequiturs are fine, so long as they rhyme.
- To heck with grammar. (It should probably be “if it weren’t so hard,” but the parrothead in me says “wasn’t.”)
- Jimmy’s apparent new favorite TV show? “I Love the 80s.” Me too, then.
- You can never have enough background singers. Pretend mine are ladies.
Have fun. For this one I must say you can turn the speakers up. It’s my most dance-able so far!
But: the most Jimmy-esque thing of all is the malleability of this song’s chorus for commercial gain:
- “[Blank] would be so easy (if it wasn’t so hard)” I plan to license in innumerable TV spots. (“Backing Up would be so easy…” for hard-drive manufacturers; “Summer colds would be so easy…” for NyQuil; “Blood stains would be so easy…” for Tide.)
- “Lunch Would Be So Easy (If It Wasn’t So Hard)” is the name of my forthcoming frozen-meals product line.
- When I become a YouTube celebrity (along the lines of Justin Bieber, or cats who use toilets) I will hold the “[Blank] Would Be So Easy” fan-vid contest. You cannot exhaust the opportunities. My first submission: “George sure loved his Weezy but her voice was so harsh.”
Brave enough to suggest any? When we do the TBB: Remastered album I will record the best.
The other day, I listened to some of the JB tunes that are in your future. I could see you shaking your head in disgust at what you are to hear. I feel like I should provide you with an emergency exit strategy. Bailing out would be so easy (if it wasn’t so hard).
[Automatic winner. Thank you.]
Actually what’s hard about bailing out IS how easy it would be. So… tantalizingly… easy.
A couple of clicks, maybe a copy-and-paste for posterity, a dose of liquid courage… another dose of liquid courage… and then, shazam! Nothing.
Good song John, with as you say, lots of commercial potential.
I could think of “Getting High-speed Rail would be so easy if it wasn’t so hard.”