15 Minutes - The Faustian Bargain

During Piers Morgan's interview with Barry last week, he asked (while discussing Spears' issues with the papparazzi) "How much of this did she bring on herself?"  It's an elephant-in-the-room question because "celebrities" rely on exposure via the news media - including freelance papparazzi - for their sales.  Morgan is of the opinion that if one is going to benefit from the enterntainment news media, one needs to pay the piper in some way.  Like in revealing personal details, etc. 

I was flipping through some DVDs in the TV room the other day and ran across a favorite:  the 2001 remake of "Bedazzled" with Elizabeth Hurley as the Devil.  It's not exactly "From Here to Eternity", but it was a fun date-movie with my then-fiance.  New retelling of an old version of the story:  Lead Sap is obsessed with one thing (usually a girl), Mephistopheles slides up to him at exactly the right time, tells him everything he wants to hear, but nothing he needs to hear, Lead Sap gets what he wants, hates it, and risks eternal damnation.

There's a million retellings of this.  First one I remember is Gounod's Faust which has been done to death at Lincoln Center.  (In fact, I think it's been banned!)  There's the original Bedazzled with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, the one that was remade about 10 years ago.  Even the Christian redemption story runs parallel to it:  humanity went its own way, apart from the one that was planned, and a price had to be paid to redeem them.  One in pop culture that is almost buried is the third in the "Oh God!" movie series, Oh God, You Devil, with George Burns in both parts.  That last one is different.  Lead Sap already has the girl.  He's a struggling musician who states out loud that he's willing to sell his soul to be successful.

Sound familiar?

That's me within a blaze of glory / I'd sell my soul in order to succeed

Good thing you brought that forward.  Because that's exactly what's going to happen.

Every tale about someone so driven to success or otherwise gaining something for themselves follows this same tack and all have a few things in common:

• They're inherently unhappy with their lives.
• They feel if they just get That. One. More. Thing. their lives will become suddenly perfect.
• They are self centered to some degree
• They're vulnerable to suggestion and easily manipulated.
• It isn't until they achieve what they want that they realize how much work isn involved.  More often than not, they can't handle it. 
• When the world they've created falls apart, they find themselves in their own personal idea of Hell. 

Whether you believe in the Devil as a real person (albeit a spiritual one) or a symbolic idea, the real-life story often mimics Faust.  Although it's not quite so obvious as George Burns or Elizabeth Hurley offering you your dreams on a platter.  The person whose priorities are out of whack are their own worst enemy.

I don't think these parallels were intentional here.  As usual I could be wrong but that's how it looks from my chair.

In 15 Minutes, the character thinks that fame is everything, the one thing that will make his life satisfactory.  ("15 Minutes") All that matters is being famous - his own wants, no one else is as important.  The people he's auditioning for don't even have names.  ("Work the Room")  The wife isn't mentioned until the 3rd number and only after he's had his first stage of success.  Just enough reward to lure him into the trap ("Bring on Tomorrow")   He gets off to a good start but when he thinks everything is fine, he gets derailed by the usual traps ("Wine Song")

Now that the drugs, groupies, and whatever trinkets and beads his handlers have thrown him have tilted reality, the payment is due.  He gets trapped in a spiral, practically an addiction of needing applause and approval, and feeling lost without it.   ("He's a Star") His friends are gone and the one person in his life he should have been paying attention to has also drifted away.  ("Written in Stone").  He's paid for his fame with his soul.

Next comes Hell.   ("Letter From a Fan/So Heavy, So High")  If it's not bad enough that he can't give any more of himself and his owners keep trying to take from him, you have the fans who have absolutely NO idea what his reality is like.  Even their innocent letters and reaching out is a thorn in the side.   He's surrendered his immortal soul, now he's going to experience damnation. ("Everybodys Leavin")  It was there all along, disguised as a party ("Wine Song").   

Even though he offered to sell his soul, he wants to renegotiate.  He wants some control back.  ("Who Needs You")  But it's hopeless - he can't control anything of what was created in response to his wish.  ("Winner Go Down")  That's how deals with the Devil always work out. 

Rock bottom.  He's given up and admits his failures and his fate.  ("Slept Through the End of the World") 

At the last minute, he is offered salvation. ("Reflection", "Trainwreck")  He gets to start over and if he has a brain cell left, he'll not make the same mistakes again.  ("15 Minutes - Reprise")  Maybe he's figured out that the price of fame doesn't have to be so high.  He doesn't have to offer as much as his soul in exchange.  Negotiate a little this time.  Offer so much but not one bit more.  That and getting his priorities in life straight and it might just work out better.  ("Everything's Gonna Be Alright")

Or, just like in the CD player in my car, the cycle will repeat....

Like I said in an earlier post, there's enough going on in this album to talk about for years.

15 Minutes - The YBA POV Part 2

What can I tell you, life intervenes.  We wore out the kids so I'd have time to work.  So the deadlines are met and the fires are put out, the bills are collected and I can get back to what's important.

So here's where I left off....

Letter From a Fan/So Heavy, So High is one of the songs that's going to get its own post in due time.  The character is in WAY over his head, he can't handle the push and pull of his new life anymore and he has fewer and fewer outlets to vent and people to lean on. 

Everybody's Leavin'
Genius recording strategy on this one.  All echo - like he's talking up an empty well.  He's completely separated from reality, especially himself.  He wanted to spend all his time, energy and attention on himself, and now that's all he's got left.  Except for the "enemies and slaves".  Got a little problem there, pal - they're not the slaves.  You are.  The ones you think are "slaves" are really your caretakers and owners.  And no, they won't leave you alone until you've worn out your usefulness to them.

Who Needs You
Ten feet tall and bullet-proof! And more straight-ahead pop but more of a rockabilly slant a la The Fabulous Thunderbirds, or even Jerry Lee Lewis.  Methinks Barry took notes when he was working with Reba McIntire a couple of years back.  The character seems to be in between completely believing his own publicity (I know where I'm headed / I know what they like) and salvaging the last vestiges of his self-esteem (In tight with me - right / you come when I call).  My children have tantrums like this.  Especially the two-year-old who has the most legendary temper.  Sure I come when she calls - she can't change her diaper by herself.  She may want what she wants but I put her toy on the top shelf and close the gate to the stairs so she doesn't tumble on them.  But she's in charge, by God, in her own mind.  Like at bedtime tonight, she threw a fit because she didn't think she was tired.  Five minutes in her crib she's unconscious.  Yeah, she really knows what she wants.  Same thing.

He's so wound up he can't even believe in the sincerity of a friend (concerned as a friend / yeah I know what you mean / I'm nobody's friend / I'm your money machine)  so if he wants to lean on someone for support, he can't.

Best line in the song:  I'm everywhere 'cause I'm God!

Oh yeah, he's gone.

Next best line in the song:  I can stop when I want to

Who's he trying to convince?

Winner Go Down
Another single-post-worthy song.  Anderson packed a lot into these lyrics - there's a lot to think and write and talk about and he's getting these ideas across in only a few words.
How much of the thoughts in this song are "in the moment, as they happen" and how much are retrospective, after the fact? 

"They love to see a winner go down"

Who exactly, is "they"?  The network news media?  The audience?  The fans?  The non-fans who don't like his music? The girl in yellow down front?  The record company execs?  iTunes?  Amazon?  Half-assed self-important critics from Rolling Stone?  Someone else?

I'm going with the news media since (simulated? real?) news clips are layered over the fadeout.  But the single post would come with exploring the other "theys".

The visual I have with this song is someone bitterly watching Entertainment Tonight or something like it with a story about himself.  The editors focused on something outrageous, got most of the facts wrong, exaggerated what little they got right, and used the result to boost their ratings.  At the character's expense.  And there's nothing he or anyone can do if they want.  Unless the story is completely fabricated and he can prove it in court (like Carol Burnett in 1981)  it can't be fought.  The news media will wrap themselves in the First Amendment all the way to the bank.  If he didn't realize before that he was a piece of meat, it's impossible to avoid now.

Slept Through the End of the World
Strong contender for the most profound song on the record.  All of the character's defense mechanisms, tantrums, rationalizing, avoidance, and sheer denial are useless.  He has no choice but to look himself in the mirror and see what he has become.  It's the key turning point of the story:  he can either go to further lengths to avoid the truth (which is where people drink or drug themselves to death), he can literally lose his mind and go insane.  Or he can choose to build himself up.  You can't really tell at this point what his choice will be.  He's wallowing in the stench of reality.  Focusing on himself not only did not improve his life, it ruined it.  (I'm tellin the shadows and echoes  / shoulda told you / but I was wrapped up in me)  You can't help but feel how exhausted he is - like he barely has the strength to strum the guitar. 

Reflection/Trainwreck
Acceptance.  His mind has made the choice.  He's going to acknowledge the mistakes he's made and put himself together because no one is going to do it for him.  From a mental health standpoint, the healthiest thing he can do, but also the hardest.  Now he's looking back at the mistakes he made and seeing them as mistakes (Maybe I played too hard / maybe I ran too fast)  For once, his pride is going to be his strength rather than his undoing, if he stays in control of his life in the future (something to prove now / they say you're through).

15 Minutes (Reprise)
The work ethic is back.  The sleeves get rolled up again and he gets back to work.  But is he really going to plan his life better?  Or is he suffering from the "smartest guy in the room" phase again?  What is he going to do differently this time around?  What choices are different?  Do those changes make that much of a difference in the long run?  Has he really changed his attitude about pursuing fame with lines like "been there once / I know the road to glory / watch me fly!"  Hmmmmm......

Everything's Gonna Be All Right
It looks like success is back but life is better this time around.  Besides, ever since "Copacabana", you just have to have a dance number, no matter how serious the record is.  (Just like "They Dance" on Mayflower.)  I'd still like to know what it takes to go headlong into fame - 2nd, 3rd, whatever time around - and avoid the pitfalls. 

Congrats Barry ( and Enoch and everybody else who made this record)  There's so much here, and yet so many open doors we're going to be talking about this for years.  And congrats all around (again) for the Top Ten debut.  No one else deserves it more.

Defying Gravity

According to TPTB on the newsgroup, 15 Minutes debuted at #7 on the Top 100 chart.  That's not a typo.  Not 70.  Not 17.  **SEVEN**

So everyone who thought that Barry couldn't make a successful new record of all new material in this day and age, please take a moment to suck it.

Barry--we knew all along you could do it!  That's why we were all over your case when you were announcing more compilation and covers records.  You're better than that, we always knew that.  Do you believe us now??

By the way, belated Happy Birthday!

MUAH!
YBA

BARRY SANG "IF I SHOULD LOVE AGAIN" ON PIERS MORGAN!!!

http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/23/barry-manilow-shares-his-secret-to-coming-up-with-hit-songs/

But they're not putting it on the website.  AAARRGGGHH.  That's what DVRs are for.
There's some other clips but we'll have to stalk YouTube for the entire episode.
It was great, even if he did sing the chorus to deflect a question...   ;-)

There are so many videos and clips and interviews in the past couple of weeks and they come up so fast I can't get to them all (not right away, anyway).  So the best place to find out about the latest interview, etc, is on the alt newsgroup - link is to the right toward the bottom.

15 Minutes - Piers Morgan

So I have work to do last Friday (Happy Birthday, Barry!!) and I set my DVR to catch Piers Morgan Tonight thinking I would follow up on Barry's interview at my leisure.

Well color me pissed.  It's going to air on June 23.  At least I didn't miss it.

If you're like me you can't wait so as soon as I heard about a clip on Morgan's blog, I had to snag it.

Major kudos to Morgan for this quote when Barry talks about Britney Spears and her run ins with papparazzi:  "How much of this has she brought on herself?"  Piers, I want to kiss you on the mouth and make a scene.  I have an epic post on that topic coming up.  Funny that no one is talking about it, rather they're focusing on Barry's last quote of the clip.  ;-)

So enjoy the clip and stick around the last 20 seconds or so, especially.



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