My iPod #142: be your own PET - Bummer Time

 

The song is not called 'Blummer Time', the person who spelt that is dumb. It is 'bummer', to feel down, to be depressed, to be disappointed in something. A bummer.

For today's post, I'm going to change things up a bit. I will take you through the song, and analyse the lyrics with you. Let's go.

Bummertime! Bummertime!  - The song's name is "Bummer Time"
It's bummertime!
BUMMER!  - Why is it called "Bummer Time"? We don't know. We'll see soon.
(x4)

I'd think about you all week long  - She'd think about who?
My mind constantly singing your theme song  - Oh, so it's like a character in a cartoon or something?
And did you know i looked up to you? - I've felt that way people on the TV at some point in my life.
I wanna be just like you! - Like a superhero kind of thing.

No one knows how it was for me - She was a true fan of this person. No one else cared.
No one knows what you meant to me - She loved this person/cartoon? A bit weird.
Everyone talks about it like they were there  - Self explanatory.
All this nostalgia but nobody cares!  - Talking is cheap. Narrator is stunned at people's ignorance.
Everyone talks about it like they were there
All this nostalgia but nobody cares!  - So stunned, she had to repeat it twice.

I woke up early just for you - Understandable.
I waited all week long for you too - Any child does that if their favourite programme is weekly.
And there you were on my TV - Yep.
It's like you were there just for me!  - Yeah!

Bummertime! Bummertime! - Still don't get why there's a bummer involved.
It's bummertime! - It is annoying when someone doesn't appreciate greatness.
BUMMER! - What more could possibly happen?
(x2)

When the time came I'd play along - Like Dora the Explorer? Man, I hate that shit.
I didn't know that you'd soon be gone - Show got cancelled. Narrator gets older.
And now you're back what can I say? - Show comes back on TV. Person she admired is older.
I can't even look at you the same way! - He looks like crap. Narrator is disappointed.

No one knows how it was for me
No one knows what you meant to me
Everyone talks about it like they were there            SHE CARED SO MUCH FOR HIM.
All this nostalgia but nobody cares!                        ALL THOSE TIMES WERE IN VAIN.
Everyone talks about it like they were there
All this nostalgia but nobody cares!

I woke up early just for you!
I waited all week long for you too     PERSON SHE ADMIRED WAS NOTHING SPECIAL.
And there you were on my TV            HER CHILDHOOD WAS A LIE.
It's like you were there just for me!
BUMMERTIME!                               So that's why the song's called "Bummer Time".

"Bummer Time" is on be your own PET's second album "Get Awkward". It's short and sweet, and totally encapsulates that feeling of disappointment when your favourite TV show returns when you're older and you can barely look at it in the same way you did with amazement when you were a child.

Life's a bitch.

Jamie.

My iPod #102: be your own PET - Black Hole

Well, I never thought that I would ever be locked out of my own house. And yet, I'm typing this to you from my aunt's house because that is exactly what has happened. My sister has my mum's key - I didn't know, my mum didn't know, my sister didn't tell my mum, mum and I went out shopping and now I'm here.

It's fine though. It's fine. Sometimes you just have to laugh about these things. It's just another day, that we'll laugh about in the future. Maybe just me, I don't know about Mum.

So, the song. "Black Hole" is the second song from be your own PET's sophomore and final album "Get Awkward" in 2008. During the time between then and their first album, the band's original drummer left and was eventually replaced by another. I never thought such a small change could affect a band's sound so much, but it apparently did. The songs on the album had clearer melodies, Jemina Pearl drops her singing-talking-wailing delivery that she used for most tracks on the band's debut, only using it for some on "Get Awkward". The band still had the same energy, but there was a clear maturation in their sound.

"Black Hole" is the song for someone who loves violence, hates being bored and loathes the town they reside in because there's nothing to do. When there is something to do, they always end up repeating the same routine. And this sucks for the person in question. The song's not on the international release (it's only found on the UK version) due to 'controversial lyrics' and was instead released separately alongside 2 other songs on the "Get Damaged EP". That's pretty dumb, if you ask me. Sure, 'wanna choke myself on a telephone cord' is a bit rough, but people know that it's not a cool thing to do. Don't they?

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.