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Total ratings: 891
Length: 4:00
Plays (last 30 days): 1
Toss some sausage in the pot
I'm gonna flavor it with okra
Cheyenne pepper to make it hot
You know life is what we make of it
So beautiful or so what
I'm gonna tell my kids a bedtime story
A play without a plot
Will it have a happy ending?
Maybe yeah, Maybe not
I tell them life is what you make of it
So beautiful or so what
So beautiful, so beautiful
So what
I'm just a raindrop in a bucket
A coin in a slot
I am an empty house on Weed Street
Across the road from a vacant lot
You know life is what you make of it
So beautiful or so what
Aint it strange the way we're ignorant
How we seek out bad advice
How we jigger it and figure it
Mistaking value for the price
And play a game with time and Love
Like a pair of rolling dice
So beautiful, so beautiful
So what
Four men on the balcony
Overlooking the parking lot
Pointing at a figure in the distance
Dr. King has just been shot
And the sirens long melody
Singing savior pass me not
Aint it strange the way we're ignorant
How we seek out bad advice
How we jigger it and figure it
Mistaking value for the price
And play a game with time and love
Like a pair of rolling dice
So beautiful, so beautiful
So what
Baby Boomers' Beck. Is it just me?
Just you, paul has more talent then Becky will ever dream of
what more can I say
Peace.
I'm not a big fan either. Don't know why. He is a good songwriter and has a good voice, but for some reason I don't think he's actually lived his lyrics. Don't think he's ever made gumbo.
Yep this does hardly gets a decent. Paul should retire, Go do some oil-painting or so.
Says more about you than this man.
No such thing as "Dad Rock" sport. Try again.
Typo. He meant "Bad Rock."
Dad Rock at its worst
No such thing as "Dad Rock" sport. Try again.
![{#Roflol} {#Roflol}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_roflol.gif)
![{#Stupid} {#Stupid}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_stupid.gif)
Compared to his other work this is merely ‘pretty good’, so a 6 seems appropriate.
Dad Rock at its worst
![{#Stupid} {#Stupid}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_stupid.gif)
The norm for who? What middle ground is there for someone born into the favelas, or the slums of Calicut or Mumbai, or into a refugee camp in Kenya, or who lives on the streets in any North American city? Those people have no choices. Not only will they never be brain surgeons, they will never have enough to eat. They have no middle ground. And there are so many of them that in the larger scheme of things, they represent the norm. And too often, the wealthy and privileged - that's us, my friend - use "life is what you make it" to keep what we have at the expense of the powerless. As far as I'm concerned, the only good reason to say "life is what you make it" is to admonish the whiny privileged, who are born with all the opportunities and squander what they have. Ambiguity be damned.
I think you (and Fred) are imposing a value on an open metaphor (a cliche, perhaps) that doesn't seem to be implied. Why assume that Simon is specifically referencing the poorest of the poor, and not, well, you and I (the "wealthy and privileged", in your words)? Why assume he's addressing a socio-economic model at all? He's using cooking as a metaphor for a life lesson to his kids - and if we assume that Simon is speaking personally, and not in character, those kids are very, very wealthy Westerners. It feels like a stretch to assume he's lecturing the poorest of the Third World, when there's more evidence that he's talking to well-off American kids, and then perhaps it's about reminding the privileged about complacency and entitlement.
And then there's the final verse. We either celebrate great and good or we destroy it. It's our choice.
![CHEESE CHEESES](https://www.cooperis.com/quizzes/cheese.jpg)
I know what you mean, but why is it either or? Either you live in a slum or you're a brain surgeon - those are the only choices? Nothing in between? And surely what's in between is the norm. "it" is pretty ambiguous in the song and I think he's chosen a deliberately vague metaphor - cooking a stew - to cover a lot of options. His idea of "it" - spice - maybe too much for most people, so he's leaving it open.
Your point about "blame the victim" is valid but I think your problem is with the idiots who use it as an excuse for lazy morality/cynicism/racism, not with the cliche.
The norm for who? What middle ground is there for someone born into the favelas, or the slums of Calicut or Mumbai, or into a refugee camp in Kenya, or who lives on the streets in any North American city? Those people have no choices. Not only will they never be brain surgeons, they will never have enough to eat. They have no middle ground. And there are so many of them that in the larger scheme of things, they represent the norm. And too often, the wealthy and privileged - that's us, my friend - use "life is what you make it" to keep what we have at the expense of the powerless. As far as I'm concerned, the only good reason to say "life is what you make it" is to admonish the whiny privileged, who are born with all the opportunities and squander what they have. Ambiguity be damned.
Perfectly true! Still and possibly forever!
Ok, for one. You're born into a Rio favela. However hard you try, the chances of you becoming a brain surgeon are in the millions to one against. Objective conditions militate against subjective improvement. The cliché "Life is what you make of it" is frequently used, in my experience, by those better off to slag off those worse off for being worse off. Or, to use a modern term, it's 'victim blaming'.
I know what you mean, but why is it either or? Either you live in a slum or you're a brain surgeon - those are the only choices? Nothing in between? And surely what's in between is the norm. "it" is pretty ambiguous in the song and I think he's chosen a deliberately vague metaphor - cooking a stew - to cover a lot of options. His idea of "it" - spice - maybe too much for most people, so he's leaving it open.
Your point about "blame the victim" is valid but I think your problem is with the idiots who use it as an excuse for lazy morality/cynicism/racism, not with the cliche.
"Wicked-good"? Are you from New England or something?
No, not from New England - just been hanging around with teenagers too long.
![{#Lol} {#Lol}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_lol.gif)
If you like the fact that he lifted the background riff from Three Dog Night's "Liar" then, yes, he's still got it.
Ok, for one. You're born into a Rio favela. However hard you try, the chances of you becoming a brain surgeon are in the millions to one against. Objective conditions militate against subjective improvement. The cliché "Life is what you make of it" is frequently used, in my experience, by those better off to slag off those worse off for being worse off. Or, to use a modern term, it's 'victim blaming'.
Or another. The phrase is highly ambiguous and can be used to mean pretty much anything. I've often heard smug bar stewards using it in one sense to slag off plebs, only for them to change tack to another sense when you take them to task over their victim blaming. "Oh, I didn't mean to say it's poor people's fault that they're poor - I meant to say that they can make the most of their circumstances if they want to".
Or I could go on, but that would be de trop and frankly way off-topic, and life's not long enough to post long diatribes to web fora.
Tying the meaning of that cracker-barrel cliché down is like trying to nail a jelly to the wall.
![{#Clap} {#Clap}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/eusa_clap.gif)
![{#Music} {#Music}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_music.gif)
"Wicked-good"? Are you from New England or something?
![{#Music} {#Music}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_music.gif)
Toss some sausage in the pot
I'm gonna flavor it with okra
CAYENNE pepper to make it hot
You know life is what we make of it
So beautiful or so what
I'm gonna tell my kids a bedtime story
A play without a plot
Will it have a happy ending?
Maybe yeah, Maybe not
I tell them life is what you make of it
So beautiful or so what
So beautiful, so beautiful
So what
I'm just a raindrop in a bucket
A coin DROPPED in a slot
I am an empty house on Weed Street
Across the road from a vacant lot
You know life is what you make of it
So beautiful or so what
Aint it strange the way we're ignorant
How we seek out bad advice
How we jigger it and figure it
Mistaking value for the price
And play a game with time and Love
Like a pair of rolling dice
So beautiful, so beautiful
So what
Four men on the balcony
Overlooking the parking lot
Pointing at a figure in the distance
Dr. King has just been shot
And the sirens long melody
Singing savior pass me not
Aint it strange the way we're ignorant
How we seek out bad advice
How we jigger it and figure it
Mistaking value for the price
And play a game with time and love
Like a pair of rolling dice
So beautiful, so beautiful
So what
Yes, Paul has given us SO much great music over the years, I think we can cut him a little slack on this rather flat effort.
![{#No} {#No}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_no.gif)
Says more about you than this man.
No it doesn't - it just tells us what we all now - that we all have different tastes in music, and in so many other things - and there's very little explanation for it - it's just the way it is. It also reminds us how we can react when we see a message or opinion we don't like... we/you attack that person :(