Today for You Pick the Winner we compare another current pop song with a classic: Cooler than Me and You’re So Vain. In truth, I don’t much care for either song but I’m curious to know which song you think covers the concept better.
And so we have Mike Posner singing about wanting to be able to make someone fall in love with him but failing because she thinks he’s beneath her. One would think such a song would be bitter but, except for a little snark here and there, it’s more of a lament that she thinks he’s not cool enough to notice. It’s a classic nerd theme done in, well, a much “cooler” style.
Contrast that with a song about Warren Beatty in which Carly Simon complains almost the exact same thing: "You think you’re so cool." In this version, however, the song doesn’t admit to unrequited love so freely. Instead it refers obscurely to dreams being “clouds in my coffee” and then foolishly (and repeatedly) asks if the person about whom the song is sung thinks the song is about him. My answer? Duh.
I put it to you, my dear readers and listeners: does Cooler than Me or You’re So Vain better address the question of how a snub by someone out of your league (at least in their opinion) make you feel? Do you get bitter and call them names or do you strategize ways to get noticed? (Don't miss the part where Mark Posner quotes Carly Simon.)
Categories:
folk,
pick the winner,
rock
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