somewhat sille, that's me!

Okay, I don't know why I'm doing this (this being singling out another song from MMLP2 and writing about it, because, do I really need to do it? no, I don't.)(...)(oh, how could I not realise it? I'm procrastinating!!), but yeah, I came across another one that I like. It's called Rhyme or Reason, which samples an old song from The Zombies' 1968 Time of the Season. Wow, a 45-year old song... that's o-l-d.

Anyway I like the catchy and almost haunting tune of the original and I like how Eminem has reworked the chorus by changing the words to still rhyme with the original but at the same time turned the meaning of the song the other way around (see comparison below), and how he used the chorus as a Q&A to bring his absent dad into the picture. Even the writer of the song Rod Argent has commented how he "love[s] that it was almost identical in vowel sounds and mirrored the original, but at the same time completely inverted the sentiment of what was being said." Em also did a pretty spot-on impression of Yoda in the song, and oh I learned something from the lyrics: komodo dragons are capable of reproducing asexually, i.e. that the female doesn’t necessarily require a male to lay eggs. You didn't know that, did you? Haha!

excerpt from The Zombies'  original version	excerpt from Eminem's  reworked version
it's the time of the season when the love runs high in this time, give it to me easy and let me try with pleasured hands to take you and the sun to promised lands to show you every one it's the time of the season for loving	it's the time of the season when hate runs high and this time, give it to you easy, when I take back what's mine with pleasured hands, and torture everyone, that is my plan my job here isn't done, cause there's no rhyme or no reason for nothing

probably the only photo of them together

Anyway, it looks like Em tends to write about the same few topics, i.e. the people in his life (or out of it), which are basically himself and how awesome and awful he is, his estranged wife, his beloved kids, his addict mom and his absent dad... maybe it's keeping with the theme of the album (a revisit to the first Marshall Mathers LP), but yeah, he hasn't run very far (except when he creates wacky personas like a serial killer or a deranged fan). So far, I've written about the songs he wrote for his mom and his wife, and now here's this song about his dad.

My first thought was, he's 41, and he's still talking about the dad he never met? But yeah, what do I know about how he feels when I've got my dad around all my life right ? I guess some scars never fade away and time doesn't dish out answers we want. Unfortunately, the missing father figure drove a wedge between his mom and him instead of bringing them closer, and he's said one too many times that he doesn't care about his dad at all or how he's doing and yet, he's referred the old man in as many songs and he still grapples to understand how his dad could just walk out from the family. Actually, I think if I were in his shoes, I'd be as resentful.. I don't know. I'm glad he turned out nothing like his dad. In fact, in a 2010 poll, he was actually voted Best Celebrity Dad, ahead of even Barack Obama. :)