Song #816: "MMMBop" by Hanson

Date: May 24, 1997
Weeks: 3

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Much like "Sugar, Sugar" (#219), a song with the title "MMMBop" could only be the most sugary, empty-calorie, for-teenagers-by-teenagers pop song you could imagine. And yet. While it's fairly successful on that level, there's something more to this one.

The thing this song brings to the table is sincerity, which is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. The lyrics are about how painfully brief people's relationships can be, and how it's impossible to predict which relationships will last, and that it's important to hold on to the people who really care about you because those are the relationships that will last. The notion of familial love over romantic love is an usual one for teenagers to sing songs about. And yet that's exactly why the song is so odd. Because it winds up feeling like you're listening to an 11-year-old lecturing you about things he doesn't completely understand yet. Meanwhile, the chorus is "MmmBop. Ba daba doo-wop."

The lead vocals are also painfully sincere. It's a 14-year-old, whose voice is still in the middle of changing, trying to sing as intensely as he can, in as high a pitch as he can still manage. Strained doesn't begin to describe it. This strained sound also makes the lyrics difficult to comprehend. However, you can't deny his enthusiasm, and that's where the vocals are redeemed. He's going for it, and he doesn't care.

Musically, you can't beat the overall tone. The lead and bass guitars are particularly nice all throughout. This is just a fun song. It's been filled with some really dated production hooks, though. Oh, the record scratches. What a terrible fit for this song. That was just the sort of thing that got added to songs in the 90s because that's what music producers figured "the kids" liked. I also don't really care for the breakdown in the bridge.

It turns out this is the version that was deliberately punched up a bit for the radio. There was an earlier version of the song that was a little more natural. I agree that version needs some punching-up, and a lot of the choices that were made were the right ones. But they overdid it a bit.

My verdict: Like it. It's fun, it tries to be deep, and there's no faulting their enthusiasm. I'm pleased that Hanson seems to have grown up and honed their craft.

Song #821: "Candle in the Wind (1997)" by Elton John

Date: Oct 11, 1997
Weeks: 14

This is arguably the biggest single of all time. According to what I can find, it's sold more copies than any other single in both the US and the UK. Worldwide and all-time, it's second only to Bing Crosby's "White Christmas." And it's in a 6-way tie to be the second longest-reigning No. 1 hit on the US charts. Put all that together and you have what I think is the biggest single ever. And boy do I ever not get why.

Princess Diana was a nice woman who did good things and died too young. I don't dispute that she deserved a loving tribute song. Neither do I dispute that Elton John's original "Candle in the Wind" was a pretty good song. I liked that one quite a bit.

But something happens when you re-write the lyrics of an existing song to have a different meaning. No matter how serious your intent, it winds up being kind of funny anyway. So today we see parody after parody of people re-writing this same song for new dead celebrities, fictional characters, and so on.

It wouldn't be so bad if Elton John had just tied the new version thematically to the original song by re-using the melody. But he out-and-out reuses half the lyrics, and that's why it feels like a musical mad lib. "Goodbye [Nickname]. You [positive verb], when the rain set in." It detaches the song from its meaning and makes it less special, especially because it makes it seem easy to re-write for anyone. And thus all the parodies.

All that would be fine if this were just a song that was written and performed as a tribute on one occasion, but it was all over the radio and sat at No. 1 for 14 weeks in the US. And went on to be the No. 1 song of the year 1997, and the best-selling single of all time in both the US and UK. I understand that people liked the song, but I don't understand why they liked it so much that it had to be plastered across the radio for months on end.

The music is pretty good. Elton John is a great musician. His voice is sincere and meaningful. The music is a nice little voice-and-piano piece, with very subtle but well-used string and flute accents. Just like the original "Candle in the Wind," and I've always liked the original song. At least the music in this version hasn't changed in a way that diminishes it.

My verdict: Don't like it. I'd rather just listen to the original "Candle in the Wind."