#96: Why Would Anyone keep going?

🎵We might get lost, but we're okay with that

Oct 07, 2022

Bonjour musical friends!

Here are seven songs (loosely or directly) related to intrinsic motivation. You’ll hear from folks who are: frustrated at the office, finding their path, getting out to vote, hanging loose, and not bothered by the cold anyway.

As always, you’ll find the single songs as YouTube videos below, and the expanding playlist on my Spotify playlist:

If you enjoy this selection, find previous ones here and sign up below to receive my next posts by email:

9 to 5 · Dolly Parton

I don’t need to introduce this anthem for frustrated office workers. I’ll add this cool analysis by Karen Nussbaum, a labor campaigner whose organisation (called 9to5) supported women in the workplace, and inspired the 1980 revenge comedy of the same name (starring Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin). Here’s what she told NPR about the lyrics in 2019:

"I think the song is brilliant," Nussbaum says. "It starts with pride: 'Pour myself a cup of ambition.' It goes to grievances: 'Barely getting by.' It then goes to class conflict: 'You're just a step on the bossman's ladder.' And then it ends with collective power: 'In the same boat with a lot of your friends.' So in the space of this wildly popular song with a great beat, Dolly Parton just puts it all together by herself."

They just use your mind and you never get the credit
It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it
9 to 5, yeah, they got you where they want you
There's a better life and you think about it don't you

A Beautiful Noise · Alicia Keys & Brandi Carlile

This stripped-down piano-and-voice ballad was recorded in 2020 to motivate voters ahead of the US presidential election.

I'm not living to die
Don't stand in a wasteland
Look at me in the eye
Stop living a lie
And stand up next to me
You've got to put one foot in front of another
With a hand in a hand holding on to each other
Go on and rejoice
'Cause you have a voice

Lazy Song · Bruno Mars

Because it’s fun.

No, I ain't gonna comb my hair
'Cause I ain't going anywhere
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, oh
I'll just strut in my birthday suit
And let everything hang loose
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Let It Go · Idina Menzel (and many more, Frozen soundtrack)

A prime example of Disney’s “I want” songs, laying out what the main character seeks and what the movie is all about (see also: Moana, in my very first playlist here).

I picked the video version below because it mixes multiple language versions of the song, and showcases the awesome translating job of Disney lyricists.

It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me can't get to me at all
It's time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me
I'm free

Riez · Stromae

Throughout the song’s four verses, Stromae sings about ambition and goals in apparent descending order: from someone who wants a Grammy award and a ton of money, to a person who just wants something to eat every day. It could be a straightforward criticism of our obsession with possessions and status symbols. But the chorus (an imperative “laugh!”—as in “go on you lot, make fun of me”) also tells stories1 of fantasies clashing with reality.

French original:

Moi plus tard j'aurai une femme qui m'aime
Et des enfants tout plein
Tu sais bien, j'suis pas très matériel
J'veux juste un p'tit terrain
Pas besoin d'un quartier résidentiel
J'construirai de mes mains
Un potager, un vélo, le soleil
Et tu sais, ça me convient
Riez, riez, riez, ouais ouais riez seulement

It’s hard to translate Stromae’s fine mix of social observation, introspection, theatrics and poetry, but just to give you an idea:

Later I’ll have a woman who loves me
And lots of children
You know me, I’m not materialistic
I just want a little plot
I don’t need a residential neighbourhood
I’ll build with my own two hands
A veggie patch, a bike, the sun
And you know, that’s fine with me
Laugh, laugh, laugh, yeah, yeah, just you laugh

Strong · TAUR

I’ve played and replayed TAUR’s song The Constant again and again. (It’s addictive! The video’s so cute and joyful! It makes me feel saudade for London) but chose this other track today, because its lyrics are fitting for the newsletter.

You walked all but the right path
Through the skylight there’s a storm
that makes you dream of places you never went to
But it’s always the same
But how many tries you got
How many failed attempts
When you should belong elsewhere
You could see the cold waves home

We can do hard things · Tish Melton

A balmy guitar-and-voice song that will warm your heart on wobbly days. It also serves as the soundtrack to Glennon Doyle’s podcast of the same name (Melton is Doyle’s daughter).

'Cause we're adventurers and heartbreak's our map
We might get lost, but we're okay with that
We stopped asking directions
To places they've never been
And to be loved, we need to be known
We'll finally find our way back home
And through the joy and pain, that our lives bring
We can do hard things

In this 2-minute video (in French) for Belgian news website La Libre, composer Bruno Letort explains why he picked “Hollywood strings” and the softness of the English horn to translate this narrative into sound.

Why Would Anyone