mrontemp: Stronger?

Universal Music Feed - whoops, I mean International Music Feed - was playing this video. I only caught the first minute on my DVR'ed copy, but found the whole thing on YouTube. Universal don't not like embedding, so you gotta follow the link.

Here's the chorus (we'll deal with the verses later):

N-now th-th-that that don't kill me
Can only make me stronger
I need you to hurry up now
Cause I can't wait much longer
I know I got to be right now
Cause I can't get much wronger
Man I been waitin' all night now
That's how long I've been on ya

The lyrics to the underlying Daft Punk song "Harder Better Faster Stronger" are reproducible Here's a bit of 'em:

Work it harder
Make it better
Do it faster
Makes us stronger
More than ever
Hour after hour
Work is never over

Slightly different vibe, especially when you talk to the hands.

Of course, the whole thing reminds me of a Ministry song that I used to play on KRRC back in the last millennium. Not that it necessarily sounded like this live version, but that's the way work goes.

And if you're gonna talk about Ministry, then you gotta talk about the Aggro Mix of one of Depeche Mode's greatest songs.

Which brings us back to Kanye West...sort of.

To clarify the whole Kanye West issue, this material is illustrative:

In the impressive "Jesus Walks"...West is a soldier of God who wants to break racial barriers and bring peace to all despite the hurdles: "God show me the way because the devil try to break me down/The only thing that I pray is that my feet don't fail me now." And: "I don't think there's nothing I can do to right my wrong/I wanna talk to God but I'm afraid 'cause we ain't spoke in so long." He concludes with a dig at mainstream radio: "Radio needs this/They said you can rap about anything except for Jesus/That means guns, sex, lies, and videotape/But if I talk about God, my record won't get played?"...

In the inspirational "Never Let Me Down," guest poet J-Ivy drops these divine nuggets: "I'm not just another individual, my spirit is a part of this/That's why I get spiritual, but I get my hymns from Him/So it's not me, it's He that's lyrical…Let it been known that God's penmanship has been signed with a language called love/That's why my breath is felt by the deaf/And why my words are heard and confined to the ears of the blind."

Despite these overtones, be forewarned: The College Dropout is far from pious, with an array of expletives and lyrical undesirables. One wonders why West so adamantly makes a case for Christ in "Jesus Walks," yet quickly dismisses him via duplicitous party rhymes. The answer is probably in the album's liner notes, where West openly declares that he's not where he needs to be, despite still being on God's side. "Matter of fact, [I'm] far from it," he says. Referring to Bible prophets, he then says that when somebody is given a word to preach, one will always have an excuse. "I don't got no excuse," he reaffirms, then adding, "You spared my life, but somehow I'm still on [stuff]. Amen. You're the Executive Producer of my life."

So what do we do with some of the verses to "Stronger" (which I have edited):

Let's get lost tonight
You can be my black Kate Moss tonight
Play secretary I'm the boss tonight.
And you don't give a...what they all say, right?
Awesome, the Christian in Christian Dior
Damn they don't make 'em like this anymore
I ask, cause I'm not sure
Do anybody make real...anymore?
Bow in the presence of greatness
Cause right now thou has forsaken us
You should be honored by my lateness
That I would even show up to this fake...
So go ahead go nuts, go ape...
Especially in my pastel, my bape...
Act like you can't tell who made this
New gospel homey take six, and take this, haters...

I don't know if you got a man or not
If you made plans or not
If God put me in your plans or not
I'm trippin', this drink got me sayin' alot
But I know that God put you in front of me
So how the hell could you front on me...
'Cause it's Louis Vuitton Don night
So we goin' do everything that Kan like
Heard they'd do anything for a Klondike
Well I'd do anything for a blonde dyke
And she'll do anything for the limelight...

She'll do anything for the limelight:

Donda West, Kanye West's mother, said her son was comparable to Jesus Christ.

"Kanye keeps it real," she said. "He touches the people. You never know how words can save a person's life, physically or otherwise. People like Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi or, in my view, Barack Obama, or Jesus Christ — people whose job it is to tell the truth — I see that in Kanye. Now, people like you are gonna go, 'Oh, Kanye's mom said he's like Jesus!' but ... when you have a gift, you didn't get it by yourself. ... Your truth is your truth."

Donda was in town promoting her new book "Raising Kanye"....

Stop me if you've heard this one before:

Acts 12:21-23 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

21On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22They shouted, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man." 23Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

So much for strength.