RIP Whitney Houston

* If you have a feminist bone in your body, some of her hit songs should anger you on some level. On the drive in this morning, I heard a song called "How Will I Know," which was one of her No. 1 hits. It is catchy, but the content is cringe-inducing. Basically, she is taking on the persona of a delicate, unworthy flower who is just too shy to approach the oh-so worthy boy she desires. Now, whether Madonna's strain of feminism hurts or helps the cause is up for debate, and I'm sure that debate will rage on for years after her eventual passing. Some see her overt sexuality as empowering. Others may see it as debasing. However, I know this: If the singer of "Like a Virgin" had been handed the lyrics to "How Will I Know," the writer would have quickly been laughed out of the studio.

-To me, "How Will I Know" is a song about young, innocent love. It's about butterflies.
It's about standing near the popular boy you like in high school and wondering if he knows your name. I don't get the feminist angle at all. Maybe I have better perspective, having once been a teenage girl with a bad perm, braces and a handful of crushes on popular senior boys. That song made sense to me. It's not beautifully written, by any means. It's not freaking "Hallelujah." But a lot of teenage girls could probably relate to the message. Girls like boys who don't like them back. That's not feminism. It's reality. It's simple. It's part of life.

 

Some people overthink this shit. (The writer you're referring to, not you, CB)

 

Saving All My Love For You is about banging a married guy.

 

She chose the life of drugs over her love of music and family. Tragic is the death of Tommie Harris' wife. This death is pathetic. Whitney Houston has been irrelevant since the day she married Bobby Brown. As she said in the 2002 interview with Diane Sawyer, nobody forced her to do anything. She chose the slow death.

 

What Dick believes other Whitney Houston songs are about:

"I'm Your Baby Tonight" - prostitution
"So Emotional" - bipolar disorder
"Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" - medical marijuana
"I Will Always Love You" - necrophilia

 

Yeah, that's great. What does it have to do with Phil Collins though?

 

I'm going to keep holding off . . . but the gargantuan mistake that and is Bobby Brown is the 800-pound gorilla in the room.

 

But he does nail her level of talent. She was the real deal, like Gooden and Tyson, but we only got to see it for a little while.

 

Oh, he should have appeared on last night's show just so they could open a trap door and he would walk down into a fiery pit.

 

Actually, Phil Collins basically sang the male version of "How Will I Know":

Sussudio

There's a girl thats been on my mind all the time -
sussudio
oho.
Now she don't even know my name

But I think she likes me just the same - sussudio
oho.
Ah
if she called me I'd be there
I'd come running anywhere.
She's all I need
all my life

I feel so good if Ijust say the word - sussudio

Just say the word - oh
sussudio.

Now I know that I'm too young

my love has just begun - sussudio
oho.
Give me a chance
give me a sign

I'll show her anytime - su-sussudio
oho.
Ah
I've got to have her
have her now

I've got to get closer but I don't know how.
[ From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/p/phil-collins-lyrics/sussudio-lyrics.html]
She makes me nervous and makes me scared

But I feel so good if I just say the word - sussudio

Just say the word - oh
su-sussudio
oho.

Ah she's all I need
all of my life

I fee'l so good if I just say the word - sussudio

I say the word - oh
su-sussudio

I say the word - oh
sussudio

I'll say the word - oh
su-sussudio
oho.
Just say the word
just
just say the word

Just say the word - su-sussudio
sussudio
sussudio

Sutsudio
sussudio
sussudio.
I say the word - sussudio
I say the word -
oh
just say the word.

 

No kidding. Their poor, poor daughter.

 

Here is the video for Phil Collins and Philip Bailey and "Easy Lover".

Now, ff to the 1:15 mark. This is how two men used to hug when men were men. A full-on embrace. None of that sissy, light 'bro-hug' today's men use.