I’ve had this one in the can for over two years now. I started it right after daylight savings time switched over, when the evenings flip from sunny and bright to dark and lonesome, when the clocks roll back just an hour, but the soul must leap seasons in a day.
Autumn is always a good time to cocoon with my headphones and try on new things. Why not vintage keyboard emulating software? There are many free things floating about the ‘net, plenty of incentive to get your feet wet if you’re already set up to do some recording.
As with every new endeavor, one should take lessons from the best. In this case that would be Kraftwerk, the Kings of Krautrock, who introduced a new sonic vocabulary to the pop world, proving that your garage band need not be built on six strings and cliched teenage dreams.
So here’s what happened: I had the basic tracks down and was about to work out the vocals when #MeToo struck and sucked the air out of the room. All of a sudden the time didn’t seem right to sing:
She’s a model and she’s looking good
I’d like to take her home that’s understood
She plays hard to get, she smiles from time to time
It only takes a camera to change her mind
Know what I mean?
Now of course, Kraftwerk were not boasting about predation, were not celebrating the seedy side of the male gaze, and from what I can gather the “plays hard to get / change her mind” thing is just a clumsy translation to keep the rhyme-scheme rolling. No coercion should be implied.
It’s from their album The Man Machine, a fifteen-minutes-into-the-future sci-fi exploration with tracks like “The Robots” and “Neon Lights,” snapshots of an electrified tomorrow where technological co-depenence is the status quo. Think of “The Model” as a high-concept “Angel Is A Centerfold” with Teutonic characteristics:
She’s posing for consumer products now and then
For every camera she gives the best she can
I saw her on the cover of a magazine
Now, she’s a big success, I want to meet her again
But sans such context, where does that leave the listener? Timing is everything, and nuance was bound to be lost that year. And that’s fine, by the way. Sometimes the collective culture needs to take a hammer to rampant bad behavior. Still, I was in a bind with my latest bobble.
One of these heads is mine, not sure which.
I tried two things to soften the blow: First, switch back to the original lyrics, to the German. That should take the edge off. Secondly, have a lady sing it. Gender-swapping in pop songs is always a fun twist. So I recruited a volunteer, one possessed of innocent voice, to help out.
I thought it sounded like great fun. But still the time wasn’t right, and so I let it sit, unpromoted and nearly forgotten.
But the song came back to mind this week with the news that Kraftwerk co-founder Florian Schneider had passed away at the age of 73. What could be a better time than now? So here you go, as a tribute to the man and his machines, enjoy:
