Jason Mraz

I hate iTunes. I have an iPod, so I have to use it. (I know, I know, there’s alternatives out there, but I have been too busy to really explore them all). The thing I hate the most about iTunes, is that its so bloated and slow. I like something lightweight, because all I really need for it to do, is load songs. My old mp3 player, the creative labs nomad muvo was pretty much a USB stick, with a music player attached. So you plug it into your machine, windows explorer pops up and you drag your songs in.

I do like some things about iTunes though. I like how it keeps a play count of all your songs. So I decided to check out which songs I listen to the most:

Wow. I guess it suffices to say I’m a huge Jason Mraz fan. The Top 28 songs are sung by him (that Tristan Prettyman song? Ya, its a duet with Jason). Being the nerd that I am, I felt compelled to actually chart this data. So I did (despite it being so early in the morning!)

I guess the reason I like him so much, is that his songs and lyrics actually have substance. The thing that angers me the most about a lot of songs today, is that they are so damn repetitive! They all just try to find a catchy chorus, and then proceed to repeat it as many times as possible. A good (or is it bad?) example is Madonna.  I wrote a small script to read in her song line by line, and count the number of occurances of each line. Here’s the results:

6 – tick tock tick tock tick tock
4 – you gotta get em a heart
4 – yeah
4 – we only got four minutes to save the world
4 – time is waiting
4 – no hesitating
4 – dont be a prima donna
2 – youve already got it
2 – we only got four minutes huh four minutes
2 – thats right keep it up keep it up
2 – so keep it up keep it up
2 – say the word and
2 – it must be real just
2 – it better be what you want
2 – im gonna give you what you want
2 – if you want it
2 – if you thought it
2 – if you feel it
2 – ha ha
2 – grab a boy
2 – go grab your girl
2 – are you ready to go
1 – yeah uh
1 – uh
1 – theres enough room for both
1 – the road to hell is paved with good intentions
1 – tell me how bout you
1 – sometimes i think what i need is a you intervention
1 – oh hey
1 – now dont waste time give me desire tell me how you wanna roll
1 – madonna
1 – ive only got four minutes to save the world
1 – im outta time and all i got is 4 minutes
1 – i want somebody to speed it up for me then take it down slow
1 – hey
1 – girl i can hit you back just gotta show me where its at
1 – fricki fricki
1 – come on boy ive been waiting for somebody to pick up my stroll
1 – come on
1 – by the way that you move
1 – but if i die tonight at least i can say i did what i wanted to do
1 – breakdown come on
1 – breakdown
1 – and i know i can tell that you like it and that its good
1 – 4 minutes eh

That’s interesting. The song was originally 84 lines, now its merely 45 lines. That’s like 47% decrease in lyrical contente. Now lets take a look at a Jason Mraz song. Specifically, my favourite song, “Butterfly”:

14 – youve got it all
3 – your talk is all the talk sister youve got it all
3 – you make the call to make my day
2 – youve got everything you need especially me
2 – sister youve got it all
2 – in your message say my name
2 – im coming to shine on the occasion
2 – but you dont fold you dont fade
1 – youre an open minded lady
1 – youre a sophisticated lady oh youve got it all
1 – you know that fortune favors the brave
1 – you got soul you know what to do to turn me on until i write a song about you
1 – well you float on by
1 – well let me get paid while i make you breakfast
1 – the rest is up to you you make the call
1 – thats if you crash and spend the night
1 – ride your tongue along your bottom lip and bite down
1 – or eskimo your nose real close to mine
1 – oh kiss me with your eyelashes tonight
1 – now i see you perfectly behind closed eyes
1 – lets face the fact here its you thats got it all
1 – let me feel you up side down slide in slide out slide over here
1 – in you message say my name
1 – im your pole and all youre wearing is your shoes
1 – im taking a moment just imaginin that im dancin with you
1 – if im making my own
1 – i wanna fly with you and i dont wanna lie to you
1 – i have my days
1 – doll i need to see you pull your knee socks up
1 – dammit you landed on my ear and then you crawled inside
1 – curl your upper lip up and let me look around
1 – climb in my mouth now child
1 – cause i cause i cant recall a better days
1 – cause i cant recall a better day
1 – butterfly well you landed on my mind
1 – butterfly baby well youve got it all
1 – butterfly
1 – because theyre the perfect jumping off point of getting closer to your
1 – and youve got the knack to vivify
1 – and you make my slacks a little tight you may unfasten them if you like
1 – and you have your own engaging style
1 – and lets mood the lights and finally make it right
1 – and i never forget a face
1 – and bend your back and ask those hips if i can touch

The song was originally 66 lines, now its 44. That’s only a 33% decrease in lyrical content. I started this post, hoping to avoid the nerdiness. Sadly, I could not resist and the inner nerdiness burst through. Regardless, I think I’ve justified to myself at least, why Jason Mraz is so great. Now if only they stop nominating him, and actually give him a grammy!