I love being alive right now.

I've had this infection in my brain. A song I've been listint to over an over. It first came to me when I went to Slumdog Millionaire, finally, and I was like - dam, that's some hot soundtrack. Which I score from a friend.

So I'm listening to it, and then this cut comes on - I'd heard it somewhere before - comes to me and I'm like - dam, that's the song.

It's M.I.A.'s Paper Planes and I've listened to it about twelve times today. I was reading about it last night, and you should listen to it, here's the new official Fucking Smarmy UTube Link, which has the commercial and you can't embed it.

But that's another rant. This tune is really catchy. Like, I just restarted the video, put it on big screen, and watched it again. And cried. And sighed. And restarted it.

So I had to track M.I.A. down, and I was right, she was the Sri Lankan singer who'd been big in England, punk sensibility, and political - her dad was a Tamil Tiger and she supported the movement. And what she said about the song was that she wrote the chorus - all i wanna do - bang bang bang bang (click) ching - is take your money - because she's looking at white folks, looking at immigrants, and the white folks are thinking that all these dirty scum are there to take the money. Except she threw in the guns and money ching to make you think.

So - if you haven't or can't listen to it, the controversy about the song is those gunshots. Apparently, black people can't have songs with shooting or guns in it, but white bands can. So when she did this on Letterman? They first bent the shots different, which was OK, but then took them out totally when it was live. (I should link the article I read about it, I suppose. I hate digging for links, though.)

So then there's M.I.A. herself, Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, who's hot and street and arty and sassy and in other words is another in the series of female vocalists I've gone gaga over.

And THEN, I'm reading about how it's got a Clash sample, and I'm like - dam, I like the Clash. Wonder which one it is? Wonder if I'd recognize the sample? And thanks to a commenter at the lyrics site, they said what it was.

This one I can embed. Heh.



Which is fucking amazing Clash lyrics too. So this chick's got her historic perspective in place (and recognition of what makes a mindsuckingly powerful beat) and it's like DANG.

I love being alive right now.