kavih Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 And to think I used to know a lot of these lyrics by heart from listening to them while watching Footloose as a kid. Just terrible! "Holding Out For A Hero" Where have all the good men goneAnd where are all the gods?Where's the street-wise HerculesTo fight the rising odds?Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need[Chorus:]I need a heroI'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the nightHe's gotta be strongAnd he's gotta be fastAnd he's gotta be fresh from the fightI need a heroI'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning lightHe's gotta be sureAnd it's gotta be soonAnd he's gotta be larger than lifeSomewhere after midnightIn my wildest fantasySomewhere just beyond my reachThere's someone reaching back for meRacing on the thunder and rising with the heatIt's gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet[Chorus]Up where the mountains meet the heavens aboveOut where the lightning splits the seaI would swear that there's someone somewhereWatching meThrough the wind and the chill and the rainAnd the storm and the floodI can feel his approachLike the fire in my blood[Chorus] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MysterionMuffles Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 really catchy tune but very subtled propaganda. Quite the contradiction to be entertained by something that holds a destructive message. Like enjoying the movie Frozen despite of knowing of its hidden pussy power propaganda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kavih Posted February 28, 2015 Author Share Posted February 28, 2015 really catchy tune but very subtled propaganda. Quite the contradiction to be entertained by something that holds a destructive message. Like enjoying the movie Frozen despite of knowing of its hidden pussy power propaganda. Agreed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shirgall Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 This particular song came back as part of Shrek, and I'm sure it was a callback for the mommies in the audience as the original song was from their generation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. D. Stembal Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 To take a crack at the other side of the spectrum, I present Hall and Oates' Maneater: I vividly remember seeing this video on TV as a child and thinking they were singing about a woman who turns into a jaguar and eats men. In an attempt at ass-covering, Oates claimed that the song is actually about the avarice of New York City. Why use a feminine analogy, then? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shirgall Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Oates: http://somethingelsereviews.com/2014/03/25/hall-and-oates-i-cant-go-for-that-isnt-about-what-you-think-its-about-neither-is-maneater/ “That song is typical of a lot of the lyrics we’ve written over the years: It seems like it’s about one thing, but it’s really not,” Oates says. “What we have always tried to do, and if we have any kind of philosophy for our lyrics over the years it was to try to take a universal subject and somehow make it seem personal so that people could relate to it as if it was a personal thing.” NYC isn't universal... but there is something about this song that is... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatrickC Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 That was a Bonnie Tyler song right? Thanks ETU for the antidote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kavih Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 That was a Bonnie Tyler song right? Yep. I actually came across it on Pandora, because it was redone by some country chick in 2011 (per shirgall's post, if that is the same occurrence). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shirgall Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Well, Jennifer Saunders is an actress, but it holds: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatrickC Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 If only us 80's kids had taken the advice of an 'in the closet' (at the time) gay guy.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. D. Stembal Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 I have been betrayed by my IP address, Patrick. This one I can watch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Livemike Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 To be fair she's not saying she's OWED a hero or that the hero has to do it for free or against his will. She's just saying she's really screwed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManDudely Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 While the lyrics are obviously conveying the message that a women requires a man to save her, rather than being empowered to save herself... the song was used in the penultimate scene in one of my favourite childhood movies, Short Circuit 2, so I have a hard time condemning it. It doesn't actually make any sense for that song to be playing at that moment. The robot clearly doesn't need a hero at this point, nor is it serving as the white knight of some other helpless entity. It was wronged, undergoes a transformation out of a near-death experience, and goes on to bring the perpetrators of injustice into custody all on its own and at great risk to its own continuity of existance, quite contrary to the implications of the song being played. Maybe a rewatch of the film will reveal previously unnoticed sub-context that makes it appropriate, or maybe it was included as part of some deal with providers of other songs for the soundtrack. Bonnie Tyler released an album that year, so it could have just been part of an advertising strategy, combined with a B Movie budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AncapFTW Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 There are so many songs about "Heroes". Here's a much better one that also contains the line "I need a Hero." This one's actually about being a hero yourself, though, and helping others instead of "Holding out for a hero." I think it's good that songs like that have changed. It's a sign that the "White Knight" thing is going away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kavih Posted March 28, 2015 Author Share Posted March 28, 2015 It doesn't actually make any sense for that song to be playing at that moment. The robot clearly doesn't need a hero at this point, nor is it serving as the white knight of some other helpless entity. But the target demographic of that movie were not likely to analyze the lyrics of the song. As long as the song mentions "hero" during appropriate scenes and is upbeat, impressionable kids and ignorant adults won't take notice, which is surely what happened to me when I watched this movie as a kid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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