Hi,
My name is Surjo and I write and sing songs for a living.
You can hear and buy my new album 'The Key Has Turned' at
:https://www.oklisten.com/album/the_key_has_turned
Well, those are the words of 'Everyone's Favourite Four Letter Word'. You can read and enjoy it because that's what the song is really about. It's about having some fun but there is a small message that runs underneath it.
I've wanted to write this particular song for a while now, but I hadn't put pen to paper for it. The song title had come to me in 2010 or 2011 but that's all I had uptil Nov 2014, because I didn't quite know how to phrase my feelings about that particular word. All the basic concepts were apparent to me, in terms of the versatility of the word. I talk about how it can be used as a verb or a noun in the song, but it can be used as an adjective or an adverb with equal ease. I wanted to write about these things and the unfailing regularity with which it shows up in common speech today, but I didn't have the glue to stick all of the narrative together.
What changed that feeling was when I was in the audience this year at NH7 Weekender in Kolkata. Over the course of two days, a lot of F-bombs were dropped on stage, and they were dropped in a variety of different situations which really had me thinking and that's when the creative juices started flowing, because I wrote the song soon after coming back home(Jamshedpur) from Kolkata.
Three specific acts caught my attention for their use of the F-word. The first was Monica Dogra, who is well celebrated for her many interests and her pursuits regarding those interests. She's an actress, for those who've seen 'Dhobi Ghat' (I haven't, I've heard she's the actress in that movie). She's part of electronic duo Shaa'ir and Func, where she's the Shaa'ir and Pentagram's Randolph is the Func. And then she has own album now which gives her a solo project as well, plus she was the host for the music TV show 'The Dewarists' on Star World. So, Monica Dogra was the second-to-last set on Day 1, and since we were waiting for the last act (Bhayanak Maut, heard a lot about them, and walked out 10 minutes into their set, not to my taste), we sat through her set too, as it was in the adjoining stage to the main stage.
She starts her set, and if I recall correctly, it was her, a cello player and the almighty laptop on stage. I never saw the set, I was just listening to the set, my friend and I had positioned ourself in a manner where coincidentally we couldn't see her on stage. Props to her for trying hard to sing and put on a good show, but the music seemed insipid (to me) and there wasn't much audience reaction (obvious by the lack of noise before, during or after her songs), which led her to using a couple of F-words in her sentences. Now, I can completely understand the frustration of people not being interested in your craft, having been through such times myself, and it is a soul-crushing blow. Her decision to use the F-word was what intrigued me though. Did she use it display her assertiveness? Her level of cool? Her I-couldn't-give-a-hoot attitude? Her aggression? To hide her insecurity? Nevertheless, there weren't too many of those moments, but the appearance of the 4 letter word did interest me some.
Moving on to Day 2, and two artists caught my ear that day with their usage of the 4 letter word. The first one being French duo 'Inspector Cluzo'. A guitar player and a drummer on stage, with more of an act than a band, more entertainment than music, more theatrics than verses and choruses. I don't think there was a single song I watched which they played from start to finish without stopping to talk to the crowd midway (or quarterway, or 20 seconds in to the song). To be fair though, their stop-start nature had me moving back and forth between stages, so I might have missed songs where they did play the entire song without pauses. But their usage of the F-word, while prolific in quantity, was calculated in presentation, as in it was rehearsed. They had a 'F*** The English' narrative throughout their entire act, so they'd stop, blast the English, and then carry on. So it was part of their narrative and executed with a swagger I haven't seen before. That had me thinking again, since the circumstances were very different to Monica Dogra's.
The third band of the day using F-words prodigiously was The Ganesh Talkies. First things first, I like the band, I've bought their album and listen to the songs all the time. I think it's widly entertaining music, and they do write dance as one of their genres and they might be quite right. A lot of that music is super groove worthy. Now, coming on to the F-word scenario. The band was doing quite well in their performance, they were tight, it sounded amazing and the crowd was having a blast. There was, however, one song where the crowd didn't quite get into it. Maybe they were just tired, but the singer took offence to the lack of reaction and out came the first F-word. Again, I understand the frustrations of people not accepting your creation in even the smallest of manners, so I understand her frustration, it's only her choice of words that I didn't understand. But that first F-word wasn't cringe-worthy, it was just tossed out there with just the slightest hint of worry, but the more worrying thing for me was that the first F-word was like a floodgate opening. A floodgate containing a river of F-words. The singer after that went into using F-words quite liberally, to the extent where she had 5 F-words in 2 sentences. Which again got me to thinking, why is she using so many F-words? She might be alienating her audience a bit here, and on cue, some of the people started walking out of the set. Again I pondered over the possible reasons and could come up with the same options as I had for Monica Dogra, and if I were to choose one of those options, I would say it is to hide insecurity (if the people mentioned above happen to read this, please don't get all hot and bothered about what I'm writing, it's my deduction and therefore can be completely wrong).
Nevertheless, these 3 incidents affected my thought profoundly enough where I started thinking up of the lines in the song while I was on the train home. 'You can use it on stage, I hear that's all the rage' comes from this particular experience. I then realized that I would like to narrate it in the form of short stories that bring about the different aspects of the F-word, and I had a blast writing the song and now I have a blast singing it to people and watching their reactions.
So that's the story behind 'Everyone's Favourite Four Letter Word'.
My name is Surjo and I write and sing songs for a living.
You can hear and buy my new album 'The Key Has Turned' at
:https://www.oklisten.com/album/the_key_has_turned
Well, those are the words of 'Everyone's Favourite Four Letter Word'. You can read and enjoy it because that's what the song is really about. It's about having some fun but there is a small message that runs underneath it.
I've wanted to write this particular song for a while now, but I hadn't put pen to paper for it. The song title had come to me in 2010 or 2011 but that's all I had uptil Nov 2014, because I didn't quite know how to phrase my feelings about that particular word. All the basic concepts were apparent to me, in terms of the versatility of the word. I talk about how it can be used as a verb or a noun in the song, but it can be used as an adjective or an adverb with equal ease. I wanted to write about these things and the unfailing regularity with which it shows up in common speech today, but I didn't have the glue to stick all of the narrative together.
What changed that feeling was when I was in the audience this year at NH7 Weekender in Kolkata. Over the course of two days, a lot of F-bombs were dropped on stage, and they were dropped in a variety of different situations which really had me thinking and that's when the creative juices started flowing, because I wrote the song soon after coming back home(Jamshedpur) from Kolkata.
Three specific acts caught my attention for their use of the F-word. The first was Monica Dogra, who is well celebrated for her many interests and her pursuits regarding those interests. She's an actress, for those who've seen 'Dhobi Ghat' (I haven't, I've heard she's the actress in that movie). She's part of electronic duo Shaa'ir and Func, where she's the Shaa'ir and Pentagram's Randolph is the Func. And then she has own album now which gives her a solo project as well, plus she was the host for the music TV show 'The Dewarists' on Star World. So, Monica Dogra was the second-to-last set on Day 1, and since we were waiting for the last act (Bhayanak Maut, heard a lot about them, and walked out 10 minutes into their set, not to my taste), we sat through her set too, as it was in the adjoining stage to the main stage.
She starts her set, and if I recall correctly, it was her, a cello player and the almighty laptop on stage. I never saw the set, I was just listening to the set, my friend and I had positioned ourself in a manner where coincidentally we couldn't see her on stage. Props to her for trying hard to sing and put on a good show, but the music seemed insipid (to me) and there wasn't much audience reaction (obvious by the lack of noise before, during or after her songs), which led her to using a couple of F-words in her sentences. Now, I can completely understand the frustration of people not being interested in your craft, having been through such times myself, and it is a soul-crushing blow. Her decision to use the F-word was what intrigued me though. Did she use it display her assertiveness? Her level of cool? Her I-couldn't-give-a-hoot attitude? Her aggression? To hide her insecurity? Nevertheless, there weren't too many of those moments, but the appearance of the 4 letter word did interest me some.
Moving on to Day 2, and two artists caught my ear that day with their usage of the 4 letter word. The first one being French duo 'Inspector Cluzo'. A guitar player and a drummer on stage, with more of an act than a band, more entertainment than music, more theatrics than verses and choruses. I don't think there was a single song I watched which they played from start to finish without stopping to talk to the crowd midway (or quarterway, or 20 seconds in to the song). To be fair though, their stop-start nature had me moving back and forth between stages, so I might have missed songs where they did play the entire song without pauses. But their usage of the F-word, while prolific in quantity, was calculated in presentation, as in it was rehearsed. They had a 'F*** The English' narrative throughout their entire act, so they'd stop, blast the English, and then carry on. So it was part of their narrative and executed with a swagger I haven't seen before. That had me thinking again, since the circumstances were very different to Monica Dogra's.
The third band of the day using F-words prodigiously was The Ganesh Talkies. First things first, I like the band, I've bought their album and listen to the songs all the time. I think it's widly entertaining music, and they do write dance as one of their genres and they might be quite right. A lot of that music is super groove worthy. Now, coming on to the F-word scenario. The band was doing quite well in their performance, they were tight, it sounded amazing and the crowd was having a blast. There was, however, one song where the crowd didn't quite get into it. Maybe they were just tired, but the singer took offence to the lack of reaction and out came the first F-word. Again, I understand the frustrations of people not accepting your creation in even the smallest of manners, so I understand her frustration, it's only her choice of words that I didn't understand. But that first F-word wasn't cringe-worthy, it was just tossed out there with just the slightest hint of worry, but the more worrying thing for me was that the first F-word was like a floodgate opening. A floodgate containing a river of F-words. The singer after that went into using F-words quite liberally, to the extent where she had 5 F-words in 2 sentences. Which again got me to thinking, why is she using so many F-words? She might be alienating her audience a bit here, and on cue, some of the people started walking out of the set. Again I pondered over the possible reasons and could come up with the same options as I had for Monica Dogra, and if I were to choose one of those options, I would say it is to hide insecurity (if the people mentioned above happen to read this, please don't get all hot and bothered about what I'm writing, it's my deduction and therefore can be completely wrong).
Nevertheless, these 3 incidents affected my thought profoundly enough where I started thinking up of the lines in the song while I was on the train home. 'You can use it on stage, I hear that's all the rage' comes from this particular experience. I then realized that I would like to narrate it in the form of short stories that bring about the different aspects of the F-word, and I had a blast writing the song and now I have a blast singing it to people and watching their reactions.
So that's the story behind 'Everyone's Favourite Four Letter Word'.
