Menomena's "Evil Bee"

I decided that my first post was more introductory than a real post, so I justified to myself a second post, which is really what I was thinking today. I have said it over and over again to my friends and pounded this song and video into their heads, but I want to tell you why it's so interesting to me. It's a song called "Evil Bee" by Menomena, and to me it was the song of the year for 2007.

First, I want to address the musicality of this song. The song starts out feeling as if you are a part of some steam engine or industrial assembly line, which fits perfectly with the song. The bass line is dominant in this song, and it will be stuck in your head for days on end, but you will not grow sick of it. The song flies around, throwing jazzy sax, eerie piano, and diverse drum patterns at you. It's so unique, but it comes together with such an air of dominance, like a well-oiled machine ready to run you over and laughing at your feeble attempts to escape. The end is a slow-motion sequence of the music flattening you to the pavement. The music couldn't fit the lyrics any better.

T0 me, the chorus of the song is one of the greatest lines I've ever heard: "Oh, to be a machine, to be wanted, to be useful." At first, Brent Knopf weakly utters the words, as if curled up in a corner and talking to the himself. By the end he is violently wailing them. Now, the comparison of humans to machines is nothing new, whether in music, literature, etcetera, etcetera. But most depict the machines as an negative alternative to humans because they are emotionless and in no way individuals. However, this is exactly what the protagonist in this song wants. Humans can often be unwanted or be viewed as useless. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there you have no desire to have in your lives. But we see many machines as necessary in our lives. Where would we be without cars, computers, or refrigerators?

The video depicts a bee that is on an assembly line converting a substance into honey that powers bird-machines. When its production goes down and it rebells, it is destroyed by the bird- machine. It insinuates that the bird-machines are in fact treating this bee worse than a machine when in fact they do need it for existence. This bee clearly has feelings, and because the bird-machines show no regards for them, the video is saying that they are the feeling-absent machines, showing no sympathy. The bee must long for the bird-machines' abilities to not feel.

I guess it's open to interpretation by anyone who listens to the song. But here's my thoughts. We often treat people worse than machines, betraying the very feelings that separate humans from machines. In that sense, it is possible for them to want to long for these feelings to not exist. They feel their existence to us is unnecessary and not useful. Just something this song makes me think about.

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