Mandingo Cliche
3:29 pm on the 24th of February, 2004What is that anyway? It only seems to be referenced on the internet as a lyric in a B&S song from the soundtrack for a Tom Solondz film (indicentally isn’t the new single good? I mean, not the single but the other songs. I mean the single is good but we knew that already. Oh hang on, I have something to say about this, I’ll come back to Mandingo Cliche later. Bracket, what bracket?
I hate stuff, I’m not sure which particular stuff, this isn’t going to be a rant about The Darkness but I suppose it is connected. I hate that people like what I like. This isn’t because I strive to be individual or don’t want to have anything in common with people, that’s not true. I hate that people like what I like because it means they ruin it. The problem is people like listening to a song. Over and over. and then some more. Or at least that’s what the radio stations think and people listen to the radio, for some reason, the only reason I can think of is that they like to listen to songs over and over. and over again.
For me that ruins a song, and often an entire album too. A good current example is Snow Patrol. I remember hearing Snow Patrol when I was in second year, about 6 years ago, I didn’t really listen to them untill about 5th/6th year (When it’s all over we still have to clear up) and just after this Christmas I got the current album, Final Straw. I really like it, (I’m not going to do a review here, you don’t need it, I’m sure Mr Lumby could though if he’s out there?) but now everywhere you go it’s being played, or rather bits of it are which is worse. One bit in particular is the start to ‘Spitting Games’ which is backing any sporting clips collage you see at the moment. It really annoys me because I hear it too much and it’s overkill. One of the more obvious songs to sing along to, it is catchy and it is good but hearing it too much means I can’t listen to the album any more without skipping the song. And it annoys me. And it’s happening to other bands I like too.
Grrr.
I have a point, just not the words.
Oh, yes, that was something, stupid radio listeners only like what they’re told to like by the radio, Dido anyone?
It has a backlash on me. Just because Snow Patrol are popular now, whenever someone like me asks someone else like me what music they like and the someone else like me responds ‘Snow Patrol’ then the first prerson like me thinks that the someone else like me is just a stupid radio listener, when in fact that’s not true and the someone else like me has liked Snow Patrol just as long as the someone like me. If you follow. I hope you do because my fingers are tired from typing and I don’t want to have to explain it again.
Now where was I? Mandingo Cliche! Yes, what does it mean? I’ll write something about it later maybe.
Incidentally, my PC has just chosen to sandwich a Reindeer Section song with two Snow patrol songs. And Microsoft say they aren’t watching what we do!
February 24th, 2004 at 4:35 pm on the 24th of February, 2004
Excellent. A wandering rant, written in the classic what-delete-button style. I like it.
You’re right of course. As Morrisey sang, we hate it when our friends become successful. It sounds bitter but it’s not. the cycle goes (or went - i seem to have slipped out of touch, bands creep up on me now) like this. Find band. Love band, buy everything. Get annoyed because no-one knows/has heard of band. Get frisson (on a different note one of my favourite words. up there with idol) of excitement cos their single is heard on John Peel. get proud when they make top ten for the first time. get depressed when you see the guy in the oasis t-shirt buying their album at the same time as a r**b*e w**li*ms cd.
thats the way it goes. I could list you bands it happened to with me. stone roses. bjork. there’s more. i came late to b&s - bought If youre feeling sinister just before the boy with was released. You know Matthew Dale? His track record is phenonemal. He played me surfer rosa about a month after it was released, went to see Nirvana when they toured smells like teen spirit cos he liked bleach, and told me about the white stripes almost 3 years ago.
Then theres the others. The ones who didn’t make it, but you love em still. Levitation. Best band i’ve ever seen live. swerevdriver, who i hold responsible for my mild tinitus. Two/three years ago i’d have said Nick Drake, but the last two years, he’s been there in almost every documentary. Not bad for someone whos been dead 30 years. My Bloody Valentine might break late, if Lost in Translation scoops an Oscar, tho I doubt it.
February 24th, 2004 at 6:01 pm on the 24th of February, 2004
I liked your rant too. I don’t know the answer to your title question though.
February 24th, 2004 at 7:16 pm on the 24th of February, 2004
oh, hello Lordy, where’ve you been for so long.
February 24th, 2004 at 11:35 pm on the 24th of February, 2004
As one of those latter-day B&S fans that I know you adore so, I couldn’t help but have my curiosity piqued by your question.
(Incidentally, if you don’t want to hear I’m a Cuckoo-style overkill, probably best to avoid the Radio 2 playlist shows. Though they seem to be the only place I ever hear music that I like these days….)
Ah yes, well, I had a quick trawl of the net, on the vague premise that your question might come up in a hypothetical future pub quiz, and I think I have an answer(!)
Mandingo is a book (seemingly out of print), of which a film and play were made. It’s about slavery, and, somewhat “sensationally”, depicts several interracial relationships between the masters and the slaves. Presumably that would be the clich?.
Storytelling (a film I enjoyed thoroughly, though far less B&S than you might expect, considering they released the soundtrack), is a film in two parts. In the first, “Fiction”, a student, played by Selma Blair, has a brief affair with her esteemed English professor, played by Robert Winston, who is black. She then uses the encounter as the basis for a short story, which is reviewed by his class, and the dialogue in the track is one of the students tearing it to pieces.
It’s just my opinion. I mean - what do I know?
Cheers,
Derek.
February 25th, 2004 at 1:16 pm on the 25th of February, 2004
Sorry I have been quiet. I have been moved to a more public work at desk, so internet browsing is more out of the question.
Good work Derek though.
February 25th, 2004 at 2:03 pm on the 25th of February, 2004
oh yes, talking too much were you? must have been embarrasing being asked to move infront of all your pals. Did you have to sit outside the CEO’s office for a while till he dealt with you?
February 27th, 2004 at 8:32 am on the 27th of February, 2004
Hmmm. You seem to be mixing work up with school. I suppose thats teacher training for you.
June 13th, 2004 at 1:08 pm on the 13th of June, 2004
Way out of time I know, but I found myself asking the same question this morning… “What is Mandingo Cliche?” Well for once Google wasn’t any use at all, although it did direct me here, so that was quite good, but in the end I had to resort to using a dictionary!
A Mandingo is a person from the upper Niger Delta in West Africa, apparently. So really it’s another reference to “the myth of Black male sexual potancy” in the clip.
Have you seen the film? It’s deverstating! Honestly, you’re appalled and horrified and can’t take your eyes off the screen. By the end you’re questioning the motives of all the characters. It’s brilliant. (Sorry, that was a really vague description wasn’t it!)
Bye then,
S.
June 13th, 2004 at 1:24 pm on the 13th of June, 2004
Oh - Just re-read some of the above posts! Yeah, it’s probably a reference to the novel ‘Mandingo’ by Kyle Onstott, in which the white plantation owner chases after the black women, whilst his neglected wife takes a black male slave a her lover by way of revenge. There was a film of the same name in 1975 and there seems to be some debate as to whether this was an exploitation film or a serious depiction of life in the deep south. Either way, it’s probably safe to say that its a cliche by now.
Right, I’m off now.
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