I think the Otis one makes me think "Woman, I pay you too well for you to act this way!" and the Aretha makes me think "After all I do, how can you treat me that way when I get home?"

As I type that, I fully realise that if, say, late-era TLC had sung it, I'd have filed them with Otis (who I love, honest) and not Aretha, probably, so it's not gender -- it's vibe.

I alternately hate and love the TLC version of If I Was Your Girlfriend because T-Boz manages to do such a spot on Prince impersonation and yet. . .so wholly unnecessary. If I want Prince, I'll listen to Prince. But that doesn't mean that a female version couldn't potentially be good. Just not that one. Why is gender important to the meaning of that song for you?

Anyway, I've moved on to Born to Run. And it is good.

Otis v. Aretha.

I see that now. I think I tend toward Aretha, though I haven't heard Otis's. I think if it were sung pleading and bluesy as opposed to loud and soulfully it would be ok.

Why is gender important to the meaning of that song for you?

Because without the "this is how far I'd go for you" component (I'm unfortunately besieged with "subverting the dominant paradigm" and "thinking outside the box" sound-bites -- side effect of being dazed at work) -- it's just some nice words on a nice tune. It's not deep anymore.

I like Creep. And Groovin On You.

I also like Thunder Road.

Today, a guy I know and adore told me, "you have to remember, men are peacocks."

And I was totally floored. It never occurred to me before. I think he's right.

I'm curious if anyone else has seen this guy, or it's just circulating in my circle of Jews:

I think I saw him on Mtv or Fuse. He sounded good to me. And it looks like he's got a gig here in town this weekend.

I think Waterfalls was the last song TLC released from CrazySexyCool. I adore Creep and Red Light Special (DAMN, I love that song) and quite like Diggin' On You. Hate Waterfalls, hate the maudlin expensive video, never liked anything off FanMail.

In other news, restroom is not a good place to crash. So I'm going to send out those e-mails, finish that project charter, and go home.

Diggin' On You.

Thank you. The brain? She is not working today.

It's funny. I have $25 to spend at iTunes. It's amazing what makes a song worth $1 and what makes it not. Sometimes, the 30 second taste is enough.

Because without the "this is how far I'd go for you" component (I'm unfortunately besieged with "subverting the dominant paradigm" and "thinking outside the box" sound-bites -- side effect of being dazed at work) -- it's just some nice words on a nice tune. It's not deep anymore.

Hmm. I can see that. Though I still think asking if your partner would run to you if somebody hurt [them] even if that somebody was you is outside the box, cause really that's kind of shift-y. Man to woman, woman to man, woman to woman, whatever.

And now I've moved on to Pass the Courvoisier. So it all comes back to more use of the word buster.

ETA: I actually liked Unpretty more than No Scrubs from Fan Mail. But it was very much in the Waterfalls mode, wasn't it?