Song Of The Day 7/17/2014: Scorched Earth - "Super Woman, Super Lover"

Young Blood International!: Remember that Bloom County episode when Oliver and Milo hacked into the New York Times' computer system and changed the headline "Reagan Calls Women 'America's Most Valuable Resource'" to "Reagan Calls Women 'America's Li'l Dumplin's'"? (Which incidentally was ripped from that era's headlines.) Well, that's an example of how certain less, shall we say, culturally fluent gentlemen of past times parsed the women's liberation movement back in the 20th century. Which isn't to say all of us have since gotten and absorbed the memo, but I suppose there's been progress. I suppose. I wouldn't really know, since I've had my head dipped in a big popcorn bowl full of nacho cheese and habanero peppers since 1986. But I hear good things. Or at least the things I want to hear. Which are the same!

ANYWAY, back in 1974, some let's say well-meaning sports called Scorched Earth tried to throw their support behind women's equality in an extraordinarily awkward Young Blood single called "Super Woman, Super Lover." You basically get the duality right there in the title: Not only is the woman in question casting aside the velvet shackles of a bulging, belching patriarchy, she's also still willing to get it on with the singer, and that makes the whole enterprise just peachy with him. I particularly enjoyed these lyrics:

She's got no time for pots and pans
She's got no time for kids
She's fightin' for equality
She's joined the women's lib!

Wow, they've got their own definite articles now. So, that's the first verse. The second is a little -- well, look, I'm no prude, but let's just say I've never won the heart of a woman, or anyone else for that matter, by publicly comparing her to a "rocking horse." Especially in song. Comparisons of people to any kind of animal, especially inanimate simulations of said animal, are sketchy to begin with. Contemporary songwriters -- well, they've come a long way, baby.

All right, I'm backing out of the room quietly on this one. Tomorrow: Drug abuse!