Talk:Can't Keep Johnny Down

Song Rating

how does this song not have enough votes for a rating yet? it's a 10 in my book. vote, people! --Nosaj56 16:01, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

This song sort of feels like of a cross between Figure Eight and Canajoharie to me... And am I the only one who feels the lyrics are exceptionally un-John-like? --༺𝄞𝄆Ⓠⓤⓔⓛ⎈Ⓓⓞⓜⓜⓐⓖⓔ𝄇༻ 18:01, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

yea, it's their first use of "dick" in a song. and with 10 votes, the song is now #5 overall. sweet. --Nosaj56 18:36, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

The melody does remind me of Figure Eight, but the lyrics and 'tude remind me of No One Knows My Plan. And Mr. Flansburg is right on, Linnell is a genius. --Nehushtan 05:00, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

I thought it was more like a mix between "Hey, Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal" and "Thunderbird". At least, musically. -Apollo (colloquia!) 11:14, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Other similarities... mentally slowing down the opening riff reminds me of My Evil Twin and, oddly enough, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by the Beach Boys. --Nehushtan 13:29, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

The opening riff to me sounds more like "Save Your Life" :') --༺𝄞𝄆Ⓠⓤⓔⓛ⎈Ⓓⓞⓜⓜⓐⓖⓔ𝄇༻ 18:09, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

I love the opening riff. I could hear where Wouldn't It Be Nice could sound similar. I though of the opening to Buggin' by the Flaming Lips. --Propman 09:29, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

Well you are all completely wrong because obviously Linnell was trying to make something that sounds like a Bach fugue (BWV 847 in particular) as interpreted by MC Hammer. And I'll be damned if he didn't do a splendid job. --Johnny

Bach-like motifs are everywhere in Linnell's music. This riff is strictly speaking not a fugue but you are right to identify Bach as its great-grandfather. However that does not mean we're wrong to say it's similar to other Linnell stuff. --Nehushtan 05:22, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Yes it does. --Johnny

Internal rhyme

Justice / Plus which --Nehushtan 05:44, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Riff

Not really an interpretation, but the music reminds me of the xylophone (?) in [1]. Not sure if that was intentional or not. -98.225.174.164

Is that recurring ostinato played on a keyboard with a guitar voice rather than an actual guitar then? --༺𝄞𝄆Ⓠⓤⓔⓛ⎈Ⓓⓞⓜⓜⓐⓖⓔ𝄇༻ 19:11, 29 July 2011 (EDT)

Sure seems that way. -- DidgeGuy (आ ज) 23:30, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

New video

What do we know about it other than that Rip Torn is in it? — User:ACupOfCoffee@ 23:53, 11 September 2011 (EDT)

That The Johns aren't, and nothing else as of yet. Flans said on Facebook it'll be ready in a few weeks so I guess we'll see. --Self Called Nowhere 23:55, 11 September 2011 (EDT)

So... is the bare-knuckled fight an homage to Rip Torn's famous brawl with Norman Mailer during the making of Mailer's 1970 film Maidstone? --Octoflange 10:55, 4 October 2011 (EDT)

Did anyone else notice that Dan Miller is missing from the Vimeo video? --Cstillo 9:55, 12 May 2012 (CT)

That's because it was filmed in Indianapolis while the band was on tour last fall, the day that Dan had to rush home due to a death in the family. --BlueCanary 00:36, 13 April 2012 (EDT)

Pointing

Still among my favorite Linnell songs of the 21st century, this has one of the more unusual lyrical "stage directions" I can recall. We already know the narrator is talking about himself, but it's as if he knows he's singing a song and people won't be able to see him, so he says: "I'm pointing a finger at my own face / They can't know what's in here" to indicate that he's talking about his head, i.e., his mind. It's a bizarre turn of phrase but it completely works in the song.

Likewise, a few songs later in "Canajoharie", the narrator of that song also breaks the fourth wall in a way when he says, "Don't look at me, look at where I'm pointing" to indicate that the listener should look at place where all the events of the past had taken place, not at the person actually talking about them. I know that song was written for The Else four years before, so it's unlikely Linnell even realized he used similar lyrical devices in these songs. --MisterMe (talk) 11:29, 4 September 2015 (EDT)

Meet the New Boss

When I hear this song now, Johnny reminds me of someone we've all come to know far too well recently. I recommend Linnell perform this for the next four years as "Can't Keep Donny Down". --Nehushtan (talk) 17:46, 6 February 2017 (EST)