It’s a Shame about Ray

«I’ve never been too good with names.
The cellar door was open, I could never stay away.
I know it’s prob’ly not my place.
It’s either or, I’m hoping for a simple way to say.

It’s a shame about Ray.
In the stone, under the dust,
His name is still engraved.
Some things need to go away.
It’s a shame about Ray.

If I make it through today,
I’ll know tomorrow not to put my feelings out on display.
I’ll put the cobwebs back in place.
I’ve never been to good with names,
But I remember faces.»

You may, or may not, dear reader, feel the tremendous nostalgia that I do on watching and listening to this. There’s no nostalgia like nineties nostalgia. Not for me , at least. And few songs ooze* nostalgia and melancholia like this one. This was The Lemonheads’ finest hour, and it didn’t do Johnny Depp’s street cred any harm either.

So Ray went away. And that was a shame. And that’s like saying that it was a pity – a regrettable or unfortunate thing that happened. Simple, right? Well, yes, if we leave it there with this timeless and immensely cool song. But here’s when things can get complicated. Still cool, but more complicated; if you want.

The word ‘shame’ can also mean a a feeling of guilt, of having done something you know was wrong. In Spanish, this would be ‘vergüenza’ as opposed to ‘lástima’ or ‘pena’ in the case of Ray who went away.

Let’s give this some context. When Kanye West, drunk on whiskey, stormed the stage and interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the VMA awards in 2009 (she was 19), he should’ve been ashamed of himself. But he wasn’t because he is the shameless, arrogant and extremely unpleasant person that he is.

Once, at a concert by a really cool Canadian folk singer, I’d forgotten to silence my phone and it rang during the gig. I felt embarrassed, but hey, it could happen to anyone, so not really ashamed.

So there’s a difference between these two words that might be lost by the fact that both are normally translated as ‘avergonzado’ in Spanish. For Spanish speakers there can be further confusion when we say ‘It’s a disgrace’. Does this mean ‘Es una desgracia’? Nooooooooooo!! The words ‘shameful’ and ‘disgraceful’ are synonyms and if something is a disgrace then it’s ‘una vergüenza’.

Does English really have to be so twisted and confusing? Yeah, why not? Isn’t it a shame that it’s not simpler and easier to learn? Not in my book**; I need to make a living from it. And anyway, it’s fun. And cool. Speaking of which, now that we’re on the other side of all that shame and disgrace, let’s get back to that ultra-cool, sunshine pop Lemonheads record where all this started.

Track two, Confetti, contains these wonderful lyrics:

«He kinda shoulda sorta woulda loved her if he could’ve.
The story’s getting closer to the end.
He kinda shoulda sorta woulda loved her if he could’ve.
He’d rather be alone than pretend«

The way we pronounce ‘of’ and the contraction of auxiliary ‘have’ (‘ve) are frequently (not always:) the same. So here ‘kinda’ is ‘kind of’ , ‘shoulda’ is ‘should’ve’ and so on.

One of a thousand reasons why this Lemonheads record will always be the coolest. Thanks for reading!

*’ooze’ is one of the coolest words in the English language. It just oozes coolness.

**’Not in my book’ is an idiom you could use (informally) to say that you don’t agree, that’s not your opinion.