If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how come the dictionary doesn’t have more pictures? It’s stupid questions like that which keep you up at night. But music has always inspired visual art and vice versa.
That said, we’re having an Irish wake of sorts for out old pal, Kodachrome, a Kodak film immortalized by Paul Simon. Kodak announced on June 22 that is taking our Kodachrome away, and is retiring the company’s standard bearer of color film.
To mark this event, theFiver presents:
Top 5 Tunes About Photos & Photography
1. “Kodachrome,” Paul Simon
Off the album, “There Goes Rhymin’ Simon,” although “Rhyming” and “Simon” do not, technically, rhyme. Useless trivia: Kodak, the makers of Kodachrome film, required the album to note that Kodachrome is a registered trademark. So now, who knows if they still require a little ™ next to the track listing? Simon also plugs Nikon in his song about time and memories, although any photographer worth his salt ought to be shooting with Canon using Fuji film (we recommend a low ISO of 100).
2. “Pictures Of You,” The Cure
Despite its use by HP to hock inkjet printers, this is still a lovely, lovely song.
3. “Photograph,” Def Leppard
My own personal read into the subtext: Photos are great because they don’t get offended when you leer at them.
4. “Take A Picture,” Filter
I guess it’s a song about photography, but the only lyrics I can understand are “you wanna take my picture, ’cause I woan ream (inaudible).”
5. “Bad Day,” REM
Personal note – I was a photographer for a small newspaper for a few years, and every time I had to shoot an accident, a fire, a perp walk, I always thought of the chorus: “It’s been a bad day, please don’t take my picture.”
Runners up: Camera Eye, Rush; Pictures of Lily, The Who; Camera, REM; Picture Book, The Kinks. So what 5 tunes make you wanna say “cheese”?
