"Analog Man" Survivor

[Topkat]

I cast my vote for Family.

I understand that the song is meant to be positive, but every time I hear "I've finally found a wife and a home and a family that matters" I cringe. Why didn't someone clue him in to how horrible that sounds, considering he has children from his previous marriages??

Soda, I agree with you on this one...How many ex- wives & children does Joe
have??? The song makes all those relationships seem like they meant nothing to him & that really bothers me!

My vote goes to
FAMILY

[sodascouts]

He has four ex-wives and three living children from past marriages.

His fourth wife Denise, the one he has two teenaged sons with, married him in the nineties after he got sober. Thus, it makes no sense to argue that he didn't consider Denise and his two sons a "family that matters" due to his drinking since he had given up the bottle at that point. Heck, I heard he met her in rehab.

If that family didn't matter, it wasn't because he was living in an alcoholic daze. It was for other reasons, and we can look to the song lyrics to see some of those reasons. According to the song, he feels his other families didn't "have [his] back" or "stand together" with him like his new family does, for instance; his current family is the first to do so. You can give him honesty points but a lot of dads with new wives and stepkids would hesitate before making those kind of comparisons out loud.

I'm sure he loves his kids from former marriages and his stepkids equally and didn't mean the lyrics to come across that way, but since they do IMO, I can't really enjoy the song. It's also harsh on the former wives but I understand how he could say he never found true love until his current wife. A lot of guys say stuff like that about ex-wives, just not about the rest of the fam.

[Tiffanny Twisted]

sorry nancy wasnt meaning to "SHOUT"

Just a bad typist and blind as a bat

[GlennLover]

I vote Funk 50. I never have cared for Funk 49 either.

[AzEaglesFan]

I vote for Hi Roller Baby

As far as Family, I agree that when I first heard it, I was upset to think that Joe would dismiss his ex-wives and children in such a mean way.
BUT, Joe did not write the song alone, it was co written by Tommy Lee James. Makes me wonder how much of the song is Joe's thoughts and how much is Tommy's. I do think the song could have used a lot of editing

[WalshFan88]

Hi Roller Baby

Can't stand that song. The rest of the songs I DO like and will have a much harder time voting after HRB goes.

[sodascouts]

I really like Hi Roller Baby! It's fun, peppy, and catchy. In fact, thanks to this game, it's been stuck in my head all day. Multiple times I have found myself humming the chorus. I think I'm starting to annoy my family, lol.

[WalshFan88]

It's just too "pop" to me. Like he's trying to compete with Justin Bieber or something. It doesn't seem very Joe-like. Same with India. The funny good song on this album is "Fishbone" - which is classic Joe. Once I know what kind of music an artist does, I don't care for them to stray far from it. I like consistency.

I like "Family" but I guess I can see what everyone is saying. That said, perhaps his past marriages weren't so good to him. I'm not saying he's a saint but I'm sure they weren't either. Either way, Family seems heartfelt to me, even if that line is tacky.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

I have to say that I love the song Family and have a totally different interpretation than some others when I hear the song. I think that the song is a very heartfelt celebration of Joe’s newfound ability to love and appreciate his family now. It wasn't that he didn't love his family before - it's just that he was incapable of feeling connected to them in his altered state of his mind.

I believe when he talks about his family now, he is definitely including his three children. I don’t see anywhere in the song that says Joe is blaming his past families for the problems. In fact, that is diametrically opposed to what addicts are taught in therapy. Taking responsibility and not blaming others is part of healing process they undergo. To me, the song is a revelation that he is finally free of his past problems. These are the lyrics that say to me that he is the one that has changed …

“I never dreamed that someday I might
Be part of something bigger than me
It makes me feel humble, finally I see.”

I see this song as just an extension of the recovery process that Joe describes in One Day at a Time where he starts off recalling his party days. In the second verse, he begins to take the first step when he says “I finally got around to admit that I might have a problem.” Then, the last verse evolves to “I finally had to admit that I was the problem when I used to put the blame on everybody's shoulders but mine.”

Anyway, even though I like them both, I like Funk 50 a little better than Hi-Roller Baby. However, I will vote for either of them to save Family.

[Topkat]

I vote for Hi Roller Baby

As far as Family, I agree that when I first heard it, I was upset to think that Joe would dismiss his ex-wives and children in such a mean way.
BUT, Joe did not write the song alone, it was co written by Tommy Lee James. Makes me wonder how much of the song is Joe's thoughts and how much is Tommy's. I do think the song could have used a lot of editing

As for Tommy Lee James writing on this song, I don't think Joe would be singing words like this, if they came from someone else. Maybe he helped in writing the music, but I believe the words are Joe's; it's much too personal. Maybe he didn't mean for this to sound mean, or dismissing his former wives & children, but that is what he's saying here. I don't think there is any other way to interpret it.