Saturday Night Jukebox: When Fuck is the Only Word that Fits

Sunday, 30 September 2012 03:26

Saturday Night Jukebox: When Fuck is the Only Word that Fits

Written by Juma Wood

I love the work 'fuck'. It has such a round, crisp, potent sound. I was meeting with a woman recently who specializes in PR, talking about work that I'm involved with. Towards the end of the conversation she commented on how she'd never met someone with such a unique combination of sophisticated vocabulary and foul language. I took that as a compliment. Fuck isn't reserved for low brow exchanges. It emphasizes, underscores, consolidates and accentuates. It can dismiss, illuminate, or orient. A well-placed fuck jars and focusses the mind. Passion, rage, desperation, exasperation even love can all fit pregnant within it. It can have heart. It can come straight from the balls. Like a laser from a across a room, it strikes and explodes on impact.

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I just finished facilitating a two-day workshop with executives of a construction company. Shockingly these thick-fingered, meaty eyed warriors swear a lot. It was a high energy, fuck-fest free-for-all, verbs, adjectives, nouns, whatever or whoever needed a kick in the ass wore a fuck at some point. But not just them. Every executive table I've ever sat at allows a well-placed fuck. I speak in front of groups quite a bit, and it always makes me smile how a pointed fuck will spark a room to sit up straight feeling somehow more adult. We're adults folks. Adults swear, they get angry, they express themselves, they emote. Words have power, they exist for a reason, there is magic, force behind each one. Few carry more charge than fuck. Why wouldn't we use it?

I love a song that uses a well-placed fuck. That extended 'f', force building up, expelled with visceral disgust before the sharp 'k' cuts, kills what it hits.

This week, songs with well-placed fucks. Because we're not choir boys (or girls) here (although there is a priest, a minister in training, and a former alter boy just among the Creators of the site). Because real people use real expressive language, and sometimes the only word that fits is fuck. Because this is my forum and there are no censors here. And if you don't like it, well, f*@k you. Feel free to add your own in the comments.

First, the Folk Queen of Rage, Ani Difranco. Fuck you, and your Untouchable Face. And fuck you, for existing in the first place. Jaded, dismissive, yearning, even playful. What word would have captured that better?

Next, it wouldn't be right to to be a Canadian and write on this topic and not include Alanis Morissette's classic You Outta Know. Jealous fury. Here, fuck is sex, carnal sex, seething with vitriol as it muscles out of her wounded bitter mouth.

Next, Mumford & Sons, Little Lion Man. I screwed up, I'm a fuck up, hands in the air, what the fuck.

Finally, Rage Against the Maching, Killing in the Name of. Total rebellion, uncompromising, repetitive, drilling it home. The Fuck You at the heart of humanity, refusing containment. Rage. Against. The. Machine. Because, sometimes, Fuck is the only word that fits.

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6 comments

Comment Link Sunday, 30 September 2012 18:13 posted by Sarah Olson
Great piece, great songs! Thanks for saying fuck. It is a bit exciting, isn't t?! I'm in a professional work place now where the word is used and it someone separates us and what's happening in our group, sets us apart in a subtle way from the other "professionals". There's a useful edge of unconventionality that's taking a bit of getting used to, to be honest.

I liked your comment that hearing fuck at the office makes us feels somehow more adult. It's true! Excellent observation. All in all, good times with fuck and music on a Sunday morning!
Comment Link Monday, 01 October 2012 01:06 posted by Morgan Toane
My personal favourite is "fuckery," which I'd define as the antonym of doing/experiencing something intentionally.

Once I was scolded for dropping the fuck bomb at a family gathering, just as my geriatric grandmother walked in the door. To this day I savour how fucking good it felt to say it.
Comment Link Monday, 01 October 2012 03:39 posted by Trevor Malkinson
great topic. I can safely say this would've never occurred to me as a Jukebox theme, but it's a good one. The use of fuck that came up for me is in Bruce Springsteen's song 'Long Time Comin' (from Devils and Dust). I don't think Bruce has used the f-bomb much, maybe only in this song.

But the lyrics are about a guy whose had some hard knocks, his dad was an absent father, you get the feeling he's had a bit of a tough life. But he's got a new relationship and kids and then the lyrics go like this:

"Out 'neath the arms of Cassiopeia
Where the sword of Orion sweeps
It's me and you, Rosie, cracklin' like crossed wires
And you breathin' in your sleep
You breathin' in your sleep

Well there's just a spark of a campfire left burning
Two kids in a sleeping bag beside
I reach 'neath your shirt, lay my hands across your belly
And feel another one kickin' inside
And I ain't gonna fuck it up this time

It's been a long time comin', my dear
It's been a long time comin', but now it's here
It's been a long time comin', my dear
It's been a long time comin', but now it's here".

I don't know, but I always get shivers when Bruce sings that line. There's a rawness, a vulnerability, a yearning to finally make things right. It's a well used fuck I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhs8M2i5z0Y

http://www.springsteenlyrics.com/lyrics/l/longtimecomin.php
Comment Link Monday, 01 October 2012 20:29 posted by Jacob Hokanson
I'm reminded of a little meme that I've seen floating about the net for some time now:

Found it on this guy's website so y'all can see:

http://wildmanwalkersblog.blogspot.ca/2011/11/fuck-that-shit.html

The phrase "Fuck. That. Shit." could stand to lose the 'That'. and be replaced with a 'This'. It could also stand to lose the 'Shit' and could be replaced with 'Noise' or even nothing; simply 'Fuck. That.' However, at NO POINT could the word 'Fuck' be removed or changed without drastically affecting the outcome and the passion of the statement.
Comment Link Monday, 01 October 2012 20:39 posted by Michael Milano
I'll throw a little Broadway in the mix

Totally Fucked from Spring Awakening

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIx7yW9FMfw
Comment Link Tuesday, 02 October 2012 13:33 posted by james barrow
The year was 1985 and Bruce Cockburn was pissed off with the IMF, international finance and corrupt politicians - he was ahead of the curve on that one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68zccrskOqQ