we built this city

It's one of the most maligned pop songs in our lifetime.

Part of the reason, I think, is the video. It's awful. I just now watched it, and I confess I'd forgotten how awful it is. I really think the awfulness of the video is behind the near-universal consensus that the song is terrible.

But the song itself does have several things going for it. Mickey Thomas's piping, spot-on voice (and remember this is before autotune; AND remember he was in his late thirties); the brand-new-sounding Fairlight synth textures; the propulsive beat and overall mix — simply brilliant jigsaw-puzzle mixing job there — and a terrific crackling arrangement. Plus slightly vague 80s lyrics by the great 70s lyricist Bernie Taupin.

That's right, Bernie Taupin, the lyricist for Elton John's biggest hits.

He's the writer of "Bennie and the Jets," a song about a band but with only one mention of "solid walls of sound" but much mention of the band's spaced-out glam style — "She's got electric boots; A mohair suit; You know I read it in a magazine" — making a nice critique of the way people had come to talk about rock music. (Can you think of a Rolling Stone article that actually talked about the music?)

He's also the writer of "Crocodile Rock," which is all about the music and the good times blazed with it: "I remember when rock was young; Me and Suzie had so much fun" ; "But the biggest kick I ever got; Was doing a thing called the Crocodile Rock; While the other kids were rocking round the clock; We were hopping and bopping to the Crocodile Rock" ; "...When your feet just can't keep still; I never knew me a better time and I guess I never will." And there's an elegaic tone: "But the years went by and the rock just died" ; "We really thought the Crocodile Rock would last."

Interesting, right? He's then the writer of the ur-slick corporatized 80s rock song that's all about how terrible the slick corporatized 80s rock landscape is. Again, he calls back to an idealized origin: "Marconi plays the mamba" — a brilliant line, in my opinion. It just sounds great, and the correct "mambo" would have killed it. "Mamba" can refer to a generic American orientalist strain that runs through every generation. (It's what your Hawaiian-shirted grand-uncle would have called the mambo, anyway.) "Mamba" sounds great coming out of the mouth, and works with the notes and rhythms of the song. What an ear this lyricist had.

He looks around: this city's scene (LA? somewhere) was forged with an authentic song of the people, as American and as grassroots as jeans. (Whether that's actually true is, of course, irrelevant!) And now look at us.

There's much old Bernie in the new Bernie, right?

This puts me in mind of the 19th-century 20th-century Puccini.