In my quest for songs to fit thematic jam sessions and repertoire for thematic concerts, I came across two things that perplex me. Axes of Evil and Exes of Evil. Maybe it’s a play on words, but it made me wonder why someone referred to his ex of 20-years as “mean-spirited”. Do all exes or ex’s become mean spirited? Is mean same as evil?
My ukulele club in London has voted a T-shirt design for its fifth anniversary. Because I only joined in the fourth year, I didn’t know its history. Why was it originally called “Axes of Evil” which is a pun on “Axis of Evil” ? If you google either phrase, you’d get the political history of axis of evil. Why can’t it be Axes of Uke?
Once upon a time, I worked for a company in Texas which spent a lot of energy on a new logo that others called the crooked E. Despite the motto “endless possibilities” it was known in the streets as the “Evil Empire.”
In my research on exes, I came across a song called “All My Ex’s Live in Texas.” This song qualifies for my politically incorrect and hilarious songs to sing. Or perhaps I should have a new category — songs about exes.
Personally I don’t like the word “ex” because it sounds like the past, one that’s ended and will not to return. Love lives forever, however interrupted it gets because of life’s ebbs and flows, twists and turns. I don’t believe love ever dies. So it puzzled me when a man undergoing a difficult divorce seven years ago referred to his ex of twenty years as “mean-spirited.” Did he mean “evil spirited”? Why should exes be mean-spirited or evil? Do they become so because of the relationship or the break-up?
Along with Valentine’s heartbreak songs, I am collecting songs about exes — ex-lovers, ex-wives, ex-boyfriends, ex-girlfriends for a new thematic ukulele jam session. MSN has narrowed down to 20 best songs. Spinditty has 84 songs to get over your ex. I suppose it comes in stages: denial, anger, protest, and resignation. Is there ever a happy break-up? An unhappy marriage but a happy divorce? Or does it have to be bitter — so you can sing songs to annihilate your ex?