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Benson Boone Gets In on the Joke
In the video for “Mr. Electric Blue,” the singer goes after his own gimmicks.
He’s aware of the “moonbeam ice cream” ribbing; he knows the world thinks his flips are a gimmick; and as for the claims of being a “one-hit wonder?” He made a shirt. He’s selling used jumpsuits with a sign that reads “100% Artificial,” he’s scooping moonbeam ice cream (and licking it seductively), and he’s washing cars half-naked — before one customer turns out to have a “Mustaches Are Lame” bumper sticker. The lyrics are in the grand tradition of third-person rock songs about rad folks, like Elton John’s 1974 hit “Bennie and the Jets,” David Bowie’s 1972 ode “Ziggy Stardust,” and the Who’s 1969 song about Tommy, “Pinball Wizard.” Like the musicians before him, Boone finds increasingly ridiculous ways to describe the coolness of his subject: Bennie may have “electric boots” and be “really keen,” but Mr. Electric Blue “fell from space or some supernatural place,” “is sweet enough to put him on your tongue,” and says things like “Watch the way you talk to me / If you want to keep your two front teeth.” Haters, back off — Benson Boone knows a guy.
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