Substitution

Oh sure, I could tell you all about spending three days in Metropolis. I could talk about how I fully intended to work on the article of impending doom, bravely lugging 80 pounds of photocopied articles and books down to the city with me, only to spend my time walking around various neighborhoods. I could even tell you about being inappropriately touched by the Dean of a school sponsoring a big grant initiative that my institution is taking part in. I could do lotsa things.

Instead, however, since it's midnight, I'm going to ask a question that betrays how fully behind the curve I am. Here it is: what the crap is up with Vampire Weekend? I know they're getting press in the Times and even NPR, but seriously, anyone want to give me the skinny? I mean, I get the whole "we're preppy, Ivy League dudes who play faux reggae with clever lyrics" and I'm all about the cheap pop hook. I'm down. Really.

More specifically, what to make of the lyrics to "Campus"? Assume, for a moment, that they're not just throwing together phrases that sound cute together (and the oft-quoted "spilled kefir on your keffiyeh" might contradict this idea). Is this seriously a song about having an affair with your literature professor with a penchant for Arab fashion? Really?! Or is the more tame NPR interpretation correct: "the thrill you get from seeing your crush walk to class..."

I don't know whether to be stiff with shock, winking at the cleverness, or amazed that it's taken this long for someone to immortalize the professor/student hook-up taboo in popular music...