Pursuit of happiness.




This is from 2009: Kid Cudi, who like many great people from Cleveland, got outta Cleveland; and a song (featuring a bit of get-in-your-sacral-spine synth grind from Ratatat and MGMT) called "Pursuit of Happiness." I missed this song until recently, which I'm going to blame on the fact that I was a medical resident at the time.

If you don't watch the whole thing you might miss the ambivalence.

There's a Steve Aoki remix which subtracts most of what Ratatat and MGMT did, and adds a big techno festival sound, like the kind of thing where you're waiting for the DJ to go, "Whassup Helsinkiiiiiiiiii!!!" (beat drop, pause, four-on-the-floor beat with ascending synth air raid siren sound, etc)--which seems to be trying to take the ambivalence away and make it into a straight-up party anthem. But unlike "We Found Love" the lyrics between the chorus really count:

I'm on the pursuit of happiness and I know
Everything that's shine ain't always gonna be gold (hey)
I'll be fine once I get it, get it in, I'll be good
Tell me what you know about dreamin' (dreamin')
You ain't really know bout nothin' (nothin')
Tell me what you know about the night terrors every night
5 A-M cold sweats, waking up to the sky
Tell me what you know about dreams (dreams)
Tell me what you know about night terrors nothin'
You don't really care about the trials of tomorrow
Rather lay awake in the bed full of sorrow

Night terrors don't just go away. As of this posting, Kid Cudi is in an inpatient rehab stay struggling with depression, which he's often talked about in the past. Best wishes to Kid Cudi.