Because I feel that my last “Songs & Such” series on the songs of Reese Roper and Five Iron Frenzy was really good (at least from my perspective) I figured that I would do another series, this time focusing on the songs of Bill Mallonee and Vigilantes of Love. The band, Vigilantes of Love was really nothing more than a band for the songs of Bill Mallonee, and while the band did in fact house many popular musicians (including John Mayer’s bassist David LaBruyere) over the years, the songs penned by Mr. Mallonee were the roots that kept it all going. Over the next few weeks we will be looking at a lot of songs from both Vigilantes of Love and the Bill Mallonee solo collections.
Before we begin though I would like to mention that all of the Vigilantes of Love & Bill Mallonee albums are available via the Bill Mallonee Mp3 Store. All songs sold in the Mp3 store are DRM free Mp3 files so you can play them on any computer or player that supports the Mp3 format. So be sure to support the artists and purchase the music directly from his website. With DRM-free tracks, you can not go wrong.
For the first song, we will look at the song “Love Cocoon.” This song is of particular interest because it single handily got the album it was on (Slow Dark Train) banned from Christian bookstores for being “overly sexual.” The funny thing is, it was a love song to his wife. But the Christian sub-culture views sex as something evil rather than something beautiful that happens between a husband and wife. Bill Mallonee himself described the song as a “…a biblical Song of Solomon set to a Rolling Stones sort of groove” and it accomplishes that well. The two lyrics of note that really made me fall for the song were, “well the world keeps on banging and they come and go/it’s just a part of their scenery a part of their show/but i’ve got this wedding band wrapped around my finger/honey I’ll be your poet, your gunslinger” and “Some call it freedom/some call it shackles/honey lets get together and build a tabernacle.”
Bill went through great lengths to stress the importance of the marriage side of things in what I consider the third verse of the song by point that others have sex as just something to do, but instead he has a wedding ring and it therefore actually means something. It is important to look at that because while the Christian bookstores were crying “foul” the songwriter was working to talk about the sanctity of marriage when it comes to sex.
Lyrics after the jump.
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Michael Koby 
Customer Service?
Okay, I’m sure some of you will tell me “well it’s your fault, you didn’t take the money” or something to that effect, but to me this is still just horrendous.
I went to Wal-Mart to purchase a few items that I needed house-wise (bottled water, batteries, Advil, etc). I performed a self checkout because it is usually quicker. However the people in front of me were slow, and thus a line formed. So I quickly checked out, paid for my items with my debit card, request cash back, grabbed my receipt and left. Only to realize not only 5 minutes later that I left the cash in “the dispenser below the scanner.” So I turned around, grabbed my receipt, and went back into the store. Ask the cashier watching over the self-checkouts to be told she can’t do anything for me, so up the chain I go. I finally end up talking to the assistant manager who informs me that not only can he not do anything, he refuses to call and get permission to give me my money. I remained calm and showed him my receipt and stated “I do not have my money. I am not here to scam you, I only want what is mine.”
Longer story, cut short, I do not have my $20 dollars. This just flat out shocked me. I have worked jobs where customer service is key and I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that Wal-Mart would have such a policy in place, but in my eyes they basically said “we don’t care” which to me is the worse thing you can say to a customer directly or indirectly.
What happened to customer service? What happened to making the customer happy? It really is not like Wal-Mart could not afford to give me the $20 in the name of customer satisfaction. I even had a receipt from like 5-10 minutes prior. It saddens me that a consumer based company can tell a consumer “we don’t care” and it be an accepted practice. It really blows my mind. When I was working customer service jobs, it was our responsibility to make the customer happy even if it went against the store policy that was clearly posted at every register. I really just do not understand.
The sadder thing is, a company like Wal-Mart can get away with it. I mean, you really can not tell the manager “you’ve just lost a customer” because when you look at the registers they all have a line at them and those lines are growing. Wal-Mart doesn’t need me as a customer, someone else will buy from them. So does that mean it is okay to do away with the customer service aspect of your business? If the assistant manager is going to look at a customer and basically tell them in a round-a-bout way “we don’t care” then why even have a customer service department? I mean why take things back, why give the allusion you care?
I know in some ways it is my fault, I left the money there. But still my money was taken on their property, and I really did only want what was mine. I even brought in a receipt in hopes to show “hey I am not here to scam you, I simply made a mistake” only to be told “not our problem” so I really am S.O.L.