Good Job
J.K. Simmons Lyrics

I told you that story of how Charlie Parker became Charlie Parker?
Do you remember me telling you the story of how Charlie Parker became the musician he is known for today?

Joe Jonester's symbol accent.
Correct, I am referring to that story.

Parkers a young kid, pretty good on the sax; gets up to play at a cutting seccion, and Jones nearly decapitates it for him.
Charlie Parker was a young and talented saxophonist who got on stage to perform at a music event where Jo Jones, another musician, almost ruined his performance.

And he's laughed off stage.
Charlie Parker's performance was a complete failure, and the audience laughed at him.

Cries himself to sleep that night, but the next morning what does he do?
Charlie Parker was very disappointed in his performance and cried before going to bed, but the next morning he made a decision.

He practices.
Charlie Parker devoted himself to practicing his music.

And he practices, and he practices with one goal in mind: To never to be laughed at again.
Charlie Parker's goal for his practice was to never experience the embarrassment of being laughed at by an audience again.

And a year later he gets back to the arena, and he steps up on that stage and he plays the best solo the world has ever heard.
A year later, Charlie Parker went back to the same arena, stepped up on the stage and performed a solo that was considered to be the best by the audience.

So imagine if Jones had just said "Well thats okay Charlie, that was alright; good job."
If Jo Jones had just praised Charlie's failed performance as a 'good job,' Charlie might never have worked hard enough to become the successful musician he is today.

And Charlie thinks to himself "I did do a pretty good job."
If Jo Jones had praised Charlie's performance as good, Charlie would have thought that he did well despite his bad performance.

End of story.
And that would have been the end of the story.

No bird.
Charlie would not have become successful and there would have been no Charlie Parker the great musician.

That to me is, an absolute tragedy.
Not allowing people to face criticism and the need to improve themselves, or praising them falsely, will deprive them of opportunities, which would be a tragedy to me.

But thats just what the world wants now.
Unfortunately, the world we live in now has become very afraid of criticizing anyone's performance; and, more often than not, people tend to praise an average performance, without giving any feedback.

People wonder why jazz is dying.
Jazz, like any other art form, requires criticism, critique and feedback to keep the quality and the essence of the music alive.

I'll tell you man, and every Starbucks "Jazz" album just proves my point really.
Starbucks, one of the leading coffee chains, releasing jazz albums only helps to prove the fact that critique and feedback has been forgotten and, instead, is replaced by awards, certificates or titles.

There are no two words in the english language more harmful, than "Good Job."
Praising mediocrity with 'good job' can act as a constant barrier to one's growth, which would be harmful to them, and that, to me, is the most harmful thing you can say.