My obsession with certain songs is nothing new. And I’ve always known my princess was good at music. But I didn’t know how sensitive she was to the nuances of music, the real spirit behind each song. Every once in a while, she will ask me to change a song because it’s sad and is upsetting her. Since I have gothic tendencies, a lot of the music I enjoy is dark and raw and angry. I’ve never given it much thought, so when she says to change the song, I argue based on the lyrics. She responds, ‘It’s not the words. The tune is sad. Please change it.’
At first I ignored the concept (even though I did change the song). But then this weekend, I was sitting with Mr. 3CB and a song came on that he loves. At first, I broke into a fit of giggles because the song sooooo unlike him. Then I asked him what he likes about the song. He said it’s happy.
I then enunciated every single lyric in the song, to prove to him just how un-happy it was. Because I’m mean like that I was genuinely curious. How could anyone describe that particular song as ‘happy’? When I was done with my vocal rendition, (yes, I can sing!) he paused for a beat, looked me right in the eye, and said, ‘Wow. You just ruined my childhood.’ Turns out he had never actually listened to the lyrics. He just liked that it was catchy and reminded him of a happy time in his life. Sigh.
Anyway, one of my favourite songs is I’ll be by Ediwn McCain. I always assumed I’d heard the lyrics wrong, because they seemed deep to the point of gibberish. Recently, I looked them up and found they were just as accurate and puzzling as I imagined. For instance, what exactly does it mean to be love’s suicide? You will make her love kill itself? Meaning you will make her hate you? How interesting. I admit though, the sound of the song is sad, and yes, I did have to change it.
Which brings me to this song, She’s so high by Tal Bachman. I first heard the song on Rick Dees. He said the lead singer/songwriter was now happily married, and that the song was about a girl in high school that he was too chicken to ask out. I wondered how his wife felt about this hit. She’s obviously way more secure than I am, coz I would have a major problem with my man pining over a woman all those years later.
Same concept, different artist. Sk8er Boy by Avril Lavigne. This time, the hazing is from the girlfriend of the boy whose worth you didn’t see. Except how does she – his girl – feel about this song? She obviously has heard the story, which is why she has the material for the song. Maybe I’m just more jealous than the average bear.
All said and done, I’m a hopeless romantic at heart. Which, I suppose, is why I like ♫ Sura Yako ♫. For a long time, all this song signified was Spellcast. I hadn’t even listened to the whole thing. But today, I bumped into this video and I’ve had the song on replay since. It has a happy sound, a catchy beat, and soulful lyrics. For that, I forgive it for being written by Sautisol.
♫ Sura yako ♫ Sautisol ♫