Song a Day Musings

Fisher - True North

2008-05-25T23:07:00.000-07:00

This is a song for the most nostalgic of us, a party which I can't help but lay claim to myself. How many of us have put a hopeful something out into the ether, knowing that it probably wouldn't get to its intended target, but still keeping a wistful eye on it, thinking maybe...

The lyrics probably resonate the most with those who are (perhaps-overly?) reserved in their feelings—Frank Churchill says (ironically, and yet) that "one cannot love a reserved person," which little as he must have meant it, was surely a slap in the face to Jane Fairfax anyhow. Many of us who are Jane Fairfaxes have in fact had moments like that, with our personal Frank Churchills, when we've opened our mouths and simply couldn't find any words to fill the silences with. The quick-witted are, I'm afraid to say, also rather quick to judge, and slow to forgive others who aren't quite as talented at waxing poetic at the drop of a hat. Others who, perhaps, need a great deal of time to put their words together... time and a piece of paper. Perhaps.

See, here I've my own little (over-sentimental) message in a bottle, so to speak, cast onto the wide ocean of the blogosphere. I know for a fact that the person it's directed to won't read it—he can't, in fact. Which is perhaps why I'm okay with posting it?

But my point is... the song does its job, yes?

Lifehouse - Somewhere Only We Know

2008-05-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

No, you didn't read that wrong. Lifehouse, former Christian band and virtual music kings of my days in high school, covering Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know."

This song was the reason I (among many) discovered Keane in the first place. "Oh simple thing, where have you gone?" Who didn't fall instantly in love with those lyrics?

According to the ever-dependable *cough* Wikipedia (but there's no reason to doubt this, at least), this was recorded for Yahoo Live—I don't really care why it happened, I'm just glad that it did.

I don't know that I can fully explain how perfect this cover is. It's completely faithful to the original, but Jason Wade's voice lends a rock-ier, sexier feel to what's already a sexy song, and his little slips into falsetto, right up against other notes in his regular, gruffer voice, are just sublime. When I was a kid, I always looked ascant at covers, as if they were disrespecting the original in a way, but this, like all great covers, is a perfect homage to the original song. It's obviously played with feeling, and with a fannish type of devotion. It's like copying out your favorite poem by hand, an act of love.

Collective Soul - Counting the Days

2008-05-21T17:13:00.000-07:00

Mmm, a great heart-starter from Collective Soul.

This is on the playlist at the moment a la the soundtrack for a YA novel I'm working on, because this is SO like my MC. "I never want to become precious/'cause life is so touch-and-go." This is definitely an "anywhere but here" song, which is what an entire aspect of the novel is about. This is even fitting so far as his romantic involvement goes, "I'm saddled in for your side-show," because his love interest is certainly... well, odd is a bit of an understatement. She's eccentric, I suppose, is the "P.C." term. Of course that's exactly what it takes for him to notice her...

"Counting the Days" is a great example of Collective Soul's great interplay between main vocals and backups. I'm always a fan singers switching off, and you can just imagine the secondary singer in this jamming on his guitar and then occasionally swinging up to the mike when its his turn. There's so much movement in this song, but what I love about Collective Soul is that the volume is never there in detriment to the melody, which is always, always a plus.

Sara Bareilles - Undertow

2008-05-20T20:18:00.000-07:00

Why wear my heart on my sleeve/it looks so good in your hands.

Sara Bereilles continues to surprise me with delicious little turn of phrases like that. Her wit is nice and sharp, too. Old habits are so hard to break/It'd be a shame to stop now that I've started to make really good mistakes. Many of her songs are one delightful lyric after another. Really, though, I think my favorite thing about this song in particular is how she sings "Little girl." I have a thing for sporadic over-emphases, I must say. (See: Adam Duritz's pronunciation of GUI-tar)

It helps, also, that "undertow" is a word that I'm specifically drawn to for some reason. I blame this mostly on the Ivy song of the same name, which was life-changingly obsessive for me when I first heard it. The two songs are not at all alike—the Ivy song is all about learning to let go of something and ultimately going with the undertow, whereas this is about being dragged in in the first place, a predecessor if you will. Strangely while this one has the more interesting lyrics, it's still the Ivy song that will come to mind when I hear the word, and also probably the one I would preference. The Ivy song is a Zeitgeist, a perfectly-crystallized reminder of a single moment in time from my high school days. This... while lovely, is just a song.

Stars - Today Will Be Better, I Swear!

2008-05-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

A ridiculously fitting title for my first song to write about in four and a half months, yes?

Stars is a [not-so] little Canadian Indie band that I've been introduced to fairly recently, having tried out their song "In Our Bedroom After the War"—which shares the name of the album featuring both of these songs. That song simply blew me away, and may as well be called epic. The rest of the album, including "Today..." did not at all disappoint in comparison.

Really it's Amy Millan's voice (along with the amazing instrumentals) that sell this song for me. She has such an Emiliana Torrini-esque sound, all the lilt with less of the unconventional lyrical turns. Not to say anything about Stars could be described as purely conventional either, of course, simply that Emiliana can be a little "out there," especially in some of her older work, and so Amy Millan's work is a little easier to listen to on a daily basis.

Stars lyrics are so subtle you almost miss the beauty in them, but little things catch your attention:

Old pale memories of someone you knew
Keep crawling through the back of your mind [stealing time]

If those lines didn't have that little tag of "stealing time" at the end, I don't think they'd be very impressive, but it's always the little things that count most in music.

Augustana - Heart Shaped Gun

2008-01-02T15:31:00.000-08:00

There's something deliciously exciting about a live version of a new song, put out before the record is even close to seeing the light of day. Especially from someone with a voice like this.

This song is about being desperately poor and in love, which is a category that there can always be more songs about, I think.

Counting Crows - 99 Days

2007-11-19T12:58:00.000-08:00

Ah, Adam, my great love.

If you've been paying attention, you should have been expecting this.

There's just something about the way Adam Duritz says the word "California." Which makes the way he sings the word "California" irresistible. There's a list of words he makes irresistible, actually. Like "guitar," for example, but that's more common.

Being the born and bred California girl that I am, I like California songs much more than I should. Not that this is a California song, really. It's not "Hotel..." for example. It's not even the state pride thing, really. There's just something so lyrical about the word that I love hearing it inserted into songs. You cannot convince me that "Hey 99 days left of Wyoming," for example, would sound as pretty, no matter who was singing it. Even if it did fit metrically, which of course it doesn't.

Maybe that's the key of it all. Meter. California is a deliciously Trochaic word. Okay, okay, I know technically it has five syllables, but don't you say CA-li-FOR-nia? I was taught to love Trochees by a professor of mine at the College of Creative Studies in Santa Barbara. If you've had her, you'd know who I was talking about. Adam is a bit of a master at them. Said professor actually pointed this out to me and I've noticed ever since. Take a look at "Round Here," for example:

SHE has TROUble ACTing NORmal WHEN she's NERvous.

Isn't that beautiful? Maybe it's odd of me, but there's something particularly sexy about a man who understands meter like that. That's what you get from having Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton as required courses, holdover hidden longings to hear meter used correctly. It's really not the hardest thing in the world to do. Iambic really is the most natural rhythm of speech.

A lot of English bigwigs will tell you that a Trochaic line is nothing more than an Iambic one with its head cut off, but I don't think that's fair. Trochees totally deserve their own recognition, because somehow that little switch of accents is compelling, even if you don't realize why at first.

Adam does it everywhere.

SOME girls LAST longER than OTHers

I'M gonNA die RIGHT here THIS time

I wanNA be THE rain I am A red BALloon I'LL nevER BE the SAME

Okay, so there are a few syllables snuck in there that don't quite match. But everybody does that. You're better for it if you can. Shakespeare can, for example. I tend to not be able to, which is proof that the meter rules me, and not the other way around.

Adam rules. Obviously not to Shakespearean proportions... I'd never claim that. But enough for me.

Beth Orton - Thinking About Tomorrow

2007-11-17T11:49:00.001-08:00

These habits are so hard to break/and they're so easy to make

I was introduced to Beth Orton through Roswell, of course, desperate for "She Cries Your Name" almost as soon as the episode taken from the song's title was over with. The song commemorating the death of the fictional and yet beloved Alex Whitman. A song which very unhappily did not make it onto the Roswell DVDs. But that's a different issue.

Beth Orton is on my list of Voices I Want. Others high on that list are Imogen Heap, Dido, Fiona Apple, Majandra, Alanis Morisette, Sarah McLachlan and Avril Lavigne, not that they're all for the same reasons. There's just some quality about a voice like Beth Orton that makes is so airy and... twisty. I can't explain it correctly. She manages to twist a note around in midair... midnote. I've been told I have a decent enough voice, but my voice sounds so solid and earth-bound next to a voice like this. Which is of course why she has a record deal and I don't. Well. Among other things.

This song also has me jealous of her humming abilities, silly as that sounds. She hums the last few bars before fadeout, which is a very pretty device, common as it is, and even humming along with her on key, my notes still sound heavy and clumsy next to hers. If I were recording this song, I probably wouldn't be able to get away with it. You simply wouldn't be able to hear me.

There's a heartache that I can't help but identify with in the song, of occasionally getting tired of having to fight so hard for what you believe in, "when none of my talk/ever seems to get me anywhere." Being raised in a fairly conservative LDS environment, but always having my closest friends be from outside of that environment can be a struggle on occasion, especially when the world at large sees things in such a different way than I always have. I've never stopped believing in what I know is true, because it's been tried and tested too many times for me to turn away from it, but I do feel occasionally as if I'm constantly swimming upstream, and the temptation to give it up whispers around you quite often. It can be a lonely kind of weariness, but it is worth it. At least I know that much.

Shawn Mullins - Lullaby

2007-11-15T22:59:00.000-08:00

Lay your weary head down/dry your tired eyes

This song is good old-fashioned comfort food. I'm talking chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy kind of good. And yes, I know I'm back to my emotionally-incapable protagonists. My sister thinks they're annoying, usually because they tend to be very blind to what should be obvious in their lives... Namely what (or rather who) they want.

But if they weren't a little blind to start with, where would the story be? Heck, in the really good ones—the horrible ones that stick with you forever afterwards—the heroin doesn't get a clue until it's too late. Think about it. If Scarlett O'Hara had known from the moment Rhett caught her throwing plates in her little fit of rage that he was the one that she really wanted, wouldn't about 1500 of Gone With the Wind's 1600something pages be null and void?

I think it's fate that I happened upon this song tonight. My most recent, over-indulgent reading obsession (Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series) which I finished just a few hours ago has left me (and the main character, actually) in the precise position to need to listen to this song on repeat.

I've always loved hearing the song on the radio, but it wasn't until I discovered the acoustic version, where the background vocals aren't quite so backgroundy, that I went from serious like to love. It was pretty much instantaneous. This song, that was already the epitome of comfort, was suddenly less like a warm blanket and more like being cradled into the chest of a man who loves you. A man who happens to be able to sing. Which doesn't hurt things.

Interestingly enough, unlike the other two songs on my computer labeled "lullaby" (Counting Crows' "Mrs. Potter's Lullaby," of course, and for some reason a copy of Bette Midler singing "Lullaby on Broadway"), this is a song I actually can and have listened to to put me to sleep. Nothing against the other two songs. Mrs. Potter has long been in the running for my favorite Adam Duritz song. But I do like truth in advertising.

Coldplay - Moses

2007-11-08T23:31:00.000-08:00

Missed a day already, did I? Two, actually, considering it's past midnight, now. Hm.

This song doesn't particularly impress me at all. It's that song that you hear on the album with all the other songs, and if it was missing, you'd notice, and maybe even be bothered by it, but this isn't the song that you find yourself singing the next day. In fact, it might take you a few minutes to remember the lyrics at all. The only reason I can remember any of the lyrics to "Moses," is because of its curious title, "Like Moses, this power over sea/so you've got a power over me."

As a Coldplay song it's okay... it sounds like Coldplay and all. I can't really point out anything bad about the song, per se, it's just missing that little spark that makes a song irrepressibly good. In fact, when I hear it, I wish I was listening to a better Coldplay song. Like "Yellow," or "Trouble." This passes through me like water through a sieve. Nothing in particular is left over afterwards.

Secondhand Serenade - Vulnerable

2007-11-06T20:05:00.000-08:00

I was born to tell you I love you—isn't that a song already?
I get a B in originality.

When I heard this on the radio, I was positive that it was Relient K, this obscure little Christian Rock band (about the only one I'll listen to) that my brother introduced me to a few years back. The style is exact, the lead singer's voice sounds almost identical, and the writing is entirely up to par. I was a little confounded, then, when it turned out not to be them at all. It wasn't even the same singer—which was my second thought.

Did that disappoint me, though? Did I think, gee, great, a Relient K copy? Well, no, not really. Maybe that's because Secondhand Serenade told me right off the bat, both in their lyrics and in their band name that they don't claim to be something new and different, and the truth is, I don't mind that at all. After all, I love the sound of Relient K. If this had been a Relient K song, I'd be just as happy, but to have an entirely new band that gives me Relient K-quality songs? Well I don't see how that could be a bad thing. That just means that now I have two bands with two different sets of songs that fill that particular niche for me. And two is better than one, right?

Actually, in all honesty they don't even sound quite like Relient K now that I've heard the song multiple times. But they still fill that hunger that I get sometimes for a slightly emo, whiny-voiced rock song with acoustic guitar in the background. Why do I get that craving anyhow? I have no idea.

I think the real appeal, actually, in the case of both bands, is that every once in a while in the middle of these semi-loud ballads, there are these little softly-sung lines that are simply melodic, and completely beautiful to listen to. Wrap those little lines in with some well-written louder verses, like "your slow-shaking fingertips/show/that you're scared like me, so/let's pretend we're alone," and I'm a happy girl.

For being a little bit of a music elitist (not a snob... there's a difference) I really am pretty easy to please, I guess.

Listen to "Vulnerable" on Secondhand Serenade's Myspace page.

Mae - Anything

2007-11-05T21:47:00.000-08:00

This isn't my favorite Mae song. It's a little too loud, the singer's voice is a little too noticeably synth-sounding (not that it's synthesized, because it's not, he just sounds synth-y) but it's a good song for one of my MC's in the story I'm working on, because he's so irrepressibly optimistic. Well, not irrepressibly. Once I get into the story he'll have some definite angst moments. For the most part, though, he bounces back surprisingly fast, and he is an idealist to the supreme. The speed with which he can recover from a letdown is amazing, and something I admire about him. (Are you allowed to admire your own characters?)

I can relate to him, and to this song in the sense that I'm a complete and total dreamer. I will often get lost in a daydream and be completely contented with it, even if I'm having a pretty bad day in real life. That of course has its setbacks, too, though. You tend to forget to fix things that are wrong if you're so good at escaping them, which this character definitely is. He's a bit blinded to the bad things in life... though I don't think that's entirely a weakness of his. Actually strengths and weaknesses are quite tangled in this novel, which is maybe why I'm enjoying it so much. I don't like clear-cut lines all that much, though I imagine they would make things a bit easier.

I'm sorry I don't have much of intelligence to say about this song. NaNoWriMo is starting to wear me down, I think.

Majandra & RoBert - Le Prince Bleu

2007-11-04T19:31:00.000-08:00

I'm a sucker for French lyrics. I really am. This was true even before I took four years of French in high school, not that those four years helped me to understand the French lyrics that much better. And songs that switch back and forth from English to French? Even better. I'm sure I'll be mentioning that at other times.

Anyhow.

I've never heard a song like Le Prince Bleu. My poor college freshman roommate walked in on me singing in at the top of my lungs more than once, and she just couldn't understand the appeal. She figured (understandably, but incorrectly) that I only listened to it because I was a big fan of the TV show Roswell, which Majandra Delfino of course was involved in. Did Roswell open the gate to Majandra's music to me, of course it did, but really it was the French lyrics, and the eerie, high-pitched harmonies (which she—the roommate—especially didn't care for, she called them "operatic") that hooked me on this song.

I'll admit, even watching the very odd animated music video and practically memorizing the English translation of the French, the story in the song doesn't make any sense. The English lyrics barely make sense. Sickly/my prince is bruised/so sullen/shut down the doors today/the more no more is relayed/after dark confirms his bane. And the French is that much more inscrutable, a la language barriers. But honestly I don't care. I would listen to this song if it were a string of nonsense. The blending of the two voices, one high and petulant, one low and dark, is terribly captivating. In fact, not fully understanding what they're singing about is part of the charm. This song doesn't get old, because unless you're terribly good at both languages and at dissecting arcane phrasing, (not to mention just plain obsessed), then you'll never fully figure it out, which is the one thing that is difficult to say for much of music, which is usually so willing to tell us its secrets.

Watch the [admittedly bizarre] music video of Le Prince Bleu on youtube.

Nickel Creek - Sweet Afton

2007-11-03T08:52:00.000-07:00

It always takes me by surprise that I listen to Nickel Creek. I mean... so many fiddles, and... well, fiddles.

I'm not usually a fiddle type of girl. I love them on occasion... but those occasions are few and far between. When I'm particularly feeling my (slim) Irish heritage, for example. Nickel Creek appeals to my odder senses, though, what with their soft gentle music which is often lyrically about distraught lovers who kill themselves or throw curses on ships making them drown and whatnot.

This song's lyrics actually are sweet, though. As sweet as the music behind them, if not sweeter, asking the river to flow quietly so it won't wake up his love. I don't know if this is an actual old-world folk song or not (and I'm not currently in the mood to do the necessary Googling to find out) but it could certainly pass as one, as many Nickel Creek songs could, and it gives such a lovely, pastoral feel that I feel absolutely transposed to a place full of soft rolling hills and prim roses and whatever else they mention in the song. A simpler time, I guess. And yeah, I know, maybe times never were simpler, but really what's the harm in imagining that they might have been so?

And on an unrelated note: I know none of my entries have been bad so far. haha That's mainly because what I've been listening to of late has all been from my multiple-hour soundtrack to the novel I'm working on, so I pretty much like them all. This won't be an always thing, though, and for the moment, at least the artists are mixed up quite a bit, huh?

Jessica Martins - Caught Up

2007-11-02T22:07:00.000-07:00

This song is the classic "let's not ruin the friendship" song. Or to be more precise, the "I'm sure you'd say let's not ruin the friendship" song.

This is a subject I've always been a little bit fascinated with—I think a lot of us are—the idea of falling for someone you simply shouldn't fall for. There's that line in a friendship that you just don't cross, sometimes, then one day you realize that maybe you want to, and what then? Because you already know so much about the other person. They trust you, confide in you... that can be both good and bad. Good, of course, because you're not afraid of talking about anything. Bad, because... well, if they don't feel the same way, you probably ending up hearing way more than you want about whoever they do feel that way for. Which... would suck.

And then there's the "friends with benefits" concept... and how often does that work? Basically never, if you really care about each other, at least so far as I've seen. This song is all about walking that tightrope, trying not to get more involved than you know you should be, and admittedly, it can be a hard thing sometimes.

Feist - That's What I Say, It's Not What I Mean

2007-11-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

Here I am hopeful again,
I can't say when I wasn't this way
You don't need to worry 'bout me
That's what I say, it's not what I mean

What is it with me and songs about emotionally-defunct female characters?

My music choices (not to mention the things that I write) are full of them. Chock-full, in fact. I don't mean to say that the characters I write are all one-dimensional copies of each other, but they do have a tendency to say one thing and mean another, then hold it against the hero (or, more true to my style, supposed-hero) for not understanding what they meant in the first place.

These aren't malicious characters, though. They don't even realize how completely unhelpful they are to their own situations. They think that they're being clear, but really they're kind of running scared so far as their hearts and their feelings go. It's when they finally either push their reservations aside, or get shaken out of them for good, when things really start happening.

But really I think I just like these characters because they're full of vulnerabilities. Some people like to write about characters' strengths, and good for them, but give me a character with weaknesses, a character who's his own worst enemy, and I'll just be itching to write their story. Strong characters are great, but they have nothing to accomplish, or very little. Give me the clumsy, awkward, self-doubting ones, the people you might overlook in real life. They really have somewhere to grow, if you push them in the right direction. ;)

ETA: Who am I kidding about this not being a writing blog?

Michelle Wright - Nobody's Girl

2007-10-31T13:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this song is a bit self-indulgent. And I listen to it in my self-indulgent moments. Because what's more unoriginal (AKA universal) than thinking that you're all alone and have to fight things out for yourself?

This is also a song about ownership, though. Owning your life, and your choices. And if you're the sad, lonely girl? Well, heck, you might as well own that, too. It's a testament to the fact that once you stop being afraid of who you are, and what your circumstances are, then they have a chance to change. But if you're running away from them forever, and constantly trying to hide them, then there's no real chance of learning or growing.

The woman in the song is very much like the type of character we writers like to start out with. A single, lonely outcast of sorts who has a fighting spirit. Sure maybe she's a little tortured, but she's got this strong spirit that just can't be repressed.

And okay... so she's a little bit country. haha But Canadian country. Which is better than our country. So there.

Also...

Happy Halloween, everybody! Have fun tonight and be safe. =)

Carbon Leaf - Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat

2007-10-30T21:22:00.000-07:00

I love you more than I'll ever let on/and that's a fault of mine I'm working on, I'm working on.

The amazing thing about songs is that you get to have a sort of personal relationship with them, and like any other kind of relationship, it can form in all kinds of different ways, and turn good or bad, depending on the circumstances. Some songs take a long time to get to know, or get to like.

And then there are those songs that you fall flat-on-your-face in love with, from the very first time you hear them.

Carbon Leaf have this great faux-British-Invasion sound that was enough to hook me all on its own, but there's just something charming about a guy who wants the seasons renamed to resemble shampoo instructions. Shampoo instructions for a broken heart, perhaps.

And somehow, though the song is a little less than four and a half minutes, the tempo is varied enough that I've found myself on occasion listening to it on repeat for hours without getting bored. Most songs reach a saturation point by about the sixth playing for me, but there's something about "everything's a bottle blue" that catches me every time I hear it. More songs should have bottle blue in them, shouldn't they?

Maybe they shouldn't. Maybe then it would lose its appeal. What do I know?

Listen to "Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat" on Carbon Leaf's Myspace page.

I figure this might be an idea. Should I keep these links in? Yes, no?

Badly Drawn Boy - The Shining

2007-10-29T13:08:00.000-07:00

Now I've
fallen in deep
slow, silent sleep
it's killing me,
I'm dying.
.
.
To put a little bit of sunshine in your life.

Not much needs to be said about this song. It does it all itself.

Few people can hide such a surprise in lyrics as Damon Gough, or Badly Drawn Boy, as he's more commonly known. It's little twists like this that make this song so delightful. It starts out so slow and mournful, but still absolutely beautiful, and it's almost like the song is the girl that he's talking about, this beautiful thing that's just a little too sad, and needs to be brightened up a bit, and by the end it is somehow.

But the above lyrics really surprised me the first time I heard them. You hear It's killing me, I'm dying, and you kind of roll your eyes, okay, I've heard this all before, but I should never underestimate BDB.

And suddenly you're in love with everything.

Well, yes, I just might be. How did he know that?

Way Out West - Don't Forget Me

2007-10-28T22:19:00.001-07:00

What I love about this song is that it's all about desperation. The driving need to be able to resolve something that's been left undone, or to say something that's been left unsaid, for too long. It's refreshing, too, because it seems like the only place you're allowed to feel desperate anymore is in a song. Or, perhaps, a YA novel. But there you go.

I mean, it makes sense. People don't want to think about desperation a lot of times, because... well, it's kind of... desperate.

In the context of the song, though, desperation is something we're all a little familiar with. That need to reconnect with someone, to know that they at the very least, won't have trouble remembering your name in two years' time, or what color your eyes are, or anything.

The message is so simple and clear, and entirely universal. Don't forget me, don't regret me. Because the truth is, we all kind of hope that we're unforgettable. At least to one person. Or maybe a handful of people. But usually one. That one that we can't seem to forget for the life of ourselves. We just can't help ourselves. At least I know I can't.

Hootie & the Blowfish - Hold My Hand

2007-10-27T14:56:00.000-07:00

I could never get away with trying to call myself a music elitist. I probably couldn't even manage "music savvy." "Music savvy" people would be way too cool to listen to decade+ old pop rock singles like "Hold My Hand."

Speaking of which... is this song really over ten years old? Oy vei. I actually heard a "back to the oldies" special on the radio a few months ago that was jammed full of artists like Hootie and Matchbox 20 and Third Eye Blind. Oldies. Oldies? Seriously? This can not honestly be how my mother feels about Kris Kristofferson, can it? Because... my music cannot be old. That would mean that I'm old, and I'm only 22!

Music, however, seems to have a much shorter life-span than... well, almost anything else. I guess that makes sense since the average song is three and a half minutes long, and you can only devote so many three and a half minute portions of your life to the same song before you want something new.

But back to Hootie. And this song. This song is part of a soundtrack I've made myself for a story I'm working on, since I had a teacher once who said that every thing you write should have a soundtrack to it. If you work that way. I happen to.

This is not the first soundtrack of mine that "Hold My Hand" has appeared on. In fact, it's managed to work its way onto almost all of the soundtracks I've made. This isn't because I'm short on imagination, though that would be a distinct possibility.

The fact is, this song is exactly the feeling I want to portray at the end of pretty much all my stories. Maybe I'll fill the beginning and the middle in with angst galore (and believe me, I probably will) but in my head I always want the end to be like this. This resonating, uplifting message of simply saying I want to love you the best that I can. I can't even imagine a better ending to a story than that.

And if that makes me campy? (Which I'm sure it does.) I don't really care. I mean, admit it. As cool as it is to be angsty and emo nowadays, we all still like a happy ending at the end of the day. It's human nature. And Hootie? Hootie is the silver lining.

P.S. No offence is meant towards Kris Kristofferson. In fact, I love Kris Kristofferson. He's incredibly hot for an old guy, with that hair? He's hotter now than back in his hey day. His voice has always been sexy, but the drugs and drinking definitely wore on his appearance back then, and he looks much better now that all that is out of his system.

Chris Isaak - Two Hearts

2007-10-26T13:19:00.000-07:00

I had to listen to this song about a dozen times before I even really heard it. That happens sometimes, especially if you're listening to a whole playlist of the same artist. And especially if you spend a lot of your time multi-tasking, or generally mucking about.

Sometimes I step back from a Chris Isaak song and think, why am I even listening to this guy? Everything he does is so... Chris Isaak. And with some extremely-high falsetto notes thrown in, this really shouldn't be on my list of favorites from him. But somehow it is.

The line that gets me is "love's a heavy weight/give it to me, don't hesitate." It flings me back to the schtick Bill Irwin did on Northern Exposure back a million years ago, of this man who didn't speak. He could speak, but he usually chose not to. He explained that words were like rocks, and they carried all this weight, and if you had too many of them you could be overwhelmed by them. I always kind of liked that idea. Maybe because I'm a classic example of someone who never seems to be able to say the right words out loud when they matter, and the wrong ones always come back to haunt me.

And if something as small as a word has that much weight, what kind of weight would something as big as love have?