Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Pure poetry

Lately I've been obsessing, as I'm prone to do, with some songs that have just… captured me. It's difficult to describe with words the exact emotion, but for me it's just entrancing to pay attention to the lyrics of some songs and enter the world they paint with their words.
I've tried writing poetry and songs before. Never been any good at it. And I'm okay with that, because it seems that there are plenty of people in this world who are pretty darn good at it. (There are also plenty who aren't quite as good, of course, but still manage to become popular somehow… but I digress.)

Here are the lyrics of a few songs I've enjoyed a lot lately. First up is "All of Me," by John Legend. I prefer the version that also features Lindsey Sterling, so I'm linking to that one, but the music video of the original features who I can only assume to be his wife, as there's footage at the end of it with them at their wedding. (Footage that's shot quite differently than the rest of the video, as if it was just from someone's phone who happened to be there at the time.)
What would I do without your smart mouth
Drawing me in, and you kicking me out
Got my head spinning, no kidding, I can't pin you down
What's going on in that beautiful mind
I'm on your magical mystery ride
And I'm so dizzy, don't know what hit me, but I'll be all right

My head's underwater but I'm breathing fine
You're crazy and I'm out of my mind

'Cause all of me loves all of you
Love your curves and all your edges
All your perfect imperfections
Give your all to me, I'll give my all to you
You're my end and my beginning
Even when I lose I'm winning
'Cause I give you all of me
And you give me all of you

How many times do I have to tell you
Even when you're crying, you're beautiful too
The world is beating you down, I'm around through every mood
You're my downfall, you're my muse
My worst distraction, my rhythm and blues
I can't stop singing, it's ringing in my head for you

My head's underwater but I'm breathing fine
You're crazy and I'm out of my mind

'Cause all of me loves all of you
Love your curves and all your edges
All your perfect imperfections
Give your all to me, I'll give my all to you
You're my end and my beginning
Even when I lose I'm winning
'Cause I give you all of me
And you give me all of you

Give me all of you
Cards on the table, we're both showing hearts
Risking it all, though it's hard

'Cause all of me loves all of you
Love your curves and all your edges
All your perfect imperfections
Give your all to me, I'll give my all to you
You're my end and my beginning
Even when I lose I'm winning
'Cause I give you all of me
And you give me all of you

I give you all of me
And you give me all of you

A bit more dramatic, especially when watching the video along with it, is "Say Something," by A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera.
Say something, I'm giving up on you
I'll be the one if you want me to
Anywhere I would have followed you
Say something, I'm giving up on you

And I am feeling so small
It was over my head, I know nothing at all
And I will stumble and fall
I'm still learning to love, just starting to crawl

Say something, I'm giving up on you
I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you
Anywhere I would have followed you
Say something, I'm giving up on you

And I will swallow my pride
You're the one that I love, and I'm saying goodbye

Say something, I'm giving up on you
And I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you
And anywhere I would have followed you
Say something, I'm giving up on you

Say something, I'm giving up on you
Say something

It's not common these days to hear a song on the radio that has so much pure emotion put into it. A lot of what I hear is, honestly, mindless lyrics put to a catchy beat. "Say Something" just has a piano and string accompaniment, at a slow but not dreary pace, and again the video shows various scenes where the lyrics perfectly describe the emotions felt.
Last one that I've been a little obsessive with is a much more upbeat one than the previous two, and while I'm linking the video here I can't say that it makes as much sense as the ones from before. But it still tells a fun story, as well as the song just by itself. "House of Gold," by Twenty One Pilots.
She asked me, "Son, when I grow old,
Will you buy me a house of gold?
And when your father turns to stone,
Will you take care of me?"

She asked me, "Son, when I grow old,
Will you buy me a house of gold?
And when your father turns to stone,
Will you take care of me?"

I will make you queen of everything you see
I'll put you on the map, I'll cure you of disease

Let's say we up and left this town
And turned our future upside down
We'll make pretend that you and me
Lived ever after happily

She asked me, "Son, when I grow old,
Will you buy me a house of gold?
And when your father turns to stone,
Will you take care of me?"

I will make you queen of everything you see
I'll put you on the map, I'll cure you of disease

And since we know that dreams are dead
And life turns plans up on their head
I will plan to be a bum
So I just might become someone!

She asked me, "Son, when I grow old,
Will you buy me a house of gold?
And when your father turns to stone,
Will you take care of me?"

I will make you queen of everything you see
I'll put you on the map, I'll cure you of disease

While it's quite often a risk to read from the comments section on popular YouTube videos, there was a good one I found that showed one person's thoughts on what the video meant:
the song seems to be about the struggle we go through trying to achieve the storybook life we've written for ourselves..this struggle literally feels at times, like it's taken a piece of us. i think the video is trying to portray this concept in very simple imagery like a man serenading at a window, reduced by the struggle at this point to a "half" a man.
Seriously, why can't we have more songs with actual meaning to them like these?! Instead we're overwhelmed with songs like "Timber":
It's going down, I'm yelling timber
You better move, you better dance
Let's make a night you won't remember
I'll be the one you won't forget
Not gonna bother linking to the video for that since it's just multiple shots of scantily clad women and drinking alcohol. And every song by Pitbull just seems to be him bragging about how amazing he is with the ladies, how many countries he's been to, etc. Again, catchy tune, but the lyrics are just… nonsense. And that's currently #3 on American Top 40. Kinda makes me worried about the direction society's going in… not that I wasn't worried already.

Listen to the ones I did link to. Worth at least one listen each, that's for sure.



New movie today! A friend of me recommended it to me a while back, and I found it in a $5 bin at Best Buy. Fantastic Mr. Fox, which has a well-known cast of actors voicing the different characters. And as it turns out, it's based on a Roald Dahl book, and I've always enjoyed the various adaptations of those in the past. This last weekend I also picked up a new DVD after seeing a stand-up comedy night at BYU. I can't find a page online about their DVD (which is a recording of one of the nights they performed on tour), so here's a link to their Facebook page. I had some pretty good laughs both during the live show and from the recording, so if you ever get a chance to see The Left Field (their name) perform, take the time and check them out.

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