pink champagne on ice.Monday, October 02, 2006

I randomly stumbled upon a website that listed down all songs of an era along with what their possible intended meanings could have been. 70s, 80s, 90s.. As the decades went by.. the songs lessened. Decreased. Bit by bit by bit. Until, in 90s, the best they could come up with was Backstreet Boys. Back in the 70s, there used to be such interesting thought provoking songs.. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Hotel California, Stairway to Heaven, American Pie.. Songs that could be interpreted a thousand diffferent ways, songs that would leave you in a feel of awe - mystified. Songs that would fill you with wonder and leave you thinking.

American Pie, for instance. Drove my Chevy to the levee.. The old 50s Chevrolet advertisement, “Drive your Chevrolet/through the USA…On a highway or a road along a levee..” And "That'll be the day that I die" was one of Buddy Holly's most famous songs. The next line "Did you write the book of Love, and do you faith in God above/ if the bible tells you so" "The Book of Love" was a 1958 hit song by The Monotones. "If the Bible tells you So" was a song by Don Cornell, 1955. And all those connections to the plane crash in which Buddy Holly died.

And then, ofcourse, the mainstream Hotel California. The vast interpretations from the hedonism, to the mental asylum, to the possible devil worshipping and cocaine addiction.

Let's not even get started on Stairway to Heaven. And how Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was talking about LSD (notice th caps). There was always something to think about, something to wonder about. What can you possibly wonder about in, I'm a genie in a bottle baby, come on and let me out. Or.. Hit me baby one more time. Or even, say, how about Digital, digital getdown.

When did music stop being food for soul?

I always thought of myself as the kind pf person who changes other people. Whoever comes in contact with me, comes closer to me, ends up being changed in one way or another. I'm a very ruboffonyou kind of person. You will adopt one idiosyncrasy or another. Quirks. Everyone I know closely has adopted something of mine from my facial expressions, to random things I say often, to my laugh, to my patent jokes..

But I never thought of myself as the kind of person who can ever be changed by someone. I never thought spending a lot of time with someone could change me. But it has, and it's an ongoing process. Nausheen. She encourages me to think. I'd forgotten a very long time ago how to think, how to dissect things, put them apart and study them closely. I'd learn the refined art of blocking things out and living in the happy bubble to an extent that even when I wanted to think, I couldn't. What tangled webs we weave. I'm still like that.. but lately, I fond myself analyzing things deeper than is Kiran. Good change, actually. Hmm.