Unbreakable
When my mother was a special ed teacher, she had an autistic kid named PJ in one of her classes who would carry around a radio in the hopes that “In The Carwash” might play on it. PJ had his radio with him constantly, and would freak out and scream if anyone tried to take it away from him, because what if – WHAT IF – In The Carwash played and he missed it?! This story proves two points, 1) MP3 players must be a real boon to autistics and 2) obsession with a song can be powerful.
I frequently become wholly obsessed with a song – playing it over and over and over. Like a coked-up lover, I will not let this song roll over and get some goddamn sleep for chrissakes. I must hear it again! My musical libido is insatiable and single-minded!
Songs I have ear-fucked to the point of exhaustion include: “Rock Me” (Liz Phair), “Low” (Flo-Rida), “Magic” (Cars), “Against All Odds” (Postal Service cover version), “We Belong Together” (Mariah Carey), and currently “Sweet Freedom” (Michael McDonald). Most of these songs are now ruined for me – I can’t stand the thought of them. (“Sweet Freedom” is still safe, since I’m still playing it 8billion times a day.) When Glennis mentioned “We Belong Together” the other day, my stomach rolled. “Oh,” she said, “You broke that song.”
Yes I did. It is totally broken. That is the problem with obsession! Like all things I love, I beat the life and sense out of that song. I couldn’t leave well enough alone! I had to hear it again and again until it chafed my brain. Now hearing it doesn’t remind me of the good times we had, it reminds me of all the degrading things I made that song do. It’s no longer new and fun, and full of emotion – it sounds a little too slow, and dumber than I remembered.
The same thing happens eventually with all songs…until it doesn’t. Until you meet your true heart song. Until “What A Fool Believes”, by The Doobie Brothers. (I’ve tried before to explain why I love this song so much – but it’s bigger than either us.) Now, I can’t promise you that that is your true heart song, that will never get old to you, never disappoint you, but for me it is. We have an open relationship – I get obsessed with other songs from time to time, and WAFB goes off and hangs out at beach parties for 50 year-olds – but we always come home to each other.
I hope one day you all find a song like that – a song that makes you catch your breath every time you hear it, makes you want to dance, makes you carry around a transistor radio and bite people if they try to take it away from you. PJ and I did.
For more on WAFB, check out Yacht Rock.
July 15th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
David Bowie and Brian Eno’s “Heroes”. That damn song is like a religious experience for me. I shake, I speak in tongues (which may just be a bad impression of what I think the lyrics are in German) and I get incredibly, like Hulk Smash, angry when someone tries to cover it.
To me it’s perfect and has been for over 30 years.
July 15th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Oh man, I do the exact same thing with songs. Just KILL them. Right now I’m doing it with Ignition (Remix) by R. Kelly.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
“You’re right where I wanna be!”
I am currently working on wearing this one out: http://youtube.com/watch?v=soMbZ7eLKlM
July 15th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Garth Brooks “When You Come Back To Me Again” (Yes, the theme song from “Frequency”)….
…… I know, nothing compared to the songs already spoken of here, but that song always makes me believe it was written about me, who I was, am, and some day want to/will be.
Hey! Quit laughing….. c’mon……
- Kenny G.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
I’m a product of the 90s: Say It Ain’t So, Weezer.
no one is allowed to talk for its entirety, and it leads to involuntary head banging/nodding and angsty, grimacing faces with accompanying clenched fists. River Cuomo, sigh.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
and in one of the most embarrassing admissions of my life, here is mine:
“Oh Industry” from the Beaches soundtrack.
um, ITS SO GOOD
July 17th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Joe G. –
Are you joking? I don’t want to judge but…you can’t be serious!
This song?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QUy3l0aosR0
Wow. Kudos to you, sir.
July 18th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
100% not kidding. I know, I know.
the youtube clip from the movie is kind of hacked apart for the movie and stitched together to be 2 minutes long, and it has this weird theatrey thing going on with masks and stuff, and the sound is bad, etc.
but the actual soundtrack version is surprisingly creepy and really well orchestrated, once you get past the 1988ness of it.
Maybe its oddly linked to my childhood, when my Mom would play the Beaches soundtrack a lot, and I was like, “this album is generally lame, and I still like girls even though this album is somehow compelling me not to, but holy crap, that one song is cool.” And then I downloaded it a few months ago out of curiosity and still really liked it.
and by “out of curiosity” i mean “in preparation for this year’s Beaches convention”
July 18th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
I wrote a big thing explaining my odd love of that song, but I guess it took too long to write and wordpress forgot what was happening, and it disappeared when I hit “submit.” Oh well.
But long story short, yep, totally not kidding, the youtube version is really hacked apart and kind of ridiculous-looking, but the album version is surprisingly well-orchestrated (once you get past the 1988ness) and really creepy and pretty darn good.
Annnnnnnd there goes my musical credibility.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Wow. I read your explanation on the Improv Message Boards. You did quite a good job of explaining it. Those were some really enjoyable posts. To my shallow shame, when the song first appeared, I never really considered what the lyrics were trying to say. It’s actually pretty damn good. But at that age, testosterone tends to mess with perception. Now older, more banged-up and maybe a tiny bit wiser…
August 1st, 2008 at 10:49 am
“what a fool believes” always gives me a craving for “tempted by the fruit of another” and vice versa.
August 4th, 2008 at 2:17 am
Toto’s “Africa”. That would be the one for me.
August 5th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Petula Clark’s “Downtown”. Hell yes.
August 23rd, 2008 at 7:06 pm
I broke Piano Man a long time ago, and it still isn’t fixed.
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:34 pm
“Impossible Germany” by Wilco will never get old to me. Mostly because in the second half, the guitar part starts as a little seed and eventually grows into a giant rainforest of guitar greenery. Btw, I came here from cracked.com, and I think you’re killer.