Music Review
Song tracks here.
Coldplay - Speed of Sound
I know. Reactions were mixed when this song first came out. Some raved about it, some thought it was just bleh. Yes, and I was one of those people.
The thing is, early Coldplay fans liked the music because it was all moody and depressing, and all emo… Seems that the days when Chris Martin was morose and sad are long gone.
Well, I’ve changed my mind about this song. Balls to me, and balls to you too, cos this song is the most damn infectious earworm I’ve ever listened to. What started out as a mild irritation became a slight affection for this song, which has now progressed to full-scale infinite repeat on my iRiver H340.
And birds go flying at the speed of sound,
to show you how it all began.
Birds came flying from the underground,
if you could see it then you’d understand?
Yes, it is that infectious. Heart-poundingly so. My heart also pom-pom tiao.
Mariah Carey - We Belong Together
I’ve never been one for mushy love songs (ok maybe I’m not being honest, but hey, we WERE all teenagers once, eh?), and especially not Mariah Carey ones. My interest in R&B has also never extended beyond appreciating the ladies getting their groove on at the dancefloor. And that is the reason why this particular song is something special.
Granted, this is both an R&B AND mushy love song, but then I found much that is intriguing about this song, enough to look beyond its genre and assess it on its merits. For example,
I didn’t mean it
When I said I didn’t love you, so
I should have held on tight
I never should’ve let you go
Ah yes. That all too familiar human flaw of not treasuring what we already have until we lose that which is important to us. In addition, an important question. Why do we say or do things when we don’t mean them?
I was stupid, I was foolish
I was lying to myself
On the face of things, self-deception seems logically impossible, and yet we do it so often, all the time. How is it possible for us to know X, and yet convince ourselves that X is not?
Cause I didn’t know you
Cause I didn’t know me
But I thought I knew everything
I never felt
And the most important human weakness of all: the lack of self-awareness. Gnothi Seauton (know thyself), Socrates learned at Delphi. And yet, more than 2000 years later, how many of us are any closer to that goal? ‘I didn’t know you’, ‘I didn’t know me’, and worst of all, ‘I thought I knew everything’. Little wonder the Oracle pronounced Socrates the wisest man in all of Greece, for he alone was aware of his ignorance.
Seriously, this song is just damn good for cold, lonely winter nights alone with inscrutable judgments from long-winded old white men.
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Rocking. Absolutely rocking.
I’ve saved the best for last. Before reviewing the song proper, first consider, these lyrics:
If you want it. . say the word I (i can try it)
I know whatever I’m not fulfillin
Another woman is willin
Im gonna fulfill your body and spiritI promise ya
I’ll keep myself up.
Remain the same chick
You fell in love with
I’ll keep it tight
I’ll keep my figure right
I’ll keep my hair fixed..keep rockin the hottest outfits
When you come home late
Tap me on my shoulder I’ll roll over
Baby I heard you..I’m here to serve you
If it’s love you need..to give it is my joy
All I wanna do is cater 2 u boy
When I first heard this song, I noted with a sense of satisfaction and a warm glow in my tummy that somewhere in this world, a radical feminist had just choked on her organic vegetables and died. Ahhhh yes…
What’s up with Destiny’s Child? I mean, I’m sure as hell not complaining, but what in world happened to ‘Independent Woman’? ‘Keep it tight’? ‘Tap me on my shoulder I’ll roll over’? Whoa whoa, surely that seems going a leetle beet too far to ‘Cater 2 U’, no?
In some ways, this would be any guy’s ultimate dream woman. But in other ways, it could be his ultimate nightmare. Consider.
I spoke to a friend of mine about this the other day, and she said she had no qualms about doing all these, because she doesn’t see it as subservience at all. ‘Why?’ I asked, puzzled. She smiled and said, ‘If I do all these things for my man, who of course must be someone I truly love, then he would be dependent on me. And once he’s dependent on me, he would give me what I want as well. No?’.
Truly, I was stunned. Now this became an immediate reversal of power. The one in power was no longer the one being given, but the one doing the giving, for she is creating a dependence in her partner! Insidious!
But then again, if one is truly in love… I guess all these don’t mean so much anymore does it? After all, is love not just a pleasurable form of slavery? A willing one?
