Spiritualized – “I Think I’m In Love (Chemical Brothers rmx)”
Sun so bright that I’m nearly blind
Fool as I’m working it out in my mind
Warm as the dope running down my spine
But I don’t care ’bout you
And I’ve got nothing to do
Feel the warmth of the air that I breathe
Even free-er than DMT
Feel the warmth of the sun in me
But I don’t care ’bout you
And I’ve got nothing to do
Love in the middle of an afternoon
Just me and my spike in my arm and my spoon
Feel the warmth of the sun and the moon
But I don’t care ’bout you
And I’ve got nothing…
I think I’m in love (probably just hungry)
Think I’m your friend (probably just lonely)
Think you got me in a spin now (probably just turning)
Think I’m a fool for you (probably just learning)
Think that I can rock and roll (probably just twisting)
Think I wanna tell the world (probably ain’t listening)
Come on…
Think I can fly (probably just falling)
Think I’m the life and soul (probably just snorting)
Think I can hit the mark (probably just aiming)
Think my name is on your lips (probably complaining)
Think that I have got it bad (probably contageous)
Think that I’m a winner baby (probably Las Vegas)
Come on…
Think I’m alive (probably just breathing)
Think you stole my heart now baby (probably just stealing)
Think I’m on fire (probably just smoking)
Think that I’m your dream girl (probably just dreaming)
Think I’m the best (probably like all the rest)
Think that I could be your man (oh, probably just think you can)
Come on…
I think I’m in love, I think I’m in love
It was back when Enigma first came along that I learned to take myself above the lyrics and listen to the music. The vocal portion of a transcendant song isn’t just singing lyrics. The sound of the voice becomes part of the music. The actual words are secondary to the experience. I’d bet safe money that before we had speech we had song. A perfect example is the tribal music that Deep Forest uses.
But that knack works against you every once in a while. Beautiful South is a great example. (Used to be the Housemartins.) They have fun happy sunshiney melodies and the nastiest lyrics. Stuff about a guy who’s freaking out because he killed his wife and stuffed her into the wall and now her corpse is rotting and the wall’s getting all gooey. Charming. And you can hear those songs on the radio a dozen times, tapping your feet while you cruise through Sunday traffic, and then suddenly you try to sing along and your jaw drops.
I got a bit of a lurch with this song. A few weeks ago it was recommended to me, so I tracked down both the original and this Chem Bros remix. For about three weeks I’ve been chilling out to this breezy melancholy song and I decide to actually pay attention to the lyrics. I had caught the bit about second-guessing your reality, but I had no idea we were talking about heroin. Woosh.
Is there a deeper life’s lesson here? Is this a metaphor? Prolly. I’m not sure what it is yet. My brain is usually far smarter than I am. I’ll let you know.
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*edit- mp3 link removed to save bandwidth, sorry!
Is it a metaphor? Maybe… But I’d lean more towards irony. More than likely, I’d say it’s the always entertaining post modernist, self reflexive kind of irony, highly popular with artists who like juxtaposing pretty and ugly to mask the fact that they’re really just horribly cynical. And I should know.
Maybe the real question isn’t whether the formatics of the song (lyrics VS melody) are what’s intended to make you think. Perhaps the real question is whether it still holds the same appeal once you’ve realized what it’s about? When you do the math does the song still add up?
COMMENT:
That’s sorta my point. The song will never add up the same way. Sometimes you get deeper, but usually the lyrics take the mystique out and fall kinda short of the power of the music. In this particular case it’s different. They clearly know what they’re talking about and have built the song and even their whole sound out of that peak. Knowing the words still makes it less mystical, but worse- the subject kinda grates on me.
i’ve always been huge on lyrics.. which is why i can’t stand most mainstream music. i pay too much attention to what they’re saying.. and most of the time it’s the same shit over and over, regurgitated in different colours. yuck!
I KNOW! I so know exactly what you’re saying. The same lines about the same themes. And what about those songs where they don’t even try? The chorus is just one line repeated four times? And the verse is so trite and cliched as to be nothing short of tedious!
And people wonder what the attraction is of the underground.
I dunno… a lot of underground is just as cliched as mainstream, it just depends on where you look I guess.
Ok, I gotta say… I hate the use of the word underground to describe any music. I know what you mean when you say “underground” but the term just seems to bring up the whole IM MORE OLDSKOO THAN YOU/genre battle crap that I so loathe. JUST LISTEN. If its good, LIKE IT! If it sucks, STOP LISTENING. We don’t need to argue about what the hell it is and where it belongs. [/rant]
peas.
I agree. I used the word “underground” with a cringe. It’s connotative of elitism. But for me it’s what we can’t hear on the radio because it hasn’t been backed by one of the Big Four labels. or is it five? I forget. Anyway, full acknowledgement there.
Now my brain feels like goo. I was about to blurt out something like Jaime, ’cause I just try and keep it simple as I like it or I don’t, but then I read davin’s comments and I totally hear that too. I severely dislike the Brady Bunch lyrics of most radio songs. (I think that is why I like eminem more now) Then there is the R&B crap that really isn’t R&B, I guess it is just a polite way of saying black peoples music? I don’t know, my mind is goo.
Just turn down the suck, and turn up the good.