WANT TO KNOW ME? KNOW MY MUSIC
I can honestly say I have one single favorite song. The remainder are loosely ordered.
You will find me in the messages these songs deliver. Others simply have meaning beyond words.
TEARS FOR FEARS
EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD
Why is it my favorite? Undoubtedly Tears For Fears best album was their first album The Hurting. Dark and brooding.
So when they released a second album you thought these guys would still be in that dark place. The release of the album featured a song filled with outright hope despite the lyrics were about man's quest for power.
The release of this Songs From The Big Chair coincided with the beginning of new love in my life too. She was my one great love, perhaps the best friend I ever had, and certainly my best girlfriend.
Good memories surrounding that time have an impact on what this song does for me when I hear it.
the fixx
reach the beach
A song of hopeful despair. Reach the Beach is the song that sums up my romantic side. Perhaps my entire love life. What strikes me about this song is you know the lyrics and music aim to trap you emotionally in an ebb and flow. This song manages to set the mood perfectly for a man in a paradox of hopeful despair. I’ve often referred to my life as a paradox with terms such as rugged intellectual. The song Reach the Beach is similar in every way. It is a powerful expression of a life trapped in a self-made prison because you don’t settle for second best.
Verses such as “When in your eyes I see the sign, a teasing passion for a desperate man” bothered me for the longest time. I knew I was that man. I felt I was the man caught in the tide, just off the shoreline but never able to reach it.
Don’t let this fool you, unlike the song where it leaves you in wonder, “maybe I’ll reach, I’ll reach the beach” I broke that tide’s cycle. I wrote my own songs that told of man not willing to just accept fate, but one that made his own good fate.
Reach the Beach a song that is powerful but because it is ultimately a song that leaves you in limbo I couldn’t call it number one on my list. I’ll always be a man of hope, but this song really hits me.
REACH THE BEACH
Passing time has no surprise when
Pleasure found is my resource
And should I lose my lovers' eyes then...
Secrecy will hide my course
Forgotten lies aim to distract me
This mono mind must not connect!
Purer nature will contain me
Freefall in air I must surpass
When I’m falling calling I return
Floating closer to your shore
Oh, I start to drift with the tide!
Maybe I’ll reach, I’ll reach the beach
My heart is sealed watertight
Maybe I’ll reach, I’ll reach the beach
When in your eyes I see the sign...
A teasing passion for a desperate man
And should I lose my lovers' eyes then...
Secrecy will hide my course
When I’m feeling too sure, then I drown
Floating closer to your shore
My heart is sealed watertight
Maybe I’ll reach, I’ll reach the beach
While the verse “My heart is sealed watertight” is a bit out of line with the rest of the song's theme, it is in harmony with the water and beach theme. I never really let that verse bother me. I mean, if your heart is “sealed watertight” then you are not letting anything in. While the rest of the song is begging to be let in, it is desperate to make that final step and find love.
I recall the verse “And should I lose my lovers' eyes then, secrecy will hide my course.” I was 18 and 19 visiting Myrtle Beach South Carolina. I met girl after girl, night after night, most all had boyfriends and cheated on them with me. I understood why. They were young and wanted a dreamer for a weekend or night. They wanted passion. I saw them as women that wouldn’t risk giving up what they had to try with me. I see now of course how logical they all were. But at the time I thought as I walked hand in hand with them on the beach, “And should I lose my lover's eyes then, secrecy will hide my course.”
These verses below became my Bogard theme. Cy wrote them but they became my own as I had a vision quest of true love. I always felt love could conquer all. I really thought love was enough.
When in your eyes I see the sign...
A teasing passion for a desperate man
And should I lose my lovers' eyes then...
Secrecy will hide my course
RED RIDER
HUMAN RACE
Once again not only is the music important to me but so are the words.
The driving rhythm carries you forward towards solace. She is in that home. She is there waiting for me if I can only reach my destination.
The other message in Human Race is very clear. Nothing will stop him from reaching his goal — girl. “Knocked me down but I got back up and I got myself back in the race again. Knock me down and I’ll get back in the race again.” Simple but powerful words.
These words are how I’ve lived my life. They are inspirational to me. There was a video to this song where the lead singer stood against a sunset and his image became a shadow, his shadow became a blur, his blur became an artistic figure with one shoulder lifted and an arm lifted away from his body. I recall quite by accident once when friends and I took a photo of me at the beach with the sun coming up that I mocked that pose. I found it peculiar and valued that photo especially for what it meant to me.
What makes these songs so important are verses, but the stories they tell on a whole are equally important. I love the idea of race against shadows and race against stone. The artistry and imagery are mystical.
While the message in this song is about losing love and going on, the romantic side of me always imagined the girl I was driving to was no longer expecting me to come, but I did. And for that, she accepted my passionate attempt to regain love. But then there were times when my heart has been hurt and I then identified more with that verse what it really says, “I loved you but that was way back then, now I’m alone outside, I face the wind the rain washes me thin.” There are times I really understood that pain.
Human Race
I can see it on the road ahead
Running hard I'm here
But I could be there instead
Many houses with the lights on
Silhouettes behind the shades
Beside fires
I'm sure that I saw you in one
I loved you but
That was way back then
Now I'm alone outside
I face the wind
The rain washes me thin
Knocked me down and I got back up
I got myself back in the race again
Knock me down and I'll get back up
And I'll get myself
Back in the race again
Race through the shadows
Race against stone
The sunken city
I thought was my own
Might be in a brave new world
But it's not my home
Roll over fall in
'My God', I screamed
They might catch them
They won't catch me
I'm out here clean
I'm free...I'm free
Knocked me down and I got back up
And I got myself
Back in the race again
Knock me down and I'll get back up
And I'll get myself
Back in the race again
DEL AMITRI
WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG
Few songs fit me well. And that is fine. I like it that way. When I first heard the words to When You Were Young I was immediately drawn to them. The warning few of us ever understand in youth. We only get one shot to make our mark on this world during our lifetime. I proudly performed this cover on stage later.
When You Were Young
Look at the fool you have been
They drained the pool while you drowned in the dream
They bought your beauty and your soul
Then softly sold you back what they stole
So look into the mirror do you recognize someone
Is it who you always hoped you would become? ...when you were young.
The disappointment of success
Hangs from your shoulders like a hand-me-down dress
And down nostalgia's rocky road
You watch your former lovers growing old
So look into the mirror do you recognize someone
Is it who you always hoped you would become? ...when you were young.
Sometimes your lack of sympathy gets hard to explain
So on your mask of makeup just paint a little parody of pain
So I look into the mirror and I recognize someone
Is it who you always hoped you would become? ...when you were young.
Very few of us can own up to what is said in these lyrics. Too few of us can look in the mirror and recognize the person we always hoped we’d become.
The message has stuck with me. I realized my own loss in youth. It hurt. I realized for the first time in years I denied myself my dreams. I never became a rock star; I never became a football star. And the wife I had, changed me. She made me deny my fun-loving self and stifled me from being happy. I realized I rejected some of the best women in my life. I married the one woman that didn’t want to be a team, she wanted what I could offer. I made a bitter mistake that I had to make the best of. Each time I hear this song it reminds me it’s not too late to make my life what I always hoped. Perhaps not a rock star or football star but happy none-the-less. What will make me happy? I’ll keep to myself. 😉
The Fixx
facing the wind
I recall a couple that was to me — an ideal couple. It was long ago. Middle school. I envied what they had and aspired to one day have that great of a friend too. I spent many years with a woman that never offered that kind of friendship so to this day I still identify with the idea of “Just give me something to hold on to, a piece of the world that won’t go wrong”.
To have a woman you can count on that much is the most precious prize a man can have in his life. Without it you are out there alone, facing the wind.
The production of this song makes it timeless. Facing the Wind has the perfect Fixx sound. Jamie West Oram’s signature guitar changs and flares fit together with haunting keyboards. Cy Curnin blends in perfectly.
Facing the Wind
Just give me something to hold on to
A piece of the world
That won't go wrong
Is there somebody there
I can talk to
Somebody sharing the same view
Facing the wind
One avenue that would lead to
A place on this earth
Where we all grew
Longing for travel we stood still
Watching a sky that was once blue
Facing the wind, facing the wind
Facing the wind, facing the wind
Each line we throw
Gives us false hope
One ray of light, God I can't cope
Thinking about what we all are
One human race that's gone too far
Facing the wind, facing the wind
Facing the wind, facing the wind
DOOLEY WILSON
as time goes by
The painful irony is what appeals to me. This song is filled with hope. And like so many other songs that work better than others, it is simple. The fact it is considered a classic makes total sense to me. I had hope love was possible for anyone but myself.
When I reached my mid-twenties I finally accepted that I had to see Casablanca. It was the right time for me. I was disillusioned over my high-school sweetheart not becoming my true love. I completely related to the film's scorned lover, Rick. His words hit home, “I’m not fighting for anything anymore, I’m the only cause I’m interested in.” It was soon after my brother died and my hope for a true love had culimanted in acceptance of my futility.
How true that thought was. Later in life I dated someone. We became enganged. Then suddenly one day she gave my dream to another man, tossing me aside as if we never had something meaningful. In fact, years prior she took my quote of not fighting for anything anymore and my love for Casablanca and shared it as her own mantra during an early separation. I've learned. The film and song don't just belong to me. Although what she did was definitely low in character.
As Time Goes By is also in one of my absolute favorite films, What's Up Doc? featuring Barbara Striesand and Ryan O'Neal. It comforts me to see it performed in love conquors all setting.
As Time Goes By
This day and age we're living in gives cause for apprehension
With speed and new invention and things like fourth dimension.
Yet we get a trifle weary with Mr. Einstein's theory.
So we must get down to earth at times
Relax relieve the tension
And no matter what the progress or what may yet be proved
The simple facts of life are such they cannot be removed.
You must remember this, a kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh.
The fundamental things apply as time goes by.
And when two lovers woo
They still say, "I love you."
On that you can rely
No matter what the future brings
As time goes by.
Moonlight and love songs
Never out of date.
Hearts full of passion
Jealousy and hate.
Woman needs man
And man must have his mate
That no one can deny.
It's still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die.
The world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by.
Oh yes, the world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by.
the cars
bye bye love
In every boy's childhood they are exposed to a new sound of music. When I first learned of rock, it was through an album, The Cars. One song griped me. Bye Bye Love. Listening to Benjamin Orr belt out in exasperation, "Substitution mass confusion", put me on stage too.
Yes. Another song of hope dwelling in futility. "Always, it's some other guy."
Bye Bye Love
I can't feel this way much longer
Expecting to survive
With all these hidden innuendoes
Just waiting to arrive
It's such a wavy midnight
And you slip into insane
Electric angel rock and roller
I hear what you're playin'
It's an orangy sky
Always it's some other guy
It's just a broken lullaby
Bye bye love
Bye bye love
Bye bye love
Bye bye love
Substitution mass confusion
Clouds inside your head
Involving all my energies
Until you visited
With your eyes of porcelain and of blue
They shock me into sense
You think you're so illustrious
You call yourself intense
E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen
OVER THE RAINBOW
SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW
Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.
Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?
Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley
PURE IMAGINATION
This may have been when I first starting appreciating music and more importantly the words to music. I really wanted to believe in a better place; pure imagination. I wanted it to be a place that once you imagined it, you were there and it was real.
Sometimes when I would dream at night I imagined I found money or could fly. I realized during my dream what I had was not real and I didn’t want to wake up from that dream. In some dreams I fooled myself into think I had already woken and that I still had the money or could still fly.
Eventually the morning light would wake me from slumber only to realize my dreams and imagination were not fulfilled in the night, my dreams were bitter sweet. Pure Imagination is song that makes me feel dreams have come true.
Gene Wilder in the original movie adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remains the best performance When Gene Wilder first sung these words I believed him and to this day the words give me hope.
PURE IMAGINATION
Come with me and you'll be
In a world of pure imagination
Take a look and you'll see
Into your imagination
We'll begin with a spin
Trav'ling in the world of my creation
What we'll see will defy
Explanation
If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Want to change the world, there's nothing to it
There is no life I know
To compare with pure imagination
Living there, you'll be free
If you truly wish to be
ABC
THE LOOK OF LOVE (PART 1)
I owe my long time appreciation to this song because it is ultimately optimistic. It was a song that somehow kept coming back into my life too. I recall when I dating an Olympic ice-skater from North Carolina. She practiced at the University of Delaware Rust Arena. I would visit her at practice and her short program was to The Look of Love. There were other times this song had been in my sound track of life. I’ve had great memories to this song.
The Look of Love is special. It is a dance tune with a classical string arrangement supporting it at every level. It starts with piano keys pounding and horns leading into the vocals. Then even a guitar plays in carefully. Enter strings and your spirit rises with the string build up. Martin tells his story and you are drawn in.
“When your girl has left you on the pavement... then you dreams fall apart at the seams.” Ah... this can’t be a sad song! No, he goes on, “It takes a lot to love you!... Yes the one thing that turns this grey sky to blue!”
Trevor Horn of the Buggles produced this and his signature is all over this song. The layering of instruments are clean and easily made out. It builds to a crescendo and have to wonder why it ever had to end...
The Look of Love
When your world is full of strange arrangements
And gravity won’t pull you through
You know you’re missing out on something
Well that something depends on you
All I’m saying, it takes a lot to love you
All I’m doing, you know it’s true
All I mean now, there’s one thing
Yes one thing that turns this grey sky to blue
That’s the look, that’s the look
The look of love
When your girl has left you out on the pavement (goodbye)
Then your dreams fall apart at the seams
Your reason for living’s your reason for leaving
Don’t ask me what it means
Who’s got the look? I don’t know the answer to that question
Where’s the look? if I knew I would tell you
What’s the look? look for your information
Yes there’s one thing, the one thing that still holds true (what’s that? )
That’s the look, that’s the look
The look of love
If you judge a book by the cover,
Then you’d judge the look by the lover
I hope you’ll soon recover,
Me I go from one extreme to another