I was listening to some old Men Without Hats music this morning and one of the songs just hit me hard. I can’t say it brought back memories as much as it brought back old feelings -not necessarily emotions of some old relationship or anything. Just the feeling of being back in time to when I was getting ready to leave home for collage and I knew I would never live here again. I remember the excitement and sadness. The feeling that things would never be the same -for better or worse. I remember playing this album on my record player over and over sitting in the basement of my parents house where my bedroom was (‘corse this was well before my music collecting obsession got started).
I think it’s got to be one of the most difficult things: putting a good song together. Someone has just written some incredible poetic rant like this one below and you have to find just the right melodic tune to go with it. For years I can remember listening only to the music of this song -never the lyrics. Now here I am more than 15 years later finally listening to the lyrics. They both do the exact same thing to me -and that’s incredible. I pray that some day I’ll have the inspiration to do someone’s poems right this way. Here’s the song’s lyrics I was pondering on…
I CAN SEE IT IN YOUR EYES – MEN WITHOUT HATS
By your leave, I think that I’ll be going now
I think I’ve stayed a little long
I looked up all my mother’s recipes
I can’t think what I did wrong
We go to a restaurant, but you don’t like wine
You say it’s love you want, but there is no time
I realize, I can see it in your eyes
You keep staring at the floor
I used to look at your school photographs
But I don’t have them anymore
I wonder who’s in my old college rooms
Or stuck on my old locker door
I dream of the ships at sea, on a stormy night
I wish that it was me, but I wake in fright
I realize, I can see it in your eyes
I’ve only got myself to blame
Winter kisses when your lips were blue
Like chasing wild geese in the snow
Pressing faces on the window panes
But that’s a long long time ago
We go to a restaurant
You say it’s love you want
I realize, I can see it in your eyes
You’re moving on to something more