I spent a lot of time trying to find the right song for this past week's Musical Memoir... and it finally struck me. This is one of those really inspiring songs. Whenever I hear it -- I can't really explain what happens -- but it's like I'm flying, or maybe just suspended in air. Time stops abruptly, as I watch images from my past filter through my mind. Some are good, some bad, but all are shone in a positive light. I'm really happy to be sharing this with all of you today.
"I've been roaming around, I was looking down at all I see
Painted faces fill the places I can't reach
You know that I could use somebody
You know that I could use somebody
Someone like you and all you know and how you speak
Countless lovers under cover of the street
You know that I could use somebody
You know that I could use somebody
Someone like you
Off in the night while you live it up I'm off to sleep
Waging wars to shake the poet and the beat
I hope it's gonna make you notice
I hope it's gonna make you notice
Someone like me, someone like me
Someone like me, somebody
I'm ready now, I'm ready now
I'm ready now, I'm ready now
I'm ready now, I'm ready now
I'm ready now
Someone like you, somebody
Someone like you, somebody
Someone like you, somebody
I've been roaming around, I was looking down at all I see"
Wow... How to follow that up with a review. This is a challenge, but I'm up for the task. Forgive me, but I'm just going to dive right into this one.
"I've been roaming around, I was looking down at all I see"
Sometimes, I feel like one of those people. I feel "above it all", not in the "holier-than-thou" sense, but more in the way that I feel unaffected by the things that seem to bother others so much. This can often-times create a huge problem for me, personally. I've had people, especially within my family, tell me that they feel that I am too critical of others, or "always looking down on them". To anyone who has ever felt that I am this way, I want to apologize, but at the same time, I'd like to say that I hope you can understand me. Understand possible reasons why I'm that way. I've had many experiences in my lifetime (not that I'm old). These instances have provided enough insight, foresight, and so forth, that I often feel that I know a person very quickly. My friends tell me that I'm a good judge of character; of who a person really is. But I've seen so many people, and "read" so many of them but their actions and their mannerisms were completely opposite what their words told me about themselves. Other times, I've been the tricked one. I've been the one who met with those who could hide their true selves from me despite whatever gifts I may or may not possess. If you've been lied to by someone you've trusted, I'm certain you've felt the same dramatic change within yourself. It was almost tragic, wasn't it?
"Painted faces fill the places I can't reach"
Everyone around us wears a mask of some sort. None of us can tell the whole truth. Which is why people like me shouldn't always look down on everything, or be so harsh. I also think that for me personally, the part about "places I can't reach" is simply that despite my feeling above it all, there are times when I am brought down to earth, and humbled by things like depression or anything at all that could bring me down. To me, there are places and things I can't get to, because I feel I've been told "no" too many times, which is why I sort of separate myself from the rest of it and play the "don't care" card. It's easier to appear we don't care when it means the world to us. Particularly when we fought so long and hard to get to where we are, only to crash against the rocks just as dry and stale as the day we dove into the river of life.
"Someone like you and all you know and how you speak"
Sometimes we need others in our lives... But not just anyone will do. For many of us, it is the people who "get" us. Those people who 'just know' when something's not right, so they talk it out with us, or just listen. Or maybe nothing is said and that person is just there. Either way, it is a true comfort to know that someone is understanding of the person you are, whomever that may be.
"Countless lovers under covers of the street"
So many people hide their love for others... and there are also those who my hide the loves they have from others. Perhaps it is not what others expect of them, or they fear what will happen should they reveal their loves to others. So we hide... we paint on our faces, and we hide. The sad part is that we've gotten to the point where we do so without shame.
"Off in the night while you live it up I'm off to sleep
Waging wars to shake the poet and the beat
I hope it's gonna make you notice"
This screams un-popularity to me in some ways. It is almost as though the writer is saying, "You're out partying while I'm in my bed having nightmares." And the nightmares are so realistic, aren't they? The kind you awake from with the scream on your lips and no air in your lungs to force it through your voicebox. We want others to notice our fears, our insecurities; but we don't want the criticism and the fun-poking that goes with becoming vulnerable.
"I'm ready now."
In my opinion, the writer here is talking about the next step. He has come full circle, and accepted the pain and the trials with which he was struggling. That acceptance, has given him a new lease on life and a better outlook on the whole of it.
This song is full of hope and healing... I love it. My thanks to the writer.
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