some time last week (last weekend, even? i don't exactly remember), i turned on the tv, pulled up the comcast guide, and started scrolling through the listings to see what was on. the tv had been left tuned to one of the pbs stations, and they were running one of those weird music shows where a pop artist plays with a big ol' orchestra, you know? (and i'm not talking about austin city limits here, which is a fine upstanding show whose character is not to be so wantonly maligned with statements like "one of those weird music shows.") and so, based on this happenstance of channel positioning, in the upper right hand corner of the guide screen is jewel, singing with some odd orchestral accompaniment. i give this about two seconds of notice before i continue on my merry guide-scrolling way.
however, something lodged itself in my mind at that exact moment, and it has been pestering me incessantly ever since. it's that song from her first album, "who will save your soul" - you know, where she kinda sounds like kermit the frog? yeah, that one. it wasn't even the song she was singing on pbs while i flipped through the guide, but there it was, in my brain. i found myself humming it off and on for the rest of the day. and then here and there the next day. etcetera and so on, until tonight, when i found myself sitting in front of iTunes downloading the damn thing!
why? i honestly don't know! i mean, i will admit that i've always kinda liked the song - frog-like warblings and all. however, i haven't actually heard it in, oh, at least half a decade, probably more. yet while i let the track play on iTunes, i found i still knew every word, every little inflection of the entire three minutes.
what's up with my brain and the mid-90s jewel? why is it a steel trap for that, and not, say, random details of thermodynamics? or even when to take a tylenol instead of an advil? (i drive SisterCat crazy with that one. i probably call her up to ask her this pressing question an average of three or four times a year.) and yet here i am, effortlessly recalling folk song renditions to the letter for no apparent reason whatsoever.
hey, at least it's another song for my iPod. everything old is new again.
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3 comments:
I had the same thing last night. It was a promo spot for Hot Stove/Cool Music (after a much needed Sox win) not PBS, and it was Letters to Cleo not Jewel... but there I was looking up songs and putting them in the iTunes. If I was not the only person I know not to own an iPod I am sure I would have listened to them on the way to work.
Sometimes it's just like that. Something grabs you in some emotional way, I think, and then it's lodged there for good. Whether you particularly like it or not.
You mean Advil and Tylenol are not interchangable? What about Bayer? Oh heavens, I've been killing my pain all wrong.
And I swear I heard a guy on the train say "Axl Rose" and less than 10 minutes later I had "Mr. Brownstone" running through my head. From start to freaking finish! I came home, pulled up the cassette tape, and sure enough, every word was there in the order I thought. Then, of course, while telling a co-worker about it, I couldn't remember how the song even started, let alone the chorus. I'm not sure which is better in this case.
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