I Love Music

I know that it’s a bit of cliché to say that a certain piece of music can immediately transport us back to a given time and place, that it can put us back in touch with a given person, that it can conjure up all sorts of feelings and emotions that may have been long forgotten or buried but, you know what? It’s true!

A few days ago I noticed a post by another SW member about the song, “Bitter Sweet Symphony” by The Verve. I commented and gave my own thumbs up for “The Drugs Don’t Work” from the same album. I’m typing this and I’m getting the same prickly goose bumps that I got when I posted my comment. Those goose bumps made me play the song again on my hi-fi.

It’s May 2000 and I’m in Amsterdam. The weather has been awesome and I’ve spent my week chillin’ outside various bars by the canals. I’ve come here to hang out with an old friend and to get away from yet another relationship that’s gone down the tubes in spectacular style.

Why is it that I can’t seem to fall in love with the women who fall in love with me? Why is it that I always fall in love with women who say;

“I’m not ready to settle down”
“my life is too complicated for a commitment right now”
“I love you but I’m not in love with you”
“I need somebody who is always there for ME”
And it goes on, and on, and on.

I was nuts about this girl, would’ve done anything for her. Well, not anything. I mean, I had my life to live too right. I had my own goals and ambitions. I needed a woman who could respect me for who I was and “complete” me. Yeah I know, another load of clichés.

It’s my last night, tomorrow I catch an early flight back to London and then, within a week, I’m off on another job in some dodgy part of the Middle East. But tonight my pal and I are in a bar getting off our faces on the best weed that money can buy. I’m in a mellow mood and then……………there’s the opening chords on an acoustic guitar, the violins lifting that guitar to another level. Now there’s Richard Ashcroft’s voice floating above the music. Music which slowly builds in complexity but maintains its almost tragic vibe. I don’t know if it’s the weed or if this bar just happens to have the best sound system in the whole of Amsterdam. Whatever it is, I’m seeing her face and I’m telling myself that I won’t let her go. Not this one. Not this time.

'Cause baby, ooh, if heaven calls, I'm coming too
Just like you said, you leave my life, I'm better off dead

But if you wanna show, just let me know
And I'll sing in your ear again

Now the drugs don't work
They just make you worse
But I know I'll see your face again

Yeah, I know I'll see your face again
Yeah, I know I'll see your face again
Yeah, I know I'll see your face again, oh Lord
Yeah, I know I'll see your face again, oh Lord

I'm never coming down, I'm never coming down…………

But, of course I do come down, as we all must, and I don’t see her face again. At least, I don’t see her face looking at me the way that she once did.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR8XH3R95xE]

room101 · 51-55, M

@Lemony - i had to read the title of your choice two or three times before i got it. was it, "squeeze up the junction" or, "up the junction" by squeeze? the first one sounds more than a little uncomfortable. the second, well it has a message. i guess :p

@NIK - thank you :)

@HerWay - again, thank you. hope you don't mind how i've abbreviated your name. it says a lot about my choice in women lol.

berangere · 80-89, F

So well written! You and I have the same problem with falling in love with unavailable people or people we should be running away from and not falling for those who did love us and would have made us happy. It is no longer a problem for me as I am now an old lady but as I look back I wonder at the happiness I have thrown away.By the way "a bitter sweet symphony" is one of my favorite song.

SW-User

I loved this..but you know what? I enjoy the pain of remembering. Maybe bitter sweet symphony sums it up better than anything (mine is squeeze up the junction not quite as apt😕)