Waxing Lyrical

I never used to listen to song lyrics. It sounds silly doesn’t it, but if something sounded nice and it stuck in my head then that seemed to be enough. I had a conversation with my brother earlier this year about this very subject. He couldn’t believe that I didn't really put a huge amount of emphasis on lyrics and urged me to listen to them a lot more.

This I did and oddly enough, or obviously enough you may think, the way I looked at some songs had totally changed. For example, I used to assume that Sting's Every Breath You Take, was written about his new born child. It sounds nice when thought of in those terms doesn't it. Well I have since discovered that the song is actually about a stalker. Now listen to it again and tell me how nice it sounds.

Well a couple of nights ago I was playing around on You Tube before going to sleep and looked up different pieces of music that I hadn't heard in years. The beauty of You Tube is that half the people who post music tracks and videos, also seem to feel compelled to post the lyrics. I’ve no idea why, but to be honest I am not complaining.

I listened to the music and took in the lyrics. The result was that I had to listen to them again and again. The music becoming more resonant, the lyrics having more meaning than ever before, mainly because I hadn't really listened to them in the past, not in any meaningful sense anyway. What they did however was to take me back to memories of people, relationships, loves and places from a different time. Admittedly, with rose tinted spectacles, but the memories and the emotions they evoked were vivid. I even had to wipe a tear at one point.

I started writing. The words and the music creating clarity in my mind as my fingers hit the keyboard. Word followed word without a break. I smiled as I typed, the music playing in the background making me recount a fondness for the past and a passion for certain times. There were no pauses, no silences, no gaps between typing sentences as the words seems to flow effortlessly. It was as if I was on autopilot as I spilled everything I wanted to say on to the electronic page.

It was very late as I sat up in bed typing away, but I had to finish. I was just about there. A few more sentences and I would have it and be able to tell the tale I wanted to tell. I wasn't really looking at the keyboard as I typed and suddenly I hit three keys at once.

Restore, Minimize, flashed the tab. Fuck, what have I done, I thought. But there was nothing I could do. The screen had frozen. Nothing would move, save for the mouse arrow, not that it was highlighting anything of course. I tried clicking on a couple of icons - nothing. The internet is not responding, flashed the pop-up before the screen faded and the internet restarted. I searched and scoured but it was no good. Every word that I had put into the laptop, uninterrupted, had now gone. I hadn’t saved any of it. In the next few moments, my reaction to what was unfolding on the screen in front of me could and may for all I know, have woken up the neighbours.

I tried re-writing, but it was no good. The moment had gone. It may come back, who knows, but that's for another day. For now you'll just have to wonder at what you might have been reading now instead of this.

C’est la vie...