hands down, i'm too proud for love

"revelations"

date taken: january 3, 2009

photo by: me

subject: the loveliest lila who ever lived

day 08 - a song you know all the words to

oooh...toughie...

i am such a lyrics person. when i fall in love with a song, which happens with alarming frequency, i live inside it. i look through all the rooms, real or imagined. what does it mean? what is it referencing? who was it written for? why does taking back sunday sing "let's go" in the studio version of "cute without the e" and "let go" in the acoustic version? why does marvin gaye trail off when he sings the provocative last line of "let's get it on"? does meatloaf really need twelve minutes to tell us that he would do anything for love except screw around? i also like to obnoxiously point out the flaws in lyrics, and not just grammatical "i like girls that wear abercrombie and fitch" type flaws. why oh why is john mayer's love interest crawling towards a pillowcase instead of a pillow? i mean, were they still making the bed? or is johnny a slave to the rhyme? why does dire straits claim the movie song was "there's a place for us" when any eighth grader knows the romeo and juliet theme was "a time for us," and "there's a place for us" is actually just the first line of "somewhere" from west side story which, albeit based on romeo and juliet, IS NOT romeo and juliet? why does marvin gaye point out that "animals and birds who live nearby are dying"? are birds NOT animals? last i checked marvin, class aves is in phylum chordata which is in kingdom animalia. duhhhhhh.

fine. i'll put general ranting and raving aside to more specifically rant and rave about a recent, simpler, but infinitely funnier lyrical blunder that a local musician sings when she covers this lovely little ditty by lykke li.

ok. everyone knows the lyrics to this song right? (if not, scroll down to see me type it from memory. and don't worry about lyrics printed elsewhere on the internet. i've looked at them and i assure you they are wrong). anyway, the chorus goes (all together now) "i think i'm a little bit, little bit, a little bit in love with you. but only if you're a little bit, little bit, little bit in la-la-la-la-love with me." simple enough right? well, not for everyone. at least twice in recent memory i have heard this really pretty singer in two separate performances of this song sing "i think i'm a little bit, little bit, a little bit in love with you. i tell you i'm a little bit, little bit, little bit, in la-la-la-la-love with me!" ....(inhale)... HAHAHHAHAAHHAAHAHAhahahahAHAHhahahhH. oh, that's good. now, you may all be thinking maybe it's satire. maybe she's seriously just self-involved. well, i'd possibly agree with you if she consistently sang the words this way all the time, which she doesn't.

in all seriousness, what this exhibits to me is that she's not listening to the words, or worse, not feeling the words. and lighthearted as this song is, it really does matter. it's about self-preservation. about not giving yourself away. until you are assured your feelings are reciprocated.

that's beautiful. it hurts my heart.

Lykke Li - Little Bit

* hands down, i'm too proud for love. but with eyes shut, it's you i'm thinking of. but how we move from A to B, it can't be up to me 'cause i don't know. eye to eye, thigh to thigh, i let go. i think i'm a little bit, a little bit, a little bit in love with you. but only if you're a little bit, little bit, little bit, in la-la-la-la-love with me. and for you i keep my legs apart, and forget about my tainted heart, and i will never ever be the first to say it but still i, yeah you know i...i...i...i. i would do it, push a button, pull a trigger, climb a mountain, jump off a cliff 'cause you know baby i love you love you a little bit. you would do it. you would say it. you would mean it, and we could do it. it was you and not only i...mm. i think i'm a little bit, little bit, a little bit in love with you. but only if you're a little bit, little bit, little bit, in la-la-la-la-love with me. think i'm a little bit, a little bit, little bit in love with you. but only if you're a little bit, little bit, little bit, in la-la-la-la-love with me. come here. stay with me. stroke me by the hair. 'cause i would give anything, anything, to have you as my man. come here. stay with me. stroke me by the hair. 'cause i would give anything, anything, to have you as my man. little bit, little bit, a little bit in love with you. but only if you're a little bit, little bit, little bit, in la-la-la-la-love with me. etc.