It's Throwback Wednesday on one of my favourite radio stations!
I love to listen to oldies because they are usually witty and clean music. They make me think, laugh, cry, sing along.
Today, one particular song grabbed my attention - 'young heart run free' by Candi Staton. This song is essentially telling young women to guard their hearts with all their might and enjoy youth without being bogged down with families and relationship problems.
Many teenagers yearn for adulthood so that they can be free. However, once they become adults, many young girls start focusing on finding the perfect mate. Finding the perfect mate, however, is not the most important thing at the early stage of adulthood.
New music is always welcome to my ears. When I say new music, I mean new genres, new songs, new artists, and new spins on old songs. Recently I listened to 'sugar' by maroon 5, several mixes by Skrillex and some other Electro Dance Music artists. They undoubtedly lifted my mood in times of need. However, the artist that has created an avalanche in my brain is called STROMAE.
Upon discovering Stromae's music I can't go a day without his melodic voice caressing my soul. He's positively addictive. His voice, his language, his clothes and of course, his music videos. Ooo la la! He is definitely the 'sugar' that Maroon 5 was talking about in their song. :) Well, he's the sugar in my interpretation of the song.
Anyhow, Stromae is a Belgian with a Rwandan father and a Dutch Mother. That mixture of genes led to an awesome physical output. More Rwandans and Dutch people need to hook up and make babies with velvet skin and perfectly curled hair, haha.
His looks are only one part of the addiction though. His music and videos are the main sources of attraction. The first song I heard was 'Tous le memes'. At first I couldn't understand anything that he was saying, but I didn't need to. The music had me dancing at midnight in the middle of the streets and singing 'tous les memes' and 'rendezvous'. I later watched an interview and heard him saying that many people tend to respond to the sincerity of his music and don't require lyrical understanding to vibe to it. Later, of course, I watched a video with subtitles and quite liked the lyrics as well. It has been so long that I've had such a craving for an artist's music that I feel like I've been shocked back to life by this Stromae.
So, I've mentioned his looks and his music, but when I watch him in interviews, my love for this guy grew some more. He's amazingly humble and charismatic. He makes me want to just wrap in a hug and never let him go.
I'm going to end here because I'm getting another wave of desire to hear his voice and practice my french by reciting his lyrics :).
This song has a certain soothing effect on me. Notice how he doesn't say I'll love you forever. He says 'til we're 70'. The song is not pretentious about time. No one really knows what forever really means, but the way the author feels will last a long time and he predicts that he will feel that way until he's at least as old as 70 years.
When your looks don't work like they used to before
And I can't sweep you off of your feet
Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love
Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks
And darling I will be loving you 'til we're 70
And baby my heart could still fall as hard at 23
And I'm thinking 'bout how people fall in love in mysterious ways
Maybe just the touch of a hand
Oh me I fall in love with you every single day
And I just wanna tell you I am
So honey now
Take me into your loving arms
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars
Place your head on my beating heart
I'm thinking out loud
Maybe we found love right where we are
When my hair's all but gone and my memory fades
And the crowds don't remember my name
When my hands don't play the strings the same way, mm
I know you will still love me the same
'Cause honey your soul can never grow old, it's evergreen
Baby your smile's forever in my mind and memory
I'm thinking 'bout how people fall in love in mysterious ways
Maybe it's all part of a plan
I'll just keep on making the same mistakes
Hoping that you'll understand
But baby now
Take me into your loving arms
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars
Place your head on my beating heart
I'm thinking out loud
That maybe we found love right where we are, oh
(Ah la la, la la la, la la la, la la la la)
So baby now
Take me into your loving arms
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars
Oh darling, place your head on my beating heart
I'm thinking out loud
That maybe we found love right where we are
Oh maybe we found love right where we are
And we found love right where we are
When your looks don't work like they used to before
And I can't sweep you off of your feet
Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love
I really like this music video and song even though I couldn't understand much at first. Boy, I wish I had chosen to live in South Korea instead of this place! What is it about Korean men that makes me so gooey inside? My friend JujuJamz introduced me to this song. She found it strangely addictive and I can completely understand why. They are a set of cute 'bad boys' :) with nice voices to woo me in 한국어 (Korean).
I've grown bored of the mainstream music. I search for things in other languages. I think people who live their entire lives in an environment with only one language miss out on more than 50% of probable life experiences. The language of a country exposes us to the way the people of that country think and experience things. On the contrary, this song by Big Bang, 'Bad boy' doesn't teach me anything new about South Korea. Take a look at the translated lyrics below. The song is basically about a guy who thinks he's a bad boy, so he treats the girl like crap, then expects that her love for him will remain. However after she leaves he begs for her to stay. Just crazy. I guess it tells me that some South Korean boys aren't much smarter than western boys (even though they study so hard in school, haha).
I was too harsh that night I didn't know you would really leave The words, “I’m sorry”, is too difficult for us that we take it to the end Because I’m ill-tempered We fight over stupid things numerous times a day You take off crying, I look around and think, ‘She’ll come back tomorrow. She’ll definitely call me first in the morning’
Baby, I can’t, I’m so bad that I want to be good to you but it’s hard Every day and night I’m so mean cuz I’m so real so I’m sorry (but I can’t change)
I’m the one you love but sorry I’m a bad boy Yes, just leave me, good bye, you’re a good girl The more time passes, the more you get to know me, only disappointments will remain but Baby don’t leave me, I know you still love me Why, yes, I’ll tell you the truth, I need you My lay lay lay lay lady My lay lay lay lay lady
You say that I’m different than other guys so it’s hard You’re still like a young girl with a soft heart For you, who is always smiling next to me, I’m still too young With the excuse that I’m busy, I postpone our date Because I’m sorry, because I’m frustrated, I turn my head The bride in my dreams is just a friend now Upset over the breakup, we are silent
Baby, I can’t, I’m so bad that I want to be good to you but it’s hard Every day and night I’m so mean cuz I’m so real so I’m sorry (but I can’t change)
I’m the one you love but sorry I’m a bad boy Yes, just leave me, good bye, you’re a good girl The more time passes, the more you get to know me, only disappointments will remain but Baby don’t leave me, I know you still love me Why, yes, I’ll tell you the truth, I need you My lay lay lay lay lady My lay lay lay lay lady
Don’t say a thing I act tough but I’m not inside Don’t abandon me You know that there’s no one who will understand me like you, baby Oh you, come back to me ye ye ye
I’m the one you love but sorry I’m a bad boy Yes, just leave me, good bye, you’re a good girl The more time passes, the more you get to know me, only disappointments will remain but Baby don’t leave me, I know you still love me Why, yes, I’ll tell you the truth, I need you My lay lay lay lay lady My lay lay lay lay lady
I’m the one you love but sorry I’m a bad boy Sorry I’m a bad boy, Sorry I’ma bad boy Yes, just leave me, good bye, you’re a good girl You’re a good girl, you’re a good girl (X2)
My first roadtrip in Japan didn't occur without a glitch. I was late in meeting the other roadsters, then we got stuck in traffic for about 4 hours. Apparently the highway that we were supposed to use was being repaired and all traffic got detoured to a tiny road amidst the rice fields.
It turns out rice fields are very uninteresting. Who knew?!
Shiga definitely needs a face lift and some entertainment. I saw nothing of interest while driving through. Music really saves lives :). If it weren't for music today, this journey would have either gotten really exciting from the crazy things I would have done or really mindfucking boring from the nothingness around us.
Karaoke came as an easy form of entertainment while waiting in traffic.
In the end, we made it to our destination and had some real fun - volcano / mountain trekking, playing in snow in the summer, enjoying mother and father nature. It was worth the 4 hours spent in traffic the day before :).
If you have time, I recommend visiting Tateyama and Kurobe Dam in Japan. They are magnificent features of the earth.
Today, one particular song grabbed my attention - 'young heart run free' by Candi Staton. This song is essentially telling young women to guard their hearts with all their might and enjoy youth without being bogged down with families and relationship problems.
