Because It's Such An Unusual Sight: The Pursuit

Hi friends,

it's been a while since I wrote here, although I have been thinking about it every day, because that's what you do with something you love.

My mind has been occupied with a million other things, most notably and tangibly a very large upcoming international trip,

but more ineffably, the question of happiness.

And the ongoing realization that happiness is something more than the lack of unhappiness, that it really is a land you can visit. I can visit.

I often turn to Paul Simon when I wish to express matters of emotional complexity, because he is the artist I know with the most finely detailed grasp of humanity.

(Look no further than the line, "when something goes wrong, I'm the first to admit it and the last one to know" to prove that. The difference between admitting something and knowing it is a slippery, yet important, idea.)

This one goes out to all of us who see happiness as a rope bridge -- shaking with our steps and yet, obviously, attached to something somewhere.

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The song: Paul Simon, "Something So Right"; 1973

(I guess this also proves that where it comes to the heart, I am just a sucker for a good glissando.)

Yrs,
AW

inbedwithamywilson@gmail.com

And The Saddest Fear Comes Creeping In: A New Leaf

One thing I am completely willing to admit about myself is that, where it comes to matters of media and culture, I am so stubbornly conservative as to be, like, one of those mountain trolls post-turning-into-stone.

For example it's only in the past year or so that I've really gotten what people love about hip-hop/hip-hop's enormous influence on modern-day pop music/the fact that a truly GREAT hip-hop song is up there in the leagues with the BEST songs.

But I finally got there, okay??

*

And it wasn't so very long ago (let's be real: it was a week ago) that I found myself saying, "Well I think of myself as a pretty open-minded person when it comes to modern music but I JUST CAN'T GET DOWN WITH THIS DUBSTEP STUFF. And it's infecting everything! I mean, why is it that no modern song can have a FOUR ON THE FLOOR BEAT??"

First of all, when I see this typed out I do realize that having to say "Well I'm a pretty open-minded person but. . ." means you are being exactly the opposite.

Secondly, part of my vitriol is just projected rage/depression that I don't actually live in the 1970s because all I ever want to do is dance to the Bee Gees under a shower of glitter confetti.

Thirdly, it's not actually true that no modern song has a four-on-the-floor beat which is partially why I seriously love Maroon 5. (Yep. We can talk about this later.)

Fourthly, you kids just get the hell off my lawn.

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The song: Taylor Swift, "I Knew You Were Trouble"; 2012

I can't stop listening to this song.

And it's for two reasons. Less importantly, the segment where she says

And the saddest fear comes creeping in
that you never loved me
or her
or ANYONE
or ANYTHING

Because there's something that just tickles the fuck out of me about saying "and sometimes I really worry that the reason we didn't work out is because you are, actually, a psychopath".

But really the reason why I feel like this is a song I will always love is the dubstep-y interludes.

TROUBLE

TROUBLE

TROUBLE

Earlier today as I was on about 25 of 30 repeat listens I thought to myself, "if there were a song of just that 'trouble trouble trouble' part I would listen to that all the time!!"

I'm going to chalk that one up to the heady rush of infatuation, but there's a grain of truth in there. This song, without that interlude, is nothing special at all. Pop goodness, whee hee.

With it, "I Knew You Were Trouble" represents a new step forward for pop music, which is essentially conservative because it has to be at some level basic and universal.

Just like pop took a while to really know what to do with hip-hop, with vocoders, with any new advance, it's taken its time incorporating dubstep influences. 

BUT HERE IT IS. IT'S HERE: the future!

And the future is in your ribcage and it sounds SO good.

Yrs,

AW

inbedwithamywilson@gmail.com