Store songs. The background noise of the shopping experience. The same tunes that seem to pop up wherever you go. How annoying they can be. Confusing too. But only if you've actually taken the time to listen to the lyrics, which, for the most part, most shoppers probably haven't, which is probably for the best. Otherwise, I'm not sure that they'd want to shop anymore. But hey, at least we've got some research that proves that these songs work, or at least seem to. Still, if you hear them enough times, there comes a point where you start to actually listen to the lyrics, and it is at this point when you, or at least I, start to wonder just why they picked that particular song, and if the picker or the songwriter knew what they were doing when it was picked or created. I hope the writer did, but you never know. Sometimes somebody sees something one way and someone else sees it another. It happens. Trust me on that. That's why I've decided to narrow in on three of the songs that always make me wonder just what was going on when they were chosen. I'm sure there are more. I know there are more, but these three always stand out to me for one reason or another, so for the sake of brevity, I'm sticking with them, unless I go into work today and another one catches my ear.
The first of the tragic trio that I've selected is "I Will Be Waiting," by Daphne Willis. On the outside, this song has a nice upbeat tune. It's bouncy and unassuming and just makes you want to walk around. At least it did at first. Then, after the nine hundredth time hearing it, I started paying attention and things got a little crazy, or at least the song did. Maybe I'm wrong, though. Maybe there really is nothing more romantic than locking up your significant other, but really, after listening to it enough times, I can't help but picture someone in a dark house, waiting by a door for someone else to come inside, and once they do, the door will be slammed shut, the lock clicked into place, and escape impossible. Cheery. Then again, maybe I'm listening to it the wrong way. Maybe it's just about the loss of a relationship. Maybe it's just about that longing for things to go back to happier times. Then again, maybe I'm right and it is kind of creepy, but not outwardly creepy. Maybe it's just another song following in the grand tradition of "Every Breath You Take," by The Police. On the outside it seems like a lovely song of devotion. On the inside it's a little darker and creepier.
The second member of the trio is "Papercut," by Apollo Drive. Yet another song about love and loss (I think there just might be a theme going on here). So we've got our singer and he's sad. Very sad. Very, very sad. Get the boy a box of tissues. Obviously, he's just broken up with his best gal and not taking it very well. Okay, I'm fine with that. It happens. You're sad. I get it. You're getting a little melodramatic there, but okay, the emotions might still be a little raw, so it's understandable. That understanding starts to fade when the song reaches the chorus and things start to get weird, particularly the lyric that goes "Oh I miss how it feels when we touch just like a paper cut." Now, I don't know about you, but I know I love to get paper cuts, especially when I can get them from those thicker cardboard-like papers they sometimes use for tags. Blood. Nothing says I love you like blood. Right? Hmm. The jury may still be out on that one. No wait. Actually, I don't miss paper cuts. In fact, I try to avoid them at all costs. They hurt, they bleed, and they ruin a good day (and possibly a good shirt or pair of pants). Sorry sir, I guess you lost me there, and I'm starting to think that you don't miss that girl as much as you want us to believe. In fact, I think you just want some attention. I think I know just the girl for you. How do you feel about locks?
Finally, the third member of the trio is a rather popular gal with a rather popular song you've probably heard many, many times...whether you wanted to or not: Taylor Swift and her song, "Love Story." Okay, I get it. You're young, you're in love, and nothing is going to keep you apart. You're just like Romeo and Juliet (but you're not that song). Personally, I wouldn't want a relationship to be that song. After all, you do remember what happens at the end of the play, don't you? And you do realize that that play was a tragedy? Or did you somehow miss the last scene and the line about how "never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo"? Personally, I'd rather not have a love like that. I like my life, for the most part anyway, and I'd like to see where it's headed. I don't think Taylor wants it either though, since the very end of the song spins away from the play to a happier, livelier ending, which probably helped sales because I don't think the song would have been as popular had it ended with the young lovers killing themselves. (Parents' groups would have probably gotten a little angry, too.)
So, what have we learned? A bouncy or inoffensive tune can hide a rather dark message. Kind of like those teenage tragedy songs. You just kind of bop along to the beat, not really listening to the lyrics, or only listening to a smattering, and think "Hey, this is a fun song." Then one day you actually listen to what's going on and you think "Hey, that's not what I thought this was about. That's actually kind of messed up. Oh well, I still like the song. Tra la la." Okay, perhaps you don't add the tra la la, and perhaps you even stop listening to the song, or not, but still, whenever you hear it, you remember that it isn't really just about sunshine, rainbows, lollipops, and puppies. (Except for maybe Taylor Swift's, though she does have that song about how she broke up with her emo boyfriend, but that one's not trying to be anything other than what it is: depressing, which makes me wonder why it's also a store song. Who knows, maybe a depressing song makes people buy more in order to get back those good feelings, so it all evens out in the end...until the credit card statement arrives.). All in all, each of these songs is kind of like a kitten. All cute and fluffy on the outside, but inside its hiding its claws and fangs, waiting, if only innocently and not knowing any better, to bring on the pain. Boy, I can't wait to go to work tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment