heaven knows

07.22.2005

In the middle of another article, your most-anticipated song of late, Heaven Knows (by Orange and Lemons), plays on your Jurassic transistor radio. A smile instantaneously flashes across your face and there’s no denying, the song simply made your day. You leave an erstwhile impulse to write that particular article and veered off to this thing which made an otherwise clear day turn into a blast. (Yahoo! yahoo! wait up…you’re starting to sound irritatingly bouncy…) Okay, that was an enormous bit of exaggeration, but sometimes when things become so sorely desolate, hearing your song or any good music for that matter, is as refreshing as your favorite strawberry lemonade. As one friend puts it, waiting for your song on the radio gives a different thrill, even with the stream of ipods and mp3 players in tow. (Now, sure hope that doesn’t sound like sour graping eh?)

What makes the song so pleasurable anyway? Ahh, that’s quite a perfect modifier don’t you think? Perhaps, its rarity is one thing that makes it even more desired (if desired is once again too intense an adjective, let us change that to sough-after). As of this writing, this song is being aired by just one radio station (no, it’s not --- ---. -), and not as often as you can demand it aired. You see, people oftentimes have this unconscious yearning for things apparently beyond reach. Perhaps, getting hold of what seems unattainable makes everything sweeter, not to mention interesting and more energizing on the part of the one who hankers.

You might not exactly have the ear for musical genius, but you sure love the way the song soothes your deadbeat feeling. Certainly, you have your personal long-drive (where you picture yourself driving alone or with company, driving through a road lined with oak trees one auburn afternoon…), feel-good, wake-up, charge-up and, emote songs on your request/play list; even so, Heaven Knows can be simply singled out as your song—or anybody’s favorite, for several good reasons, and for the most part, the libretto.

This articulation may perfectly appear unsolicited, yet we pigeonhole the song into either the “songs-you-wish-were-sung-for-you” or “unfortunately-I’m-singing-this-song...are-you-happy-now?“ categories. It largely depends on which side of the fence you’re in. To those who think they belong to the former, shall we say, good for you? Where as to those coming from the other side, we are here to commiserate—for what can be a more cheerless story than that of the one who got away? (Thanks to that circulating email Re: the one who got away.)

To maintain an impartial view of the whole picture, let’s take a quick glance into these two categories if only to try and make both sides feel better and at least let them find consolation in the middle of whatever they have to put up with.

Friend, if you’re one among those who wish this song was for you, could we just say in jest—aren’t you one big lump of an egomaniac? All right, you’ve made your point, you were somebody’s loss, so quit being overwhelmed that you’re such a prized catch and the other party was an aching loser for letting you go. May you find the person who deserves you and hopefully you deserve him/her too. (Is it really a question of being worthy?) Jumping over to the other side of the fence: what happened? Why did you have to let your angel go? What did you do wrong? Whatever the reason, and if it makes you feel better, your gesture of “letting go” is very much appreciated, that is if you’re at fault for whatever went wrong, and probably more so if you’re not. Although a little introspection wouldn’t hurt, would it?

Meanwhile, we have some sound trip to get back to…