I haven't really been bowled over by any new music for quite a while. Not sure what that's all about, although I have been a bit off my game for a week or so now. But then a new Will Young song landed in my inbox last night. And it is fantastic. It is in the running for XO's song of the year. Paul has a lot to say about it, as well as a lot about Will Young in general. It is assured a spot on my 80 minutes year-end list.
Every now and again, a song falls into your life at just the right time speaking to just the right circumstance, and "Let It Go", like Darren Hayes' "Hero", is one of those songs. One of the things I struggle with most is, well, letting things go. I can intellectually rationalize to myself that there is nothing I can do about this, that or the other thing and that I need to just release it. So I do. And then I run over and pick it back up again and hold tighter than I previously did. At least that has been my history.
So for a lot of reasons, I'm incredibly cognizant of patterns like that right now. Today at work, when the day seemed to overtake me and I was trying to save the world, I went to the library and sat with my iPod for 15 minutes at lunch and listened to this song over and over again. Suddenly, it was as if I were a teenager again rewinding the tape to hear the same part of the song ad infinitum. The sentiment was just right there.
Let it go, let it go, 'cause it's out of my control...
Grips so tight it shatters, only thing that matters...
Heaven knows just what I'm stressing for
Let it go, let it go.
Easy to say, quite another to do. I'm fond of saying that if a pop song doesn't know how you feel, there's really no point to it. And even though, yes, those are cliched lyrics, well it certainly doesn't make them any less true. Although his use of the word "stressing" bothers me a bit, but only because it reminds me of a college friend who used that word obsessively when describing his exam preparation.
The best music takes you back and moves you forward. "Let It Go" accomplishes all this in a mere 3:40.
1 comment:
And from the look of last.fm it has put you on a Will Young kick? The song is so incredibly open and raw, it's hard not to connect with it. I love what you have written here :)
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