A Certain Shade of Green

Right now I have two or three songs caught in my head with lyrics that really make me grin. Something I try my hardest to do in conversation is to speak in ways people don't expect. I know how boring I find the "Hi" - "How are you?" - "What've you been up to?" king of routine and I reckon most everyone else has long since found it wearing on them too.

It's not just that though. If you stay in the same general area for long enough you really get used to the same old patterns of speech. It's a mix of the words people begin to routinely use, the phrases they bring up and the emphasis they put on things. It can become awfully samey. It's perfectly understandable, and I'm fairly glad it happens in general. People get comfortable in what they expect to hear and these little nuances convey the character of the local culture. I just believe there should be exceptions to the rule.

I want to be one of those exceptions. The main reason is that when I realise I've gotten into a routine with the words I use, I feel uncomfortably boring and predictable. That's why I draw ideas from what I read and listen to and use them in conversations. If you catch me just after reading Lord of The Rings you'd be forgiven for thinking I plan to whip out my lute and press upon you the pleasure of an ode. Just after getting up to date with The Wheel of Time saga I keep speaking with strategic accuracy and then adding a 'bloody' here and there. (If I was female I'd cross my arms beneath my breasts and tug forcefully on my braid. I might even smooth my skirts though they clearly don't need it. There's a reference for fellow readers if ever there was one.)

So back to those songs. The first one; Facinating Rhythm by Jamie Cullum, can be taken in a couple of ways, but I like to think It is a really complex way of describing the feeling love gives him.

"Got a little rhythm, a rhythm a rhythm, that pitter pats through my brain.
So darn persistant, the day isn't distant when it'll drive me insane.
It comes in the morning, without any warning, and hangs around all day.
I have to sneak up to it, but someday I'll speak up to it
and hope it listens when I say..."

I'm fairly sure that could describe a man battling with an unstoppable erection, but let's skip past that. The next song is A Certain Shade of Green by Incubus. It seems to be a message to a lady who is hesistant about getting into a relationship even though there is no longer anything stopping her. The song title refers to traffic lights, I think.

"A certain shade of green. Tell me is that what you need?
All signs around, they say move ahead.
Could someone please explain to me your ever-present lack of speed?
Are your muscles bound by ropes? Or do crutches cloud your day?
My sources say the road is clear, and street signs point the way.
You gonna stand around til 2012 a.d.? What are you waiting for, a certain shade of green?
I think I grew a grey watching you procrastinate, what are you waiting for, a certain shade of green?"

Finally there's Throw me a rope by KT Tunstall. This song makes me imagine sitting outside a log cabin somewhere isolated in a warm country. Surrounded on two sides by pine forests but with golden fields in view everywhere else, warmed by a sun just above the horizon. The song isn't even remotely about that.

"I want you between me and the feeling I get when I miss you.
Everything here is telling me I should be fine.
So why is it so, above as below, that I'm missing you every time?
I got used to you whispering things to me into the evening.
I followed the sun and it's colours and left this world.
It seems to me that I'm definitely hearing the best that I've heard.
So throw me a rope to hold me in place. Show me a clock for counting my days... down.
Everything's easier when you're beside me, come back and find me 'cause I feel alone."

If a woman ever says the first line of that to me, I'll travel the world to get back to her. I hope you're getting an idea of what I see in the notion of our world getting more lyrical :).

Call it the road less travelled.

(I really wanted to add in a bit about a friend of mine who can convert traditional insults into the most epic of crude wordplay; but I can't think of a way to do it without revealling his identity and crippling his chances with any future employers who might somehow read this blog... Suffice it to be a silent tribute to originality!)