Let's Dance?

Further to my post yesterday regarding literary inspirations and the impulse to write, I got to thinking about song lyrics - often just as inspirational, in all kinds of ways, as books, with the added bonus that a lyric (or, more specifically, a melody) can drag a memory or an atmosphere back from the past faster than a long-forgotten name or even a photograph can. Perfume can do this too, or even a certain taste; as I’ve said in a previous ramble, a well-lived life is a synaesthetic experience ... and music provides the soundtrack.

Unusually for a girl, I have a vast collection of Hornby-esque, ever-evolving Top Ten Chart lists stored in various notebooks and in my head, divided into categories such as ‘Greatest Love Songs Ever!’, with further subheadings according to mood (for the purposes of this example, ‘sad’, ‘happy’, ‘desperate’, ‘weird’, etc). Currently riding high on my ‘Top Ten Uplifting Songs’ chart is Outkast’s ‘Hey Ya!’, which is unusual for me because the song is relatively modern (my lists are largely dominated by Queen, Marc Bolan, Meat Loaf, Shirley Bassey and the indisputable King of Everything, David Bowie, with Rufus Wainwright gamely holding his own as a young pretender to the throne).

Anyway, I’m digressing, when I’m supposed to be attempting - for once! - to be brief, largely to appease the Animal Disco fans who have asked me to provide them with convenient quick fix bulletins (yes, Anna in Padstow, this one’s for you!). However, I also want to prove to myself that I can indeed publish an Animal Disco post during a coffee break, thereby insuring that we don’t get back into the ‘long days of silence’/nerves habit that I waffled about in the ‘Hello again’ post. So, I’m going to dash off now and leave you with what I believe to be one of the All Time Greatest Ever Pop Songs EVER. If you want a quick real-time blast of it before your coffee cup empties, go to You Tube and look for The Icicle Works 'Love is a Wonderful Colour'. If you’ve got a little bit more time to browse, the lyrics are cheekily cut-and-pasted below. If you’re Ian McNabb, please don’t shout at me for posting your words onto my blog - please take it as the compliment it is intended to be, and not a breach of copyright. And whoever you are, if you don’t agree that this song is a novel, a bottle of perfume, a snapshot and a modern day madeleine, combined with the texture of pure silk, join me on the dancefloor and we’ll argue it out. Later, Animals! x

THE SONG

The Icicle Works: Love is a Wonderful Colour

My friend and I were talking one evening, beside some burning wood,
Trading tales of places we came upon when the times were good,
Spoke of a girl he viewed like no other, whom he had come to know,
I swallowed hard and listened intently, resigned beside the glow...

Always there, it's standing proudly, when all else falls down,
It's all around you, didn't it find you, when you said you couldn't be found?

When love calls me, I will be running swiftly to find out just what all the fuss is all about.
Unrelentless, deep in the strangest feelings, believe me -
Love is full of wonderful colour...

I insist that you pick the wrong one to preach your theories to,
Simmer down, we'll run for a reason, to see what faith can do,

Love is a beacon, on the horizon - watch when you touch down,
Reality finds you fumbling for reasons, when the chance comes 'round

When love calls me, I will be running swiftly to find out just what all the fuss is all about.
Unrelentless, deep in the strangest feelings, believe me -
Love is full of wonderful colour...

Take my confidence to guide you,
Through the fallen hope inside you,
Love is full of wonderful colour.

(Totally copyright secure; don't even think about plagiarism!).