Because We're Not Just Nice
Because I'm boring and ever so slightly obsessive, I listen to some certain songs almost every day, depending on my mood. For a while it was Reise Reise by Rammstein, and for another while it was Disney songs in Arabic, and so on, so forth. Sometimes I share these songs, sometimes I don't. When I do, though, I get pretty interesting conversation. Let's call my friends E and M.
Eurovision intrigues me. Everyone I've spoken to about it laughs at it, or mocks the acts. It's true that many of the acts are cheesy. Anyways, last year's winner was Alexander Rybak, from Norway. "Oh yes," E said, who's from Belgium, "that cute Norweigen fiddler." Let's make no mistake, he's absolutely, utterly adorable.
Then I show them a song like this:
Most of it's the usual typical moony bordering-emo of Young Dude Seeking Love, but the chorus took the cake:
But I know a magic dolphin swimming above the world
And in my dreams he promised me that someday I'll find my girl
Wait, what? "Wtf are these Norweigens smoking?" E asked.
"I don't know," I replied. "I was hoping you could tell me." You know, E being in the European continent and all. Clearly she is my fountain of information on All Things European.
"Reindeer meat."
After a bit of sallying, she said, "you know, in my mind, I've changed the lyrics. I'm pretending he says, 'and in my dreams he promised me that someday I'll rule the world'."
"That does make a lot more sense," I agreed.
And why doesn't it? Call us cynical and loveless, but let's face, at this age (which is, mid-20's), we're not interested in Prince Charming and we're not interested in Twue Wuv. We're happy enough if we find someone to really share our lives with, and if not, we're okay with it. It occasionally sucks to be single, but it also sucks to be friendless and humourless. And humour leads us to ask, why, if I could see a dolphin swimming above the world, would I only wish for a girlfriend? I wouldn't. I'd probably ask if I could ride its back and never go home if it was really so awesome. I'd hang out with it and chill in some beach by the Milky Way. (Class marker alert!) We'd follow comets and mess around on the moon.
I don't know, ya'l. If you could see a magic dolphin swimming over the world, what would you do?
I tried to use this song to console - well, more distract - my friend M. It worked. "Is this song about drugs? Is it like Puff the Magic Dragon?" (To be fair, I had just shown her the Amazing Screw-On Head, so her incredulity levels were still pretty high.)
I hadn't heard or even thought of Puff the Magic Dragon in YEARS. Contrary to rumours, it's not about marijuana, it's about a little toy dragon whose owner outgrows it, confirmed by Peter, Paul and Mary themselves. But the marijuana interpretation makes so much sense so the assumption still hangs around, so much so, the Malaysian government banned the song in the 80's.
Nonetheless, I'm pretty sure this song is about one dude's overactive imagination, and it's sweet and harmless and cute and innocent. I told M about E's change in the lyrics. "YES," M said.
"There is a fine line between sweet little fiddler boys and egomaniacal cynical bitches of awesome."
"And she crossed it perfectly."
And let me tell ya, it feels great to feel birds of a feather flock together.
Eurovision intrigues me. Everyone I've spoken to about it laughs at it, or mocks the acts. It's true that many of the acts are cheesy. Anyways, last year's winner was Alexander Rybak, from Norway. "Oh yes," E said, who's from Belgium, "that cute Norweigen fiddler." Let's make no mistake, he's absolutely, utterly adorable.
Then I show them a song like this:
Most of it's the usual typical moony bordering-emo of Young Dude Seeking Love, but the chorus took the cake:
But I know a magic dolphin swimming above the world
And in my dreams he promised me that someday I'll find my girl
Wait, what? "Wtf are these Norweigens smoking?" E asked.
"I don't know," I replied. "I was hoping you could tell me." You know, E being in the European continent and all. Clearly she is my fountain of information on All Things European.
"Reindeer meat."
After a bit of sallying, she said, "you know, in my mind, I've changed the lyrics. I'm pretending he says, 'and in my dreams he promised me that someday I'll rule the world'."
"That does make a lot more sense," I agreed.
And why doesn't it? Call us cynical and loveless, but let's face, at this age (which is, mid-20's), we're not interested in Prince Charming and we're not interested in Twue Wuv. We're happy enough if we find someone to really share our lives with, and if not, we're okay with it. It occasionally sucks to be single, but it also sucks to be friendless and humourless. And humour leads us to ask, why, if I could see a dolphin swimming above the world, would I only wish for a girlfriend? I wouldn't. I'd probably ask if I could ride its back and never go home if it was really so awesome. I'd hang out with it and chill in some beach by the Milky Way. (Class marker alert!) We'd follow comets and mess around on the moon.
I don't know, ya'l. If you could see a magic dolphin swimming over the world, what would you do?
I tried to use this song to console - well, more distract - my friend M. It worked. "Is this song about drugs? Is it like Puff the Magic Dragon?" (To be fair, I had just shown her the Amazing Screw-On Head, so her incredulity levels were still pretty high.)
I hadn't heard or even thought of Puff the Magic Dragon in YEARS. Contrary to rumours, it's not about marijuana, it's about a little toy dragon whose owner outgrows it, confirmed by Peter, Paul and Mary themselves. But the marijuana interpretation makes so much sense so the assumption still hangs around, so much so, the Malaysian government banned the song in the 80's.
Nonetheless, I'm pretty sure this song is about one dude's overactive imagination, and it's sweet and harmless and cute and innocent. I told M about E's change in the lyrics. "YES," M said.
"There is a fine line between sweet little fiddler boys and egomaniacal cynical bitches of awesome."
"And she crossed it perfectly."
And let me tell ya, it feels great to feel birds of a feather flock together.
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