climb up the slide and slide down the stairs

The first thing that attracted me to this song was its catchy rhythm. I mean, an acoustic guitar, a violin and a mandolin? The result was a strangely (yet pleasantly so) acoustic, up-beat mix that will make your foot tapping and your fingers strumming on an imaginary guitar. And then there were the lyrics. It was obviously a romantically inclined song, with the persona singing about a girl who managed to scare him out of his wits and made him go against the normal flow of things. And for the longest time I thought it was meant to be a song for just a particular girl, a person singlehandedly chosen from the rest of the population who had such power over another person. And I thought, “WOW,” I wish I could be that girl too.

Then just now, as I was singing this song in my head, I realized it can also be interpreted in a more general manner. Perhaps the composer of the song did have a particular girl in mind — a lover, a friend, a hidden crush he cannot approach — but it doesn’t necessarily mean the song ends with her. It can be made into a love song for any other girl, as long as the listener makes the persona his own and sing about a special person in his life who made such a huge impact it made his world revolve in another direction. It stops being just one specific girl; it now becomes every girl out there who won’t “try to buy you with her time, but nothing’s the same, as you’ll see when she’s gone.” And I guess most songs are like that anyway, but for so long I was envious of that mysterious girl whom one day we’ll see and then know what the singer “means.” When he says “take her or leave her, she will still be the same,” it’s not limited to her, no specific person who will change all of our lives forever. She becomes all of us, in a sense, to another person who considers us special, who will “dream of colors that have never been made” and “imagine songs that have never been played” because of our existence.

And it gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Was kinda slow to see that only now, but hey, better late than never, neh?

Also, it does have a spiritual angle on it, if you squint your eyes, twist the words a bit, disregard the subject’s gender and cross the thin line between reading between the lines and overreading. There’s the coming to terms with the fact that God will be the same whether we accept him or not, but we will be losing a lot if we don’t welcome him in our lives. And the point being that once we do accept him in our lives, we will see things differently, perhaps bizzare to others, and simply not abide with the rules of the world, but in the end, it will all be worth it. And it scares us because this is something new, something that will drag us out of our comfort zones, and our first reaction would be to hide, but when we do take the leap of faith, we’ll realize that even though “it’s foreign on this side” and that “there’s no place to hide,” in the end, we won’t be scared.

This Side by Nickle Creek

One day you’ll see her and you’ll know what I mean.
Take her or leave her she will still be the same.
She’ll not try to buy you with her time.
But nothing’s the same, as you will see when she’s gone.

It’s foreign on this side,
And I’ll not leave my home again.
There’s no place to hide
And I’m nothing but scared.

You dream of colors that have never been made,
You imagine songs that have never been played.
They will try to buy you and your mind.
Only the curious have something to find.

It’s foreign on this side,
And the truth is a bitter friend.
But reasons few have I to go back again.

Your first dawn blinded you, left you cursing the day.
Entrance is crucial and it’s not without pain.
There’s no path to follow, once you’re here.
You’ll climb up the slide and then you’ll slide down the stairs.

It’s foreign on this side,
But it feels like I’m home again.
There’s no place to hide
But I don’t think I’m scared.
(there’s no place to hide)
(there’s no place to hide)
But I don’t think I’m scared.
(there’s no place to hide)
But I don’t think I’m scared…

Listen to “This Side” on Imeem!

And now, for the funny quote of the day:

“Boys are stupid. Throw rocks at them.”

Err… okay. So maybe it wasn’t that funny. And a little sexist. But it’s amusing, at least for me. ^_^