Short Break #6
Welcome back to another short break.
Yesterday, I read through an Ask Reddit thread asking the question: “What song(s) come across as upbeat but the lyrics say otherwise?”
There were many great answers. Mr. Brightside is about someone who just started feeling confident and then sees the girl he likes go home with another man. Hey Ya is about someone who can’t find love and chooses to have mindless hookups anyway. Little Talks is about a conversation between the deceased and the person they loved.
But the answer that hit me the most was At Least It Was Here by The 88, or more popularly known as the theme song for the TV series Community.
The lyrics for the opening credits of Community goes as follows:
Give me some rope, tie me to dream
Give me the hope, to run out of steam
Somebody said, it could be here
We could roped up, tied up, dead in a year
I can’t count the reasons I should stay
One by one they all just fade away
Which is pretty morbid when you’re reading it, but is not at all the vibe the song gives off. It’s a very catchy and upbeat song, a perfect intro for a TV show as wacky as Community.
But sometimes looks can be deceiving.
I adore Robin Williams. I watched his films growing up, starting from the more child-friendly (Aladdin, Mr. Doubtfire, Pan) and then proceeding to watch his more mature films (Good Will Hunting, Dead Poets Society, What Dreams May Come). I was incredibly heartbroken when he passed away.
But then I got to watch a documentary about his life. How behind all of his zany and hilarious antics, he was — for lack of a better word — a deeply sad man.
Robin Williams was a human personification of an upbeat song with sad lyrics. At first glance, you may just hum along to the tune, but look deeper and realize that that it’s not upbeat at all.
I’ve always felt like I related to Robin Williams. Call it a red flag, but I’ve realized that to feel the most extreme highs, the cost is experiencing the most extreme lows as well.
I can only hope that I bring as much joy to the world as Robin Williams did. To give as much happiness as possible to the people around me before I go.
Maybe one day I can be an upbeat song with happy lyrics. But for now, I’m not.
See you in the next break.
