Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Cracks in the Sad

All morning I've been wondering why I am in such a good mood. Inauguration? The end of an era? Sure. The fact that I got (and stayed) out of bed before 9:30 a.m. (major milestone, FYI) Yep. That helps. The presence of my co-worker and pal L. in town for a big meeting this week. Bonus. But what is that underlying thing making me smile?

I think I love the train. Yes. Even I don't know what to expect at the end of my journey. I really enjoy the journey. Always have. Back in the day it was my walkman; today its a (much smaller, much more reliable) mp3 player which unlike my old walkman has buttons that I don't have to hold down to get to play. In the wayback, it was text books, essays and a highlighter; nowadays its stacks of journals I never have time to read at the office, my laptop and this book. Which I may or may not crack open on the way home. We'll see. I think I will love this book. I just don't know if I am ready to read it today.

So here I am. On the train. En route to super smart MFMs. Listening to the band we went to see last week. The band that has been on constant rotation in the apartment for a few weeks now. They are really all I want to listen to right now. Their snarkiness soothes me. Their lyrics make me laugh. Out loud sometimes. And laughing feels good. Thank M for introducing them into my listening sphere. The first time I heard them, I somehow knew a ton of the words already just from M. singing out loud. I could type down some lyric snippets here, but they would be out of context and might not seem as clever/funny/ridiculous/great as I think they are. Or maybe you wouldn't find them funny at all. That would be a bummer. What did Dani819 call it? Gallows humor. Yes, there's definitely some of that. But who can resist when it's got a great beat and you can dance to it? Even on one leg.

Oh shit, I can't help it. Here are some of the lyric that M and I have been singing to each other all week:

And we exhale. And we roll our eyes. And we do these things - in unison.
And woe is me....and woe is you....and woe is us...together.
And WOOOOOE is me...and WOOOOE is you...and WOOOOE is us.
Together.

It's funny. It is. I promise.

2 comments:

annacyclopedia said...

I'm adding this band to the list of things I'm buying with my Christmas iTunes gift card. Sounds awesome - I totally get the funny in that little snippet.

And I love the train, too - we don't really have passenger travel where I live, but when I lived in Japan, some of my best moments were on the train. It's like the train has a way of holding melancholy and joy in perfect balance.

m said...

@ annacyclopedia: yes. yes! you nailed it. It is this:

"It's like the train has a way of holding melancholy and joy in perfect balance."

That is it.

And I am beyond happy that I've convinced at least one person of the brilliance of los campesinos! I hope you like them!

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