Skip to main content

A song again, naturally


I heard the Gilbert O’Sullivan’s song Alone Again Naturally many times growing up. The structure of the song is deceivingly interesting. The song lures you with the singer’s unusual voice; its simple melody has a sing-song quality that makes it easy to hum after hearing it for the first time. Though I’m familiar with the song, it is definitely not one of my personal favorites. It’s a song that I consider to be very depressing, though every time I heard it was at the tail end of the song.  I wondered why its focus was on his parents dying.   
A few years later, I heard this song again and it was at the very beginning. At this time, I was pregnant with my son and my husband was driving us to a lunch meeting with another couple. I decided to listen to this song all the way through, and turned up the volume. This was a big mistake when I clearly heard the first refrain. It involves the singer being rejected by his intended bride at their wedding and his matter of fact quest to find a very tall building to hurl himself off of.
I literally gasped in horror as these words were sung with the piano and drum accompaniment sank into my brain.  My husband watched in horrific surprise as I proceeded to bawl, my flushed face wet with tears. Reaching out with one hand, he asked me what was wrong.  I whimpered I never knew this song was about a guy killing himself! My husband was amazed I never knew—hadn’t I heard this song before?  Between sobs, I admitted this was my first time hearing the song from the very beginning.
Since we were on the way to meeting people, my husband thoughtfully drove around the block a few times so I could gain my composure.  However, time was running out and we went to the restaurant, my face having the tell-tale signs of blotchiness.
 When we met up with our friends, we explained that I had heard a sad song on the radio and cried over it. They immediately were sympathetic, chalking my irrational burst of emotions on my raging pregnancy hormones.
Looking back, I believe that I was feeling a connection to all things since a life was growing inside of me. When I heard that song’s self-destructing lyrics, it created an adverse reaction in me that has never left.  Even to this day, the millisecond I hear the piano solo melody of this song, I quickly flip the channel; which is a shame--Mr. O’Sullivan has a very nice voice!
Perhaps I’ll have to see if Gilbert O’Sullivan sang anything a little bit more uplifting!! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How's the haircut?

Isn't it amazing how a bad memory can stick to you like a wad of gum in your hair? You try to remove it, but in order to do that, you need to cut off some of your hair? At first, you’re apprehensive, but in the process, you end up with a nice hair style? At the beginning of my career, I was working at an apartment complex.  I must have upset my boss by interrupting him when he spoke to me.  I hadn't realized I was in a bad habit of talking over him. I was so anxious to prove I was on top of all the assignments, but in this process, wouldn't let him get a word in edgewise. One day, he held up an eyeglass case and said this signified when it was his time to talk. In front of the other staff, he actually held up the case while he spoke to me. I was embarrassed by his demeaning ways. I didn't put any credence in his opinion. I wrote him off as being a mean old man! For a while, I carried this memory like a wad of hardened gum in my hair. It was brittle and would have...
Post a Comment
Read more

Just a note

If you visit my website, you can now read the first chapter of my book for free! Please feel free to click on its link below: website All I ask is please leave me a comment. Even to just say "hello" so I know that some people are reading it! Thanks everyone, and I'll talk with you later!! Diane
Post a Comment
Read more

Negative energy in pages

Have you read a book that affected you? I remember a few years back a co-worker had this glossy book at her desk. I looked at its cover, which I found curious. It depicted a calming beach scene with a shark fin prominently in the ocean distance. The novelty of this book was it contained sayings that at first appear positive, for instance “If at first you don’t succeed…” and end it with negative words “…don’t waste your energy trying again.” As I flipped through the pages, I found the sayings amusing, clever and stinging. She let me borrow it so I could read it cover to cover. When I took it home and read a few pages, I began to feel an emotionally heaviness fall upon me. Generally speaking, I see myself as an optimist—I try not to let too many things get me down. However,  after reading a few pages of this book, a dark cloud of depression loomed over me. I decided to quit reading the book—it wasn’t like I was under any obligation to finish it! The very next day, I gla...
1 comment
Read more