Most songs are complete in themselves.
The New Radicals’ “Someday, We’ll Know,” for example, has the singer in torment from his last breakup, wondering why it didn’t work out, telling himself “someday we’ll know why Samson loved Delilah/Someday we’ll go dancing on the moon” and someday he’ll know why she didn’t love him. His plight is unresolved when the story ends — he’s still miserable and brokenhearted — but I’m not sitting there wondering what will happen next (I encountered this song after a painful breakup so it’s stuck with me).
Or consider the song “Stubborn Kind of Fella’,” by Marvin Gaye, later covered by Lulu. Gaye sings that even though the woman he wants is intimidated by his playboy rep he’s not giving up: “I’m a stubborn kind of fella, got my mind made up about you.” In the Lulu cover, she’s the player, the guy she’s after is the stubborn kind of fella — but she’s stubborn too and like Gaye her mind is made up. I like the song and I’m not haunted by wondering whether the singer’s push for a closer relationship works (I’m guessing yes).
Other songs, though, get under my skin. Every time I hear them I wonder what happened next? How did events turn out? Two examples follow.
“Dawn (Go Away)” was a 1963 release by the Four Seasons. Although the protagonist loves the eponymous Dawn, he’s telling to go away and forget him in favor of the rich guy her parents prefer: “Think what a big man he’ll be/Think of the places you’ll see/Then think what your future would be/With a poor boy like me.”
Did Dawn listen? Did she follow her heart and stick with true love? Did she walk away and marry for money? For some reason I’ve always wondered.
In R.B. Greaves’ 1969 hit “Take a Letter, Maria” a workaholic tells his secretary Maria that when he got home 10:30 the previous night, he found his wife in the arms of another man. He then dictates a letter for Maria to mail to his wife — “tell her I’m not coming home/Got to start a new life.” By the end of the song he’s starting to notice what a great secretary Maria has been, how sweet she is, how close they’ve become — Maria, would you like to have dinner that evening?
Not just no but hell no! Quite aside from the sexual harassment aspect, any relationship that starts like that is doomed. The singer isn’t thinking clearly and tomorrow or the next day or the next week he may have gone back to his wife. Plus he is, as my friend Ross puts it, confusing status and contract. Maria’s an employee who helps and supports him and makes conversation because she’s paid to do so. Concluding she must really care for him is an illogical, but extremely seductive conclusion. It’s quite possible she does like him; it’s much less probable she likes him the way he’s hoping. And even if she does, like I said this is not a good moment to try a new relationship.
I really hope Maria can extricate herself from this predicament without getting fired.
Anyone out there with a similar song?
