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The official prompt for today asks for “a song that reminds you of your boyfriend/girlfriend” but also hilariously includes the parenthetical stipulation “(if you don’t have one, make one up)”. Let’s all just take a second to guffaw out loud at that one.
I don’t currently have a boyfriend or girlfriend, but I’ve had both many times and for various durations in the past, which (curiously enough) doesn’t make it any harder or easier to imagine the right song selection for today. My guess is that today’s prompt would be equally difficult for the committed and the uncommitted. That is to say, if you have a boyfriend/girlfriend, then you’re obligated to choose a song that reminds you of him or her as they actually are, warts and all, which could make for a very delicate selection. And if you don’t have a girlfriend/boyfriend, then you’re likely inclined to choose a song that might remind you of some perfect person to whom you imagine yourself committed, but who is probably impossible to realize in a real person, as fantasies always are, making your selection either moot or childishly naive. So, the best that I am able, I’m going to try to walk the tightrope of that divide with my choice today.
Full disclosure: I chose this song for Day 5 (“A Song That Reminds You of Someone”) in the first round of the 30 Day Song Challenge that I did in 2011. You can read my whole account of that story here, but the long and short of it is that I said this song reminds me of the way my father is reminded of my mother. I won’t recount the whole thing again; I’ll just say that I don’t think this is the most traditionally “romantic” or ideal or fantastical song to capture whatever it is that love feels (or ought to feel) like, but I do think it’s real, and really poignant, and really honest, and a whole host of other things that, for better or worse, I’d hope reminded me of the person I loved n real life.
My song pick for today is Billy Joel’s “She’s Always A Woman,” performed live here:
Never before in the three years that I’ve been doing the 30 Day Song Challenge have I reprinted the lyrics to one of my song selections in their entirety… but for today, I will, and I will have nothing else to add.
She can kill with a smile / She can wound with her eyes
She can ruin your faith with her casual lies
And she only reveals what she wants you to see
She hides like a child / but she’s always a woman to me
She can lead you to love / She can take you or leave you
She can ask for the truth / But she’ll never believe you
And she’ll take what you give her as long as it’s free
Yeah, she steals like a thief / but she’s always a woman to me
Oh, she takes care of herself
She can wait if she wants / She’s ahead of her time
Oh, and she never gives out / And she never gives in
She just changes her mind
She will promise you more than the Garden of Eden
Then she’ll carelessly cut you and laugh while you’re bleedin’
But she’ll bring out the best and the worst you can be
Blame it all on yourself ’cause she’s always a woman to me
Oh, she takes care of herself
She can wait if she wants / She’s ahead of her time
Oh, and she never gives out / And she never gives in
She just changes her mind
She is frequently kind / And she’s suddenly cruel
She can do as she pleases / She’s nobody’s fool
But she can’t be convicted / She’s earned her degree
And the most she will do
Is throw shadows at you
But she’s always a woman to me
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Here’s your quick-access link to the entire 30 Day Song Challenge 2014 prompt-list and my picks for each day.