Desert Roses with Thorns

    Once upon a time there was an English teacher named Gordon who ended up having a successful musical career.  (Something every English teacher dreams of--or maybe just me. . .) You likely know him by his stage name Sting.  He started out with the Police and then went solo later.  

    Many of Sting's songs have a rather Irish sound to them--sorry to burst your bubble: he's British.  One song, however, contains the haunting sounds of many of his other songs, but does not sound Irish or British, or even European.  

    "Desert Rose" has a distinctive Middle-Eastern sound.  This is not surprising considering Cheb Mami sings the Arabic lyrics at the beginning, and as counterpoint throughout.  The type of music Cheb Mami sings is an Algerian folk music style called Rai, hence, the Middle-Eastern--technically North African--feel to the song.  

    The Arabic lyrics have been translated roughly as "O night, It has been a long time, And I am looking for myself and my loved one."  Interestingly enough, Cheb Mami improvised the lines, and they aligned with Sting's lyrics quite well.  Both convey a deep longing.

    Now about Sting's lyrics. . .  Of course, I misunderheard something.  Or did I?  After reading the lyrics which accompany the track on Amazon music, I did.  After reading the lyrics on Google, I didn't.  Just which is the definitive lyrics anyway?  Here is a comparison:

Amazon Music	Google (Source: Musicmatch)	AZlyrics.com
I dream of rain ele yele I dream of gardens in the desert sand I wake in pain ele yele I dream of love as time runs through my hand I dream of fire ele yele Those dreams are tied to a horse that will never tire And in the flames ele yele Her shadows play in the shape of a man's desire This desert rose ele yele Whose shadow veils, the secret promise This desert flower ele yele No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this And now she turns ele yele This way she moves in the logic of all my dreams This fire burns ele yele I realize that nothing's as it seems I dream of rain ele yele I dream of gardens in the desert sand I wake in pain ele yele I dream of love as time runs through my hand I dream of rain ele yele I lift my gaze to empty skies above I close my eyes This rare perfume is the sweet intoxication of her love I dream of rain ele yele I dream of gardens in the desert sand I wake in pain ele yele I dream of love as time runs through my hand Sweet desert rose ele yele Each of her veils, a secret promise This desert flower ele yele No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this Sweet desert rose This memory of Eden haunts us all This desert flower This rare perfume, is the sweet intoxication of the fall	I dream of rain I dream of gardens in the desert sand I wake in vain I dream of love as time runs through my hand  I dream of fire These dreams that tie two hearts that will never die Near the flames The shadows play in the shape of the man's desire  This desert rose Whose shadow bears the secret promise This desert flower No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this  And now she turns This way she moves in the logic of all my dreams This fire burns I realize that nothing's as it seems  I dream of rain I dream of gardens in the desert sand I wake in vain I dream of love as time runs through my hand  I dream of rain I lift my gaze to empty skies above I close my eyes The rare perfume is the sweet intoxication of love  I dream of rain I dream of gardens in the desert sand I wake in vain I dream of love as time runs through my hand  Sweet desert rose Whose shadow bears the secret promise This desert flower No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this  Sweet desert rose This memory of hidden hearts and souls This desert flower This rare perfume is the sweet intoxication of love	I dream of rain I dream of gardens in the desert sand I wake in vain I dream of love as time runs through my hand I dream of fire Those dreams are tied to a horse that will never tire And in the flames Her shadows play in the shape of a man's desire This desert rose Each of her veils, a secret promise This desert flower No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this And as she turns This way she moves in the logic of all my dreams This fire burns I realize that nothing's as it seems I dream of rain I dream of gardens in the desert sand I wake in vain I dream of love as time runs through my hand I dream of rain I lift my gaze to empty skies above I close my eyes This rare perfume is the sweet intoxication of her love I dream of rain I dream of gardens in the desert sand I wake in vain I dream of love as time runs through my hand Sweet desert rose Each of her veils, a secret promise This desert flower No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this Sweet desert rose This memory of Eden haunts us all This desert flower This rare perfume, is the sweet intoxication of the fall

            The versions have slight differences.  Does he wake in pain or in vain?  To what are the memories tied to?  Personally, I thought it was “tied to a horse that would never die”—which does not match any of the lyrics above.  I also thought the last line was “the sweet intoxication of love", as the Google lyrics state, but that is refuted by the others.  Of course, tying Eden to the fall makes a whole lot of sense. 

So, what to make of this Desert Rose? It is mystifying, obviously—which is rather the point of the song.  I guess I’ll sing along with my own words because nobody seems to agree on them anyway.

            Speaking of roses; what does Seal mean when he says he’s been kissed by a rose on the grave?  Wait, what? It’s a rose on the grey?  I don’t get it.

Lost in the Woods

 [Author's note: today is a slight departure from misunderheard lyrics.  It is more a personal analysis.]

As a mom, it is inevitable that I would watch a lot of Disney movies.  On the other hand, I probably would watch Disney movies if I wasn’t a mom, so there’s that.  I like Disney movies, okay?!  Ahem, sorry.

                Disney has come out with some good ones recently (and when I say recently, I mean back like to 2000).  What would a Disney movie be without the songs?  Everybody still knows “Hi Ho” from Snow White, which was Disney’s first feature-length animated film.  How can anyone forget “Let it Go” from Frozen?  Idena Menzel sure cannot.

                One thing that Disney started doing at least back since the animated Beauty and the Beast in the late 1990s is having a radio version of one or more of the songs in the movie.  My daughter (who LOVES Beauty and the Beast) still cringes whenever I play the Celine Dion/Peabo Bryson version of the titular song.  There was a bit of hype after Frozen 2 came out because Panic! At the Disco recorded a radio version of “Into the Unknown.”  It was argued that a male band shouldn’t have sung a song clearly about women empowerment—or something like that.  I shall make no comment in that regard.

                Speaking of Frozen 2, I have been pondering “Lost in the Woods.”  As I mentioned elsewhere, when I saw the movie in the theater, I could barely contain my laughter at the “Lost in the Woods” scene which was so very, very 1980s power ballad.  It really was well-done with so many 1980s music video references, down to a nod to Queen.   The radio version of “Lost in the Woods” is not nearly as humorous.  There is nothing wrong with Weezer’s version; in fact, it is precisely their version which drives home the poignancy of the song. 

                In the movie (spoiler alert), Kristoff, who is trying to propose to Anna the whole way through the movie, finds himself abandoned by Elsa and Anna, who have gone off to find that which they are seeking.  Kristoff sings of how he is literally lost in the woods because she left him there.  He shows his insecure side, singing of how Anna is his “true north” and all, and that he’s lost in the woods until she returns.  Along with the visuals, Johnathon Goff’s version has more the sound of Air Supply or Chicago, which adds to the humor of the power ballad.

                Disconnected from the story and visuals, as well as the literal being lost in the woods, the song becomes far more melancholy.  Taken at face value, this is a song of one who feels the loneliness of abandonment by the one they loved.  The singer assumed that his love would always be there for him, but now he is not so sure.  There is a real sense of fear that the relationship may fall apart, and who knows what the effect may be.  Being lost in a literal woods is frightening: being lost in a figurative woods is downright terrifying. Without her, he feels as though he has no sense of direction anymore.

                With their remakes of “Africa” and “Take on Me”, Weezer has shown their chops at 1980s music.  “Lost in the Woods” being in the style of the 1980s, gives Weezer another chance to shine at this genre; and they succeed.  They put their own stylistic stamp on it: rather than sounding like Air Supply, the lead singer sings more with a pathos reminiscent of Billy Joel.  The interplay between romantic dreamer and realist is apparent from the beginning.  One can hear the longing when he tells he has been left behind.  There is still a spark of hope at the end, but he resigns himself to knowing it comes down to her.

                Whether or not you like Disney songs, Weezer’s version of “Lost in the Woods” is not to be missed.  It stands on its own as a powerful song apart from its movie context. 

Hook the Rock--Rock the Hook

 

NOT the Clash

In their song “Hook,” Blues Traveler tells us that no matter what they say, the Hook will bring you back—that catchy little phrase that we all like to sing with when the chorus comes around.

                In the 1982 song by Clash, the hook was all I seemed to listen to, or at least quite understood.  There was something about the order of the prophet, but other than that, the chorus was the most singable part—sort of.  To my youthful ears, I was unsure of what we were supposed to be rocking.  It sounded like “catbox,” but why on earth would anyone want to shake the litter box?  Eventually I decided it must be “catwalk.”  Perhaps I decided that about the time Right Said Fred’s 1991 song “I’m Too Sexy” came out—he was always singing about models on the catwalk, after all.

So whenever the Clash’s song came on the radio, I always sang along:

"Sherri don’t like it. :: Rock the Catwalk, :: Rock the Catwalk.”

                 And then I found out that they were rocking the casbah.  What the heck is a casbah?  It is an Arabic word describing a citadel or an old part of a city.  I then began to suspect the song was more like something out of Arabian Nights with rajahs and harems and all that stereotypical stuff.

                Nope.  This is no Bollywood opening night thing.  The chorus actually tells us,
“The sharif don’t like it.”  Sharif is a term used to describe a noble and is a traditional Arab title.  The whole song came out of the banning of rock music by certain governments.  It’s a 1980s “stick it to the man” hit.  I really had it all wrong.

                So—the hook may bring us back, even if we have no clue of what the hook even means.  We will still “Rock the Casbah.”

                One day when I had grown up and knew the word was casbah, I was working an event which involved collecting money.  When the event had finished, I took the box of money back to wherever it was to be stored.  I held the box in my arms and began rocking it like a baby.  The people with me asked what I was doing.  I told them, “Rock the cash box!”  Yeah, the ones who got it groaned.  The others were like, “Huh?”  Some people just don’t get the hook (even if they should).