Touch You (Electricity)

So I've been having a really great week.  And I very much want you to read that sentence in an inner voice that is dripping with sarcasm.  The end result of a difficult few days is hands riddled with paper cuts, palms scraped and knees skinned to the bone, and a spirit severely bruised by the loss of a dream.  (And all that on top of a pulled groin I suffered last week, while running interference between my cat and the really evil one next door.)  No, I'm not five years old, but the large band-aids on my knees almost make me feel that way.

Hopefully this song will prove I'm not.

But first, I want to say that I'm being helped during this new return to my blog by the fact that I have a very dear friend who seemed sad to see me leave it in the first place, so I ended up emailing songs as I was finishing them to my friend.  And now I have a wonderful collection of emails and songs and explanations of those songs from which to feed these posts.  I'm very grateful for that, because cutting and pasting saves some time.

In the email which included this song I called it one of the most unusual songs I've ever written - in the sense that maybe I shouldn't have written it.  I don't really know what I'm talking about here, but sometimes my imagination is bulletproof and that helps me to write.  If I didn't have such an imagination, I wouldn't be half of who I actually am.

And I have mentioned this song to you before, describing it as "that insane, overwhelming, inexplicable physical attraction to someone."  And that's what it is: it's not cerebral, it's not deep, or profound, or anything.  My focus was about it being sensual, almost visceral.  It's physical attraction, not mental or anything more significant than that.  And I think there's something to be said about having written this as a duet; it makes it just a touch more sexy.

One of the songs I think maybe informed this one was "Run," a collaboration between Matt Nathanson and Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland.  I love love love this song.  It is stunning.  So what if he's kind of creepy?  The song is exquisite, and I really am all but completely obsessed with it: the "(oh, oh, oh) I'm amazing, (oh, oh, oh) when you're beside me, (oh, oh, oh) I'm so much more" bridge part always gives me chills, no matter how many times I've heard it.  Chills.

Let me explain a little bit of my writing process with this one.  I don't know why, but I feel like I have to defend it (because I'm always really nervous about this one), so please bear with me.  (Or, if not, please feel free to skip this next passage and go straight to the song.)

My tendency, when I write, is to overthink things.  Like, way overthink things.  I've been known to write pages about how exactly this phrase should sound, which word would sound better, and why it's not this other word (especially with "Lament for Lokomotiv"), and/or about exactly the way I want the song to progress.  With this, I really had to control myself, and consciously stop myself when it got way too mental, and started straying from the original point of the song.  I crossed out lines that reflected, as I wrote, "too much thought - this is a FEEL song, not a PENSIVE one!"

And the way I got to writing this song in the first place is bizarre, really, if I'm being honest.  In my notebook, where I transcribe all of the final versions, ideally, of my songs, I have written that I began writing this song 5 November 2012 - a Monday.  This was the Monday after Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy - and my first day going back to classes since the storms and floods and everything, and having had the entire previous week off.  I had to find new creative ways to get to class, since my usual modes of transportation were not working, or running.  And so it was that I found myself on a train, one I had never previously been on, as the sky grew darker around us.  Is this necessarily important?  No, I just remember it.  And it's kind of a stark contrast to the contents of the song, which is amusing.  Anyway, so there I was, sitting next to an older businessman, proper in attire and bearing, with papers strewn about on the pull-down table in front of him.  I'm always afraid of being misrepresented, and as a girl, I'm always afraid that older/male people are going to think I'm flighty and shallow (and I don't think I am).  So, to counter his seriousness, I pulled out my aforementioned school assignment pad/planner/thing, and started writing some words I had been mulling over previously.  Next thing I knew, I had filled up the page, front and back, and the song was basically done.

Anyway.  I think by now you know far too much about this to even want to read the song.  I just always feel like I have to over-explain things, as sort of an unspoken apology.  I don't know why.  But, really, so much of what I say on a daily basis is an apology by any other name.

Oh, well.  Let me just get to the song already.

Touch You (Electricity)

f:
I like being this close to you
and feeling this moment on my lips
a breath away from changing the rules
with your heart at my fingertips
your blue eyes shining in the dark,
and I'm about to drop my guard

CHORUS (both):
'cause I, I wanna touch you
I, I, I wanna touch you
and it feels like electricity
electricity, electricity, washing over me
so I, I wanna touch you

m:
I like when we're alone like this,
nothing else but you and me
and I could swear you're made of magic
because you are exactly what I need
f:
your blue eyes shining through the dark
causing this crazy racing of my heart


CHORUS (both):
'cause I, I wanna touch you
I, I, I wanna touch you
and it feels like electricity
electricity, electricity, washing over me
so I, I wanna touch you

BRIDGE (f):
your blue eyes lighting up the night,
we're burning, smoldering, glowing bright

(beat)

(both):
(I, I, I) electricity
(I, I, I) electricity, electricity
I, I wanna touch you (electricity, electricity)
(I, I, I) electricity
(I, I, I) electricity, electricity
I, I wanna touch you (electricity, electricity)

et cetera until fade out...

My apologies if the word "electricity" has ceased to look like a word by now.  Also, "f/m" should alert you as to which person is singing - it is a duet, after all.  Which I'm sure you know, but I'm just overly making sure, as I do.

Anyway.

Much love, and thank you for the musik!

Just Another Ordinary Girl

So we lie here, in the dark, all the wrong things on fire....to be with you, just to be with you...