Hello once again,
I haven't written in a long while, have I? That's because I was on holiday with my family in Arizona. It was lovely. The scenery was breathtaking and it was...hot? sunny? Both. While we were there, on Thursday, we met a family from Liverpool, England. They were absolutely wonderful and friendly. The son (I would say he was about 30 or so) pulled out his iPod when we were on a bus to Sedona (red-rock country), and I was curious but timid so I asked my dad to ask him what he was listening to. Chris's dad answered, some name I don't remember, and we got to talking about the music we listen to. When I said I listen to country, he mentioned that his wife would like to get into the genre. We were at a gas station at that point, and she herself asked if I would write a list for her of country artists I would recommend so that she could listen to the genre. Would I! She couldn't have picked a better person! : ) When we got back to the hotel, I copied those artists on my iPod, with personal notes and suggestions and even a post-script in which I wrote, "And maybe someday, with very much luck and practise, I will be able to put myself on a list such as this one," slightly paraphrased here. I gave her the list, and almost as soon I remembered others I didn't have on my iPod but could have written down. What did I do? The next day I handed her son a list of twice as many artists as the previous one had. I had such fun remembering all these different artists.
So now, for the title of the post. Yes, it is a song. No, I do not know any Zachs that look even remotely close to "hot" (except for Zach Parise, but I don't know him personally). I should explain, however, that it is a song I wrote in the fall of 2006, almost two years ago. I was thinking about re-reading the songs in my first notebook (the crappy ones), but I was especially tempted to revisit this one, because it is so far the only one to surprise me with its outcome. I had no idea where I was going with it, until the last verse wrote itself. It was also the first I wrote with a melody in mind for the chorus. Why the name "Zach"? I was testing myself on whether I could write a song with a title for every letter of the alphabet. Zach was the only way to get the letter Z. Stupid reason, but hey? Who said it has to be a good one?
Ready to meet Zach?
Zach is looking hot tonight
with another Date in the car beside him
a green shirt and blue jeans, feelin' alright
anOther movie playin' at the drive-in
hoping the cologne will last him all Night
She thinks Zach looks hot Tonight
but he couldn't care less
CHORUS:
what're you Gonna do, Zach,
what're you gonna do?
If hot's not enough, Zach,
to hold the heart of the one you love?
oh, don't you see, Zach,
don't you see at all?
that hot's not enough, Zach,
to keep your one true loVe.
Zach is looking hot tonight
his sister's friend waiting for his smile
in a new tux and black tie, it's right
to walk his sister down the aisle
wishin' it could last all night
they all think Zach looks hot tonight
but he couldn't care lEss
CHORUS:
What're you gonna do, Zach,
what're you gonna do?
if hot's not enough, Zach,
to hold the heart of the one you love?
oh, don't you see, Zach,
don't you see at all?
that hot's not enough, Zach
to keep your one trUe love.
BRIDGE (change of lyrical pattern and/or music):
She's Perfect and he wants her
every laugh and look for her
but all she wanted was more
more than (his) clothes, she's seen them before
what're you gonna do, Zach,
what're you gonna do?
'cause hot's not enough, Zach,
for your one true love.
Zach is looking hot tonight
all by himself year after year
sitting the same way all night
no one to see his ninth* bottle of beer
Zach never looks hot at night
but he couldn't care less
as he drinks up and becomes a mess
(softly,) CHORUS x2
*Just a small personal allusion. I was debating how many bottles to make it clear that he gets drunk (I was rewriting this last night). You know, six? four? and I finally decided on nine, because that is Zach Parise's jersey number. : ) Thank goodness he's not number 2, or some other small number!
Once again, thanks for all the lovely and much-needed feedback! (And yes, I know, I rhyme "night" and "right" and "tonight" way too many times!)
Love, and Thank you for the musik!
NBK
p.s. Jay, if you can read my handwriting, I can read your comments (wonderfully eloquent and informative as they are) with all the typos in the world! Thank you. And no psychosomatic stuff intended.
1 comment:
Hey!
I've been waiting Day After Day (ok, this might be pushing it. I try too hard sometimes, but whatever) for a new post! Mamma Mia! was a lot of fun! Thanks for seeing it with me. I'm really glad I caught it in theaters, and I'm also glad that Pierce Brosnan "won." The "SOS" song really reminded me of The Police's "Message in a Bottle," which was cool. Thanks A LOT for the pen, by the way (I'm using it to write this. How cool is that?).
Thansk fro fogriving teh tpyos (there I go with the cheesy nonsense again. I'll learn to stop eventually). It's what I get for trying to type up a sloppily written page at night with extremely dim lighting. It seems you have a knack of meeting awesome people everywhere you go (I'm sure your aura of awesomeness draws other awesome around people all the time). I still remember that story you told me about the book at New Hyde Park. Liverpool, eh? Home of The Beatles, so you can't really go wrong there. I used to think that I would never like country music, but I started listening to the Dixie Chicks and Taylor Swift thanks to you (so thank YOU for the Musik!). Not really sure what's next, but I guess I'll pave that road when I reach the frontier (ugh, remind me to stop using metaphors).
Very cool song. I like how it's similar to the song about doing something for the first time in that you use different situations or scenarios to create the larger picture. You use the movie, the party (or wedding - I'm actually not sure what situation this is - maybe you can explain it to me), and the drinking to paint a picture of who Zach is. This is kind of random, but reading this song reminded me of the "November Rain" video by Guns 'N Roses, so I watched that again (it's one of my favorites). I really don't know what you had in mind when you wrote this song, but for me it represents lost potential. Zach seems like a person who could do anything (or get anyone) he wants if he really tried, and it seems like he wasted all of it by drinking year after year...From "hot" to a "mess." Yikes. Well, I hope I didn't misinterpret too much.
Another great song! Thanks so much for letting me read your music. You have absolutely no idea how much it means to me.
Thank YOU for the Musik!
Oh, and tough poll question, by the way =P
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