Look Alive

This is kinda different for me; I was just seeing how it would turn out if I wrote a song where I didn't try to make every line seem profound. It's sort of a happy, poppy acoustic song (which is weird for me), but I inexplicably like it. Tell me what you think.

[U]Look Alive[/U]

I met you on the street and you said "Hey who's left?"
When I said you were the only one, you turned around and left with me
It was so cold a day my skin was white and peeling
But I think I look alive today

We got to my place and I set you up
We took it easy and I asked you what you're all about
And before I had time to second-guess my feelings, you said
"I'd show you but you look a little down"

I guess I'd look alive for you (x4)

I saw you on the street and you said "Hey what's new"
I told you everything, you listened and you smiled at me
It was so cold a day we both were nearly freezing
You said "that's what I do" and walked away

I guess I'd look alive for you (x4)

This is seriously awesome. I think it's my favorite thing you've written that I can think of at the moment. It seems literal, but there's deep meaning lurking beneath the surface. I especially like the last verse. Sincerely, this is great. I may be a fool for saying it, but I think you actually tried on this one. :)

I'm glad you liked it. The meaning is in fact so deep that it hardly exists. If you knew what I wrote the first two verses about, you'd laugh and disregard everything I've ever said, believing it to be more insane nonsense. The third verse I just ignored the topic and wrote a conclusion to what it seemed like I was writing about. Again, though, glad you liked.

Yeah man, good stuff!

I want to know about the first two verses. I don't get it... I know there is something I should be getting but it's not clicking. I'll just ask you later on MSN. I'll give my opinion after discussing it (if I'm not you know... on the sauce).

Originally Posted by: iihollyI want to know about the first two verses. I don't get it... I know there is something I should be getting but it's not clicking. I'll just ask you later on MSN. I'll give my opinion after discussing it (if I'm not you know... on the sauce).

I've already decided to take that information to the grave, my dear. It's too weird for human ears.

But I'd be happy to talk about what I now think of it as being about. And I'd be even happier to chat with you on MSN whilst you are sauced.

Originally Posted by: earthman buck[U]Look Alive[/U]

I met you on the street and you said "Hey who's left?"
When I said you were the only one, you turned around and left with me
It was so cold a day my skin was white and peeling
But I think I look alive today

We got to my place and I set you up
We took it easy and I asked you what you're all about
And before I had time to second-guess my feelings, you said
"I'd show you but you look a little down"

I guess I'd look alive for you (x4)

I saw you on the street and you said "Hey what's new"
I told you everything, you listened and you smiled at me
It was so cold a day we both were nearly freezing
You said "that's what I do" and walked away

I guess I'd look alive for you (x4)

So the first verse, for me, starts us off with an apocalyptic feel, "who's left?" No problem with that. We see the speaker, then, walking through a land of cold and corpses, himself a corpse, his "skin white and peeling." Speaker meets significant-other figure, speaker breaks out of dead (mundane) zone yadda yadda.

Second verse, deferring knowledge of the other figure yadda yadda.

Third verse, speaker here doesn't make any mention of "feeling." Unlike the other two verses, the feel of living is gone, opting instead to simply appear alive so that he can attain knowledge of the "other" figure (in literary scholarship we'd see that as an attempt at a dominant relationship to that figure). While he attains that knowledge, that she's apparently a listener and/or very similar in lifestyle to the speaker and/or a lesbian depending on what "everything" and "that's what I do" constitute (A. that the other's "that's what I do" means she listens, which I doubt because she would have done it earlier as well, B. that the other's "that's what I do" means she shares the same "everything" as the speaker, C. that the "everything" constitutes the speaker's attraction to the opposite sex, specifically the addressed, to which she replies "that's what I do" and in fact is attracted to women, or even D. that the speaker's everything is simply his expression of feelings for her, and her "that's what I do" means breaking hearts). Option "D" would change the meaning of the second chorus, which, I think, makes it the most viable for the song.

And no, I don't know your personal meaning for this song. How do you interpret it?

Originally Posted by: Jolly McJollysonSo the first verse, for me, starts us off with an apocalyptic feel, "who's left?" No problem with that. We see the speaker, then, walking through a land of cold and corpses, himself a corpse, his "skin white and peeling." Speaker meets significant-other figure, speaker breaks out of dead (mundane) zone yadda yadda.

Second verse, deferring knowledge of the other figure yadda yadda.

Third verse, speaker here doesn't make any mention of "feeling." Unlike the other two verses, the feel of living is gone, opting instead to simply appear alive so that he can attain knowledge of the "other" figure (in literary scholarship we'd see that as an attempt at a dominant relationship to that figure). While he attains that knowledge, that she's apparently a listener and/or very similar in lifestyle to the speaker and/or a lesbian depending on what "everything" and "that's what I do" constitute (A. that the other's "that's what I do" means she listens, which I doubt because she would have done it earlier as well, B. that the other's "that's what I do" means she shares the same "everything" as the speaker, C. that the "everything" constitutes the speaker's attraction to the opposite sex, specifically the addressed, to which she replies "that's what I do" and in fact is attracted to women, or even D. that the speaker's everything is simply his expression of feelings for her, and her "that's what I do" means breaking hearts). Option "D" would change the meaning of the second chorus, which, I think, makes it the most viable for the song.

And no, I don't know your personal meaning for this song. How do you interpret it?

That's very interesting. I never thought of it that way, but I can certainly see how you got that.

The way I see it (after having written it) is that it's about a guy who falls in love with a hooker. He's kind of a bland, depressed guy, and he doesn't want her so much for sex as for companionship. She teaches him to enjoy life more, and he does. Maybe. I don't know, when I wrote the ending, I kind of had it in my head as a negative thing. Like, I imagined him complaining to her about how she "screwed up" his life (by making him see things in a more positive light), and her smiling as she listened. Not because she's malicious or anything, just because, well, that's how she is.

The chorus implies that he's now holding tight to the positive outlook she gave him, but it does him no good, as he's in love with a prostitute, and it can never be.

The only catch is that you almost have to ignore the first line of the song. It makes sense to me, in the prostitute context, but I can't for the life of me explain why.

Originally Posted by: earthman buckThat's very interesting. I never thought of it that way, but I can certainly see how you got that.

The way I see it (after having written it) is that it's about a guy who falls in love with a hooker. He's kind of a bland, depressed guy, and he doesn't want her so much for sex as for companionship. She teaches him to enjoy life more, and he does. Maybe. I don't know, when I wrote the ending, I kind of had it in my head as a negative thing. Like, I imagined him complaining to her about how she "screwed up" his life (by making him see things in a more positive light), and her smiling as she listened. Not because she's malicious or anything, just because, well, that's how she is.

The chorus implies that he's now holding tight to the positive outlook she gave him, but it does him no good, as he's in love with a prostitute, and it can never be.

The only catch is that you almost have to ignore the first line of the song. It makes sense to me, in the prostitute context, but I can't for the life of me explain why.

But where is she revealed as a prostitute?

"I met you on the street and you said "Hey who's left?"
When I said you were the only one, you turned around and left with me"

Would be my guess. Usually meeting someone on the streets either implies a hooker or a drug dealer. I could be wrong though.

Yeah. The prostitute thing is based entirely on the "on the street" lines.

Well, I finally recorded this. I put it on my soundclick thing, despite it being a fairly awful recording in general and not much like how I wanted it to be. I did a version with just acoustic guitar too, but that's somehow even worse.

no offense but it just doesnt seem long enogh

Well if you checked out the recording, its 3:15... :cool:

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