the bird & the bee - "Again and Again"

I get a lot of music these days. A lot. Upwards of 10 - 14 physical promo CDs in the mail each week. Hundreds of e-mails in my inbox offering up single track or full album downloads/streams. And all the vinyl I buy as an inveterate junkie for sounds.

And I do my level best to listen to it all. It's my job, after all, to keep up on what's going on in the music world, from bands/artists big and small. Most things get one spin; others that actually capture me in some way will get more; things that I have to review get even more spins. But everything get's listened to at least once.

That said, it's not often that something bursts through my critical skein and brings me back to it in a slightly obsessive fashion. Not since the days of my youthful cassette/CD buying when something new would live in my home and portable players for months on end.

Imagine my surprise then when a single song stuck with me for a full week, warranting repeated listens on Spotify. To the point that my son was singing the chorus to himself absentmindedly as he played with his train set. And just as quickly, my fascination completely disappeared and I moved forward.

When I was stuck on it, I didn't think about it critically at all. I just wanted to hear that amazing chorus hook spun into falsetto glory by vocalist Inara George, with the melody of that hook echoed in the electric piano intro and a bridge that sounds like it's played on wine glasses. The verses and jumpy little beat to get me to those choruses were to be tolerated and stumbled through until George could once more sing, "Again and again and again and again..."

Because what soured me on the song eventually were those idiot verses. Perhaps there's some inherent meaning to those lyrics for George and her bandmate Greg Kurstin, some inside joke or reference to a personal event that only they would get. But it is impossible for me to parse out, particularly when all George wants to do is repeat the word "creepy" 12 times over. Even they want to hurry themselves to that glorious chorus. The verses are an afterthought.

As much as I've moved on from this song, it was rather nice to be obsessed with a single piece of music again. Even the stuff I love throughout the year gets short shrift as I wade through everything else that I get sent. I keep track of the stuff that I return to throughout the year so I can make my end of year best of list, but even then I don't listen to it as egregiously as I once used to. My passion is still there, mind you, but my time with things is more and more limited.

I'm almost hoping that this dalliance with the bird & the bee will inspire more obsessive listening. I miss getting to know an album inside and out like I used to and wearing out tapes and scratching up CDs and vinyl with overuse. The value of the physical object may depreciate but not its inherent value with me, the #1 fan.