Marg: Music Recommendations from My Subconscious or "Why I Can't Do Math"

"Beedle-dee-boop, beedle-dee-boop." said my cell phone alarm this morning.


"Udghiwaaa-hrrmp," I said.


"Beedle-dee-boop, beedle-dee-boop."


"Oh hell no," I exclaimed, in manner of complexly written Walking Dead hero T-Dog.


"Beedle-dee..."


I turned off the alarm, partially sitting up in my bed. Silence.


"The sailor said "Brandy, you're a fine girl (you're a fine girl!)..." sang my brain.


"Whaaa...?"


"What a good wife you would be (such a fine girl!)," it continued, "But my life, my lover, my lady, is the sea. Do do do do-da-da-da, do da do-da-da!"

"Oh, I see," I said, and got up.




I get the song Brandy by Looking Glass stuck in my head on a regular basis. It seems to come out of nowhere. It's a song that lots of people probably don't even know (even though, research tells me, it was #1 Top 40 hit in 1972) - I can't name any other Looking Glass songs right off the top of my head. But Brandy is one of those songs that I have always known, it shows up occasionally on the Classic Rock radio stations I've been listening to on drives with my parents since before I could form concrete memories.


At some point (though I cannot pinpoint when), not only did Brandy begin to get stuck in my head, it also became one of the best songs ever to me. I love it! Unlike many ear worm tunes, I don't hate my very existence when it is playing on repeat in my brain (I once got California Gurls by Katy Perry stuck in my head while I had the stomach flu, it was one of the worst days of my life). I never know when it is coming, but ye ol' noggin takes it upon itself to give me a delightfully peppy and funky one-song-soundtrack to the day as a treat. It's pretty cool of myself, really.


If you are not familiar with the song, it's about a barmaid named Brandy who is in love with a sailor. He thinks she's great, but can never commit because he loves the sea. Have a listen:

Brandy isn't the only song that my head likes to play for me unannounced. Oftentimes Renegade by Styx shows up:

And Freedom '90, by George Micheal:

There is very little connective tissue between those three songs, and they certainly aren't alone in the catalogue of music taking up real estate in my grey matter but they do pop in there a lot. I wonder if knowing all the lyrics to "Hey Jude" and "Jolene" and "Train in Vain" and "Bring it on Home" is why I can't do math?


I don't mind.


-Marg
@acuteinsomnia