That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be
Actually I wouldn’t say that I like it, but I do have a new appreciation for it. All those years I just heard some sappy, sad, “you want to MAAARRY me” and punched the radio button. Finally I paid attention to the lyrics! “Oh…that’s a little more interesting.”
Jack and Diane by John Mellencamp.
When he says things like ‘hold onto 16 as long as you can’ or ‘oh yeah, life goes on. Long after the thrill of living is gone’.
Everything is new as a kid, new and exciting. Then as an adult life becomes a rerun. Even the exciting stuff is usually stuff you’ve done before. The lyrics didn’t make sense to me as a teenager but made sense in my 30s.
Much of Neil Young. He’d always been some weird folky stuff that I turned the station away from. It took hearing a few covers of his songs from others to turn on to him. Ohio, Old Man, After the Gold Rush, there’s some damn good shit there.
More like a post-coital bliss song. 
Good example. The production is a little sappy, but the lyrics are gripping and terribly sad.
I was never much of an ELO fan back in their heyday, but I heard Strange Magic in a movie a few years ago and fell in love with it. I also now love Sweet Talkin’ Woman and Livin’ Thing. They’re all on my playlist.
I do notice that some of the songs that I either kind of disliked or ignored in the past will suddenly become favorites after hearing them in a movie or on a commercial.
There’s a couple of videos that changed the way I heard two songs. I was a big ELO fan back in the 70s but I had no memory of All Over the World. Then, a couple of years ago, I saw a youtube video where a guy pieced together a bunch of clips of flash mobs and then set the whole thing to All Over the World. To me, the combination is a perfect expression of joy.
The other one is Elvis Costello’s Veronica. I had heard the song, but never really understood it; I thought it was just a song about a girl. Then I saw the video. Now the song is incredibly poignant.
Jeff Lynne has written some achingly beautiful melodies. Check out the “Discovery” album: ‘Confusion’, ‘Wishing’, and ‘Midnight Blue’ are all gorgeous tunes.
Here it is:
I also love “Don’t Walk Away” from that album.
Thanks! I will
When I was in first grade, our class learned the song “That’s What Friends Are For” to sing at some end of the year show for our parents, so for my entire childhood I associated that song with the sound of six-year old voices that hadn’t really learned how to hold a tune yet. I don’t know what possessed me to look the song up as an adult, but something did, and now I adore it. Particularly Elton John’s part.
“everyday people” by Sly and the Family Stone
Of course I knew it but never paid it no mind. Just recently it popped up on my streaming recommendation. It was a remastered version and it just sounded so fresh, clean and with a simple thoughtful message. It also went right for my left frontal lobe which we all know is where the soul and funk resides.
It also is short, it gets you from the intro, does what it has to and then gets the funk out of there, never outstaying its welcome.
Just don’t watch the video for it - that’ll ruin it. Sappy…
My karaoke group uses this song on occasion as our lets-all-sing-together closing number. It’s fairly easy to sing, kinda dorky, and a lot of fun to belt out. We occasionally use “Dancing Queen” by ABBA for similar reasons. And nothing tops “Copacabana” for cheesy good fun…
(Bolding mine.) Exactly! That’s precisely the mark of a good song!
Just a few years ago, I started to appreciate Soul Asylum’s “Runaway Train”.
The lyric of “this time I have really led myself astray” really struck me as poignant and perfectly expressed.
I’ve always appreciated musicians who can write from someone else’s perspective. I decided to pay better attention to this song and liked what I heard. I’ve since learned it was somewhat famous in its day with the video compared to a PSA, but I guess I missed that at the time. University, dontcha know.
I like the whole stanza:
It seems no one can help me now
I’m in too deep
There’s no way out
This time I have really led myself astray
The video essentially promoted a national Runaway Hotline in the USA.