I'd catch a grenade for this video

From what I can tell Bruno Mars at the moment is the best thing since sliced bread. He’s cooler than croutons. For a while his songs were simply filler on the radio waves for me. “I like you just the way you are” is a sentiment much cuter said by Mark Darcy in Bridget Jones’ Diary than Mr. Mars in my humble opinion, but the song Grenade (Boom!) was instantly catchy to me. You would catch a grenade for me? Aw schucks. So now I bop behind my steering wheel when the song comes on, and I bop extra hard when the song dies down then comes back super strong with the chorus. Ka-pow!

So here I am at a stoplight imagining all sorts of action sequences –literally a hand blocking the blade of a samurai sword –only to find out the music video is Bruno Mars dragging around a piano? We can do better.

The song is about Bruno loving a “mad, bad woman.” He’s ready to put his words of love into action: bodily harm and death all for her, but this is not an equal love. She might show smiles and affections but she aint lifting a finger to help him out. She must not really love him.

What if the video shows this point of view Bruno has but gives it a twist so that Bruno is in the body guard/ secret service position for a royal princess? His job is to give his life for her yet his heart is in it as well. Does she love him or is he merely a servant? I’d have the first scene show her awarding Bruno among others with a badge for bravery and honor. A sultry look passes between them to tip us off that this is work and pleasure. At the banquet following the ceremony, they meet in a nook to kiss. Her eyes are “wide open” and the minute their lips part she’s back with her guests. Bruno is disappointed, but then he glimpses someone sneaking behind a curtain. He chases and as the chorus hits, he comes in contact with some masked foe. The fight begins –punch, ouch, daggers, watch out, ouff, he got away! Bruno returns black and blue to the banquet finds the princess and tries to tell her she may be in danger. She smiles; she’s coquettish as if she wouldn’t mind getting in his pants but she’s not taking him seriously and ultimately dismisses him. She goes instead to dance with some dashing diplomat, seemingly as sweet to him as she was to Bruno. He doesn’t like this, wants to toss her aside, when he gets a clue that this diplomat might be the enemy! He cuts in the middle of their dance. The princess thinks it’s because he wants to be with her and she’s mad at his impertinence, yelling at him, trying to bring the diplomat back, and Bruno won’t let her. They’re struggling when yes, Bruno was right, the diplomat has a grenade and bam! Bruno takes the brunt of the blast. This is the point in the song where it dies down and just the piano is playing. We don’t know whether Bruno has survived. It’s questionable. When the chorus strikes back, the doors of the hospital slam open with Bruno on the stretcher. They need to work fast to save him and the Princess is right there. She won’t leave his side. She’s holding his hand, demanding the very best for him. She does love him but she has responsibilities as royalty that go beyond a love life. She’s with him in the recovery room, tending to him although he hasn’t regained consciousness when her advisers come insisting that she be elsewhere. She doesn’t want to go but knows that duty calls and so she reluctantly leaves. As she walks out the door, the song is singing its last words, “Noo, no, no-oh” just when Bruno awakens to realize he’s alone and presumably unloved.

Oh it’s tragic and exciting and if she’s only stay a second longer he would know! And in this music video version he doesn’t jump in front of the train!

A lullaby for those sleeping alone tonight

This week’s lyric lullaby is a little ditty called "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" which is preformed by the ever-soothing Postal Service. I know I know, the last post was similar, very dark and sad and filled with anger. But the melody to this song isn't as saddening, it is slow but the Postal Service has a way to make a slow song get your heart beat going, they have a way to get you revved up whether you realize it or not.

When I first heard their cd Give Up, I was immediately put into a state of sadness and heartbreak. I am guilty of what I expect is a common crime: I would sing this song without really realizing what the lyrics were about. I had guessed and just assumed that it was about breaking up, about an end to a relationship. Upon researching I found that most people supported my first impression of the lyrics but when I was faced with the lyrics on paper it hit me. It is about loss but I don't think it’s about a failed love but rather a family relationship that has ended due to death.

Smeared black ink... your palms are sweaty
And I'm barely listening to last demands
I'm staring at the asphalt wondering what's buried underneath
Where I am
Where I am

I'll wear my badge... a vinyl sticker with big block letters adherent to my chest
That tells your new friends I am a visitor here...
I am not permanent
And the only thing keeping me dry is
Where I am
Where I am
Where I am

You seem so out of context in this gaudy apartment complex
A stranger with your door key explaining that I am just visiting
And I am finally seeing
Why I was the one worth leaving
Why I was the one worth leaving

D.C. sleeps alone tonight

Where I am
Where I am
Where I am

You seem so so out of context in this gaudy apartment complex
A stranger with your door key explaining that I am just visiting
And I am finally seing
Why I was the one worth leaving
Why I was the one worth leaving

Where I am
Where I am
Where I am

The district sleeps alone tonight after the bars turn out their lights
And send the autos swerving into the loneliest evening
And I am finally seeing
Why I was the one worth leaving
Why I was the one worth leaving
Why I was the one worth leaving
Why I was the one worth leaving

We are introduced to this story by the line "Smeared black your palms are sweaty and I'm barely listening to last demands." This line becomes important to my theory, in that last demands refers to listening to a will and the division of a person’s estate and final wishes. The next line about staring at the asphalt is quite telling -- I think naturally when someone is buried you find yourself wondering about what’s “buried underneath”. “Where I am” is then echoed in the back as if a ghost is singing them, which leads us to "I"ll wear my badge a vinyl sticker with big block letters…that tells your new friends I am a visitor here I am not permanent." This line conjures up the image of having one of those 'Hello, my name is' stickers assigned to you. I think in this situation someone might wear one of those only because they're at a place where they have to check in, like a nursing home or maybe a senior living resort. The singer is separated from a loved one because of a falling out or neglect. The only thing “keeping [him] dry” or not crying is because he is in a public place (aka where [he] is). Then follows the best line in the song “You seem so out of context gaudy apartment complex.” Here is what I feel as a flood of remorse ---to have someone you love put in reduced circumstances and you haven’t been able to save them. Maybe it’s a biker dude uncle stuck with uppity senior living home with nurses writing cheesy notes on the doors. The singer realizes what most of us have difficulty admitting that someone could be better off without us –maybe the family member left as a result of the falling out, maybe it’s worth passing on to whatever lies beyond, maybe the family member died out of spite even. “D.C. sleeps alone tonight” automatically suggests the city is now one less of an important figure, unless D.C. are the initials of the singer now alone. The district or the singer is drinking alone after the death until he is kicked out of the bar. He leaves drunk and in this state, the singer blames the deceased causing him to drink and drive because he has just suffered through the “loneliest evening.” Intoxicated, the singer realizes on these streets that he may have a drinking problem, and “why he was the one worth leaving.”