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Jay Hears A Song #10 -- "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train

Train is one of those bands that I forget about until they release some song that I just love, which I then play to death until I'm sick of it and stop playing it and then I forget about them until the next time. I don't know why they are one of those bands, but they are.

Like, I loved "Calling All Angels" and I loved "Drops of Jupiter" and I loved "Meet Virginia"*, but I have never purchased a Train album. Odd.

But anyway, the thing I originally liked about their latest single "Hey, Soul Sister" was the easy feeling it had about it. It's a goodtime song, almost a summer song, which the world needs more of in the middle of January, frankly.

But then I started listening to the lyrics and realized several things:

1. there is a shout out to Mr. Mister in the chorus.** If you don't know who Mr. Mister is, this will help:



2. Although the evidence is not as strong as in the Mr. Mister instance, I'm pretty sure that there are shout outs to many other songs/artists in there as well. I could be wrong about this, of course, but take a look:

HSS lyric "You're the one I have decided who's one of my kind" could be a reference to the INXS song "Need You Tonight".

HSS lyric: "Like a virgin, you're Madonna." Pretty self-explanatory.

HSS lyric: "I don't want to miss a single thing you do tonight" could be a reference to Aerosmith's "Don't Want To Miss A Thing."

HSS: "So gangster, I'm so thug" could be a reference to any one of dozens of songs.

In short, it just seems like there's a bunch of other songs this song could be referring to.

3. the music for HSS just bounces along. I've been playing it in the morning, and it really seems like a sunny morning song. Take a listen:



4. Lately, I've been listening to happy songs, mostly because the dark days of January are no time for The Cure, and this is one of those cheery, simple songs that just sounds bright. So maybe it's better that it's out right now instead of in the summer. In the summer, it's already sunny.

~~~

* A song with truly crazy/great lyrics. Take a look:

She never compromises,
Loves babies and surprises,
wears high heels when she exercises
Ain't it beautiful?


** And I just realized I do not have a single Mr. Mister song on my iPod. I suck!

Comments

Unknown said…
Cute song, the painter is cute.

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