Confessions of a Fanboy

My mind’s playing tricks on me. I can’t trace this one back to anything, but I woke up this morning singing “Secret Smile” by Semisonic (Feeling Strangely Fine). What’s funniest about that is I didn’t really know any of the words to the song other than the words “secret smile.” I only vaguely could remember the tune. I like the song, but apparently hadn’t committed as much to memory as I’d thought.

I listen to NPR most mornings on the way to work. The commute is only about 15 minutes; that gives me enough time to listen to two songs, three at the most. It just doesn’t seem worth the trouble of hooking up my iPod for that. That’s unspeakably lazy, but that’s my typical morning pattern. This morning I got in the car and “Secret Smile” was still sort of running through my head. I made the conscious decision to take the iPod out of my backpack, plug it in, and queue the song up. I listened to it twice in the car. I listened to it again after my meeting, along with 2/3 of Dan Wilson’s Free Life and anything that leads me to listen to Free Life is a good thing for it is a great, great record. Now, I’m back to “Secret Smile” again.

What’s impressing me about this song this morning is that it could be a hit again today. There are some songs that become hits because they’re very “in the moment” and reflect contemporary tastes that will shift out of style as quickly as they blew in. There are some songs that are so perfect they transcend space in time. I’m not saying “Secret Smile” is one of those transcendent songs, but I’m impressed by how well it holds up 10 years later. This could be fitted well into a movie or TV show right now, today, and it would work. There are certain radio formats that could spin this song today and people would go out and buy it. It holds up. Big time.

Filed under: Tags: Musical Musings and Random Ramblings