July

I fell in love with you in July
Tripped on my feet in the sun
No I don't want you for your money
No I don't care that you're someone
I'm older than your kids* but not by much
I'm wet like I forgot my raincoat
And you could find a love
A girl to take you on
But she wouldn't want you
Half as much as this

I blame it on July
I blame it on myself
God gave me the summertime
Left me with nothing, left me with nothing else

The Day of Saints is almost here
Soon I'll be sweeping up the tree
Then it's gonna be another nauseating Happy New Year
And you still won't be with me
Oh I'll be 21 and old without a clue
Singin' I'm wet like I forgot my raincoat
And everyone will wonder why they haven't checked me in
But even if they did even if they did

I blame it on July
I blame it on myself
God gave me the summertime
Left me with nothing, left me with nothing else

Are you gonna let it rain without me?
Are you gonna let it snow without me?



There's something about July... that's when I first heard Emm's music, last year. ;)
And her new CD, Science Fair, will be coming out this July. :)
I guess I'm also partial to juillet because it's my birth month, and I sometimes
like to revel in being a typical Cancer moonchild. ;p

It's cool how the song takes you from July to All Saint's Day (November 1st, the day after Halloween - I know because of a tragic affair with a Scorpio girl that featured me sending her birthday presents on that day long after we were through. Later, she was surprised when I stopped!) to a tree-sweeping New Year. Ah, Christmas can get pretty dramatic when you don't have the person you want with you.

"but she wouldn't want you half as much as this..."

For some reason this reminds of a great 60-minute film by Hal Hartley called Surviving Desire, which was originally shown on PBS' American Playhouse. I highly recommend it. It's f'g brilliant!

Okay, where was I?

Sometimes when listening to Emm's songs, you gotta wonder how often the poor thing has gotten involved with the wrong guy! :| You start hoping that she (the songwriting Emm) will find someone to love her back with the intensity the songs portray. Maybe she's just being really dramatic! If you listen to the Public Speaking promo tape, Emm talks about her songs and says...

"Difficult relationships make for excellent songs! (laughs) But I don't think I ever go out of my way to have a difficult relationship for the sake of a song, although sometimes I think that would be nice. (more laughter) I tend to write songs when I need them the most, which is, you know, when things are going badly. So, rarely will I write about how great a relationship is because I'm probably busy enjoying it at that point."

When I was listening to Public a lot last fall, during a situation where the girl I was in love with was going back to her previous boyfriend, songs like this one kinda made things worse for me. Bringing out the torture... maybe it's cathartic, though. ;p Good if you want to feel like crying.

But everything gets better eventually, doesn't it? It's comforting to know that Emm can laugh about 'difficult relationships make for excellent songs!' ;)

Right now I'm terribly curious about the lyrics on the new CD. :)

(* Original Leap Year version -- on Public the line is:
'I'm younger than your scars, but not by much')


Back home.