Let's have some "fun."

While choosing a song for today’s blog it hit me that I am an extremely selfish person. I knew when I started this blog that I had plenty of songs to write about, but what I had underestimated was how hard it would be to share these gems with the rest of the world.. I’ve always been protective of my music, because the last thing I want to do is to turn my new favorite artist into the next sensation. This protection comes from watching some of my favorites such as, Jason Mraz, James Blunt, and and Imogen Heap get blown up in the public eye… and it has hurt. Artists, who once gave the most amazing underground concerts ever, get turned into radio stars, who you can barely see in huge auditoriums all because of media just like this. Now don’t get me wrong, I am perfectly aware that my blog is not the only blog in the world advertising great music, or that I even am the first to listen to new artists, Music is one big linking chain of events, but I guess I just like to think that the artists I listen to are “mine,” and that they are different from all the stereotypical stuff blasting from most people’s cars. Ignorance can be bliss, but without any ado I will now discuss what most people are reading this for, the song “Be Calm,” by a favorite band of mine, Fun.

The song “Be Calm,” like any of Fun’s songs, is not a song that you can fully understand with one listening (in fact the first time I heard it I could only compare it to the soundtrack for Hunchback of Notre Dame). It is very catchy, but the strong rhythms and sounds tend to cover some of the hidden meaning behind it.

"As I walk through the streets of my new city
my back feeling much better, I suppose
I've reclaimed the use of my imagination
for better or for worse, I've yet to know
but I always knew you'd be the one to understand me,
I guess that's why it took so long to get things right.
Suddenly I'm lost
On my street
On my block

Oh why, Oh why
Oh why haven't you been there for me?
Can't you see, I'm losing my mind this time?
This time I think it's for real, I can see

All the tree tops turning red
The beggars near bodegas grin at me
I think they want something
I close my eyes, I tell myself to breathe

and be calm.
Be calm.
I know you feel like you are breaking down.
I know that it gets so hard sometimes.
Be calm.

I'm scared that everyone is out to get me.
"These days before you speak to me you pause."
"I always see you looking out your window."
"After all, you lost your band, you left your mom."
Now every single crack, every penny that I pass,
says I should either leave or pick it up
But with every single buck I've made
I'm saddled with bad luck that came

the moment I was baptized
or when I found out one day I'm gonna die
if only I could find my people or my place in life
a when they come a'carolin'
so loud, so bright, the theremin
will lead us to a chorus
where we'll all rejoice and sing a song that goes:

Oh be calm.
Be calm.
I know you feel like you are breaking down.
I know that it gets so hard sometimes,
Be calm.
Take it from me, I've been there a thousand times.
You hate your pulse because it thinks you're still alive
and everything's wrong
It just gets so hard sometimes
Be calm.

I don't remember much that night,
Just walking, thinking fondly of you
Thinking how the worst is yet to come
When from that street corner came a song
And I can't remember the man,
The panhandler or his melody.
The words exchanged had far exceeded any change I'd given thee."

This song is the anthem of my life lately, because with every single day that passes, and every problem that occurs I have to remind myself to “be calm.”