What's so simple in the moonlight, so simple in the moonlight

This post is in dedication to the saddest, most beautiful song I have ever heard: Bright Eyes' "Lua." The pure art of this song has affected me and pained me more than any other song I have heard, really and truly.



But let's start with some background, shall we? Oh, wonderful answer, I think we shall, too.



I've read articles in Nylon, heard through the grapevine (great Marvin Gaye song, by the way) about the genius of Conor Oberst, the "voice of his generation," the "New Dylan OMGZZZZZ" etc, etc. I had two Bright Eyes songs on my ipod, and I really loved "Four Winds" which has incredible lyrics, but has a rollicking country-song feel to it, instrumentally, so I didn't completely appreciate the emotion he infuses, nay, POURS, into his songs. I always kind of thought Bright Eyes was for emo kids who are not understood by, like, ANYONE, and cried a lot. But how wrong I was! In my opinion, Bright Eyes= indie. NOT emo. Where was I going with this? Oh, crap. Right.



I was flipping through an old Entertainment Weekly, and there was a little "mini-mag" if you will called, "The Indie 25", and it basically named the best indie record for each year for the last--that's right, you guessed it!--25 years, with a little write-up about each one. For 2005, they named Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, as the best, and the write-up, it mentioned "instant classics such as 'Lua' and 'Landlocked Blues'." So I was bored on Friday, just on the computer, and decided to type up "Lua" into youtube and this video came up, and it was quite possibly the saddest, sweetest, most touching thing I have ever seen. Or at least NEARLY the most touching. I'm very easily touched. A song, a book, a story, a beautiful day, anything will move me to tears. Yeah, I know. Freak. But here it is. Watch it. And I know whenever people post videos on blogs, I usually ignore them, it's really bad, but ignore my hypocrisy and watch this one. I hope you like it though. That would suck if I'm going on and on about how great it is and someone really hates it. Oh here's the freaking video:







After I finished watching it, I stared through the computer screen for about five minutes, my eyes pricking. And then I just started crying. The utter loveliness of that video... the setting sun, Conor's terrified gulp in the beginning, the raw, raw emotion in his voice, and how I expect he was ready to start crying at any minute, the sheer humanity (as Conor so well put it--did his girly, "like" infested speaking manner surprise anyone else?) of the situation. His quivering voice portrays so much pain, I am disgusted to no extent by the glossy pop-punk shit out there. When he gets to "you're looking skinny like a model with your eyes all painted black..." It's indescribable. And no other atmosphere could fit that song so perfectly--the complete stillness of the crowd, with the setting sun, transfixed by the simple words and guitar. I looked up another live version where the show is inside, and people are singing along, and it's nowhere near as affecting. This just isn't one of those songs you sing along to. It’s just not, ok? People sing along to Miley Cyrus, which automatically nixes this song from all “Song To Sing Along To” lists.

Watching/ listening to that video shook me to the core, and I tried listening to other music, but everything sounded fake and jarring, so I tried reading, but I couldn't focus. The song had simply affected me, and I had this melancholy feeling all day long. I did my civic duty and aquired the song by... limewire... and synced my ipod, blah blah blah. But the weird thing is, I couldn't bring myself to listen to the song. It was like some scary thing lying in my ipod, and even the thought of it gave me a little stab of pain. It wasn't just any other song that I could listen to over and over. It was a magic piece of art that deserved to be relished with each listen. I finally brought my self to listen to it, but only at night, lying on my floor with my eyes closed. It's too special of a song, it seems reserved for poignant moments in life, like midnight, or a solo drive on a country road in the moonlight, under a huge sky sprinkled with stars.

So the song inspired me to listen to some other Bright Eyes songs, and I have officially jumped on the "Conor Oberst is a total and complete genius" bandwagon. The melodies may not be catchy, and the instruments are normally minimal… but the emotion in those songs is difficult to describe. And the lyrics… I wonder how a singular person can come up with such beautiful, true, genius phrases that could absolutely be mistaken for a piece of poetry if written down.

“and i sat watching a flower as it was withering
i was embarrassed by its honesty”

“so i'd prefer to be remembered as a smiling face
not this fucking wreck that’s taken it's place.”

“your eyes must do some raining if you’re ever going to grow.”
“the bible’s blind, the torah’s deaf, the Koran is mute, if you burn ‘em all together you get close to the truth.”

I’m so jealous. Why do some people get all the talent? But I guess if it was spread out amongst several people, we wouldn’t have the amazing Bright Eyes to admire, now would we?

Yeah, a lot of emo kids love Bright Eyes, but I AM NOT EMO. And “Lua” has affected me as no other song ever has. I know left feeling empty by so many others songs that are far too glassy and polished, surface only. I love Bright Eyes, maybe you can, too.



Cheer up, Conor! Actually, don’t. Sadness=songs=art= Happy Anna.

Listen: Hopefully you can figure this out on your own. If not… get out.

Peace!
a.

P.S. Chelsea left me a comment in POEM form on my last post. It’s so awesome it kind of hurts my brain.
P.P.S. Also watch the video for “First Day of My Life.” The couple at the end are so perfect that I am almost too envious to be appreciative of love. Almost.