“He wasn’t particularly quiet; he just didn’t demand to be heard.” So said Paul Simon following George Harrison’s passing, and it’s a quote that always stuck with me for close to two decades now.
As a former super-shy kid who admittedly still struggles with that sometimes, it was pretty easy for me to relate to the so-called “quiet Beatle.” George didn’t radiate coolness like John Lennon, wasn’t as inherently charming as Paul McCartney, and lacked Ringo Starr’s easy-going congeniality. But there was a lot going on beneath that silent exterior, and I liked to think that applied to me too. For a while, the opening couplet of his 1970 All Things Must Pass gem, “Run of the Mill” served as a personal motto of sorts: “Everyone has choice when to or not to raise their voices.”
So it’s not a stretch to see that I always related to the sentiment of “I Want to Tell You.” This is one of those songs where I can’t help but focus intently on the lyrics and heartily nod in agreement every time I hear it. I suppose it can easily be read as an unrequited love song, but I take it to express a more general feeling of having so many thoughts and ideas that you’re dying to pour out but just feel physically incapable of doing so. Again, something that was much tougher for me in the past but I don’t know if it will ever completely go away.
Given this write-up, you’d think that “I Want to Tell You” would rank a lot higher, especially since I always say that, while the music is the bigger factor in me enjoying a song, most of my all-time favorite songs earned that distinction because of really impressive lyrics. But as much as I can identify with the lyrics, the tune is kind of lacking for me. I like the melody on lines like, “But if I seem to act unkind,” but overall something about this song just feels disjointed.
Anyway, this entry was a lot more vulnerable and less humorous than what this blog typically delivers, so I want to tell you a fun and silly joke to end things on a high note.
Why did the boy throw a clock out the window?
Because he came from a broken home and acting out was the only way he could get attention.
Oh shoot, I screwed up; that was supposed to say “He wanted to see time fly.” Man, I can’t do anything right. So here’s another picture of Anna Kendrick to save face:
Anthony Cusumano 