A long time ago in London, as I was walking down King’s Road, I was approached by this lady who said that if I gave her a few minutes of my time, she could open my eyes in the matters of love. She was gorgeous. And no, she was not a streetwalker. Rather, she claimed to be part of a research group and asked me to follow her to this courtyard to fill out a questionnaire. The idea was that she would then create a love profile for me. I was young, naive and infatuated by her beauty, so I followed her. As we entered the courtyard, I noticed it looked rather rundown and abandoned. However, there were five school desks almost next to each other, each of which had a pencil, eraser, sharpener and handout on it, so I thought nothing of the uninspiring surroundings. It was clearly a legit scientific experiment (said with sarcasm). I sat down, sharpened my pencil and got to work. She offered me a can of coke and thirsty as I was, I drank it. When I woke up in the same courtyard without my backpack and wallet about seven hours later, I had learned two valuable lessons: sometimes beauty is only skin deep and falling in love at first sight can be dangerous – well at least expensive (300 quid is a fortune for an eighteen-year-old).
Our track of the week, Lynz Crichton’s “Let's Lie Here For A While,” celebrates a rather different experience than the one described above. According to its author, the song is about “the fire in the belly when you fall for someone, the hazy wonderful all-encompassing need for that other person.” And while I am not usually moved by love songs, I am moved by this one. And I’ll tell you why. There’s something very inviting in the track’s simple arrangement. All you basically have here is an emotive lead vocal backed with an acoustic guitar, subtle percussions and very enjoyable chant-like backing vocals.
Everything here harks back to the golden singer-songwriter era of the early seventies. This song is graceful and unpretentious – it’s real. In fact, Crichton’s “Let’s Lie Here For A While” is like a breath of fresh air clearly influenced by an era that produced some of the best music in the world. Similar to the songs that inspired it, this track is completely free of the predictable hooks and synthetic production plaguing the pop music of today. Indeed to quite a few trend-setters, Crichton’s song might sound more like a demo than a finished product. However, that’s their loss. I suppose in the current musical climate where everything is bigger than life and chewed up for you, nobody recognizes or even registers subtle nuances anymore. Having said that, anyone with a palate for warm, rhythmic, acoustic folk music with great melodies, will treasure “Let’s Lie Here For A While.”
And the lyrics? Well, they are sort of Steven Tylerish – clever. By this I mean that they are not esoteric in any way. Rather they are slogan-like, throwing cool lines your way, sometimes at bullet speed but always in a way that perfectly complements the melody and the mood of the track.
I can be the joker
You can be the muse
I ain’t no smoker light my fuse
Gimme some of that drink
We can go dancing
Throw your shapes
Coz you take my fancy
Pull a cigarette
That ain’t my style
But the scent of you
Is my appetite
I love the way you make me smile
Let’s lie here for a while.
“Let’s Lie Here For A While” is a love song inspired by Lynz’s husband and their relationship; a tune with just the right amount of edge and character to prove to all of us that not all love songs are sappy reworkings of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” – some of them are actually very exciting. The thing that I most appreciate about the lyrics on this one is the fact that it doesn’t try to present love as one big feeling or longing or infatuation. Rather, the lines speak of situations and feelings that come and go, which is what both life and love are all about: passing moments of joy and sometimes sorrow. This is probably why the concept of love is one of the hardest things to put in words or to explain, as I discovered the other day.
If you’ve been wondering about the Irish proverb in the beginning of this review, here’s your answer. While my wife was at the gym, my five-year-old son asked me what love is. I paused ”Shrek” for a minute to answer the question. As I began answering, I realized that there really was no simple answer. ”Well, there’s many different types of love, many different forms of it,” I tried to explain. ”What’s a form?” he asked and looked very confused. I tried again, ”If someone or something is very important to you and makes you feel good, then you can say you love that person or that thing.” I continued, ”For instance, you and your brothers are the most important thing in the world to me, so Daddy loves you very much.” I looked at my son’s bewildered face for a while and asked him, ”Do you understand what Daddy means, darling?” ”Yes,” my son replied. ”I’m sure you feel love too sometimes, don’t you?” I pressed on and gave him a peck on the cheek, fishing for at least a compliment. ”I love pizza,” my son said excitedly. I burst into laughter and picked him up. ”Daddy, you should talk to Mr. Laine,” my son exclaimed. ”Why?” I asked, ”Did you tease his cat again?” ”Nope,” my son stated and explained, ”Mrs. Laine told him the other day that he doesn’t know what love is.”
Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Laine, our dear neighbors, for allowing me to include you in this write up...and Mr. Laine, I am here for you in case you ever want to talk.
You can learn more about Lynz Crichton here:
About the curator - Tommi Tikka
Tom Tikka is a linguist, poet, professional songwriter, recording artist and a music aficionado. He started playing guitar when he was four and writing songs when he was six. Consequently, he doesn't remember a time when he wasn't playing or writing. It's fair to say, music and lyrics are not just something he loves to engage himself in; to him, they are a way of life.