Alfie - (Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David)Various Artists ... some known versions:
Dionne Warwick '67
Cher '66
Joss Stone '04
Stevie Wonder (harmonica instrumental) '68
What's it all about?
Even though this song doesn't describe me... the lyrics were built to simulate a woman speaking to a man, (Alfie- the title character from the movie Alfie) and whenever I hear this song, I feel like that man is me.
...and I can never answer that burning question:
What is it all about?
However...for those of you that feel as though I cheated- here's a song that does describe me:
I feel this song gives a deeper glimpse at the fear and regret behind my ambivalence and inability to fully commit, even to a woman I truly love--there are simply too many temptations, my old habits are too ingrained, and it seems every woman I've been with has made it too easy for me to buy into my excuses. Sometimes I don't understand why some of the women I deal with won't give into my attempts to drive them away--even if I admitted that it'll break me if she finally does give up and leave.
That said, this is truly a beautiful song, I feel that it's not about someone who doesn't love the woman he's with, but about a guy that admits that he doesn't really know how to love anyone, including himself--hence the back and forth between lines that play up his secret pockets of self-loathing and lines that brag about his money and its ability to pull in women. He admits that his woman is a "good girl", but he's still addicted to the "hood rats" even though he knows their attraction to him is almost certainly totally shallow and all about what he could provide for them if they took her place. To me there's a lingering sadness in this song about the loneliness of that fact--he can't really connect, so he drowns himself in money and stray pussy, and feels helpless to change that fact. I absolutely love this song, I'd never blatantly admit that kind of vulnerability; so luckily he said it for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment