Wednesday, October 15, 2003

Surprise

I love things that take me by surprise. BUT, before you all run behind a door to scare the BeeJeebus out of me, that's not at all the kind of surprise I'm talking about. I'm talking about books, or film or music that seemingly ambles along in one direction, only to reveal, in the end, it was going in an entirely different direction the entire time. And I love it when I don't see it coming. A true surprise.

I loved the movie The Sixth Sense for just that reason. Maybe I was just stupid not to see it coming, but I didn't, and it was a wonderfully delicious ending to the film. This afternoon I'm listening one of my most favorite "surprise" songs. It's from the musical Assassins by Stephen Sondheim. Yep. He wrote an entire musical about assassins. This is no Oklahoma and we aren't in Kansas anymore, Toto. One of the numbers is a beautiful duet called "Unworthy of Your Love." On first listening, you would swear it is a standard Top-40 1970's duet.

I am nothing, You are wind and water and sky, Jodie....
It's pretty. Strumming guitars, tootling flutes, soft saxophones ...
I am nothing, You are wind and devil and God, Charlie....
Huh?
Take my blood and my body for your love. Let me feel fire, let me drink poison,
Tell me to tear my heart in two, if that's what you want me to do.....

Ughhh. Whuh? Blood and poison and do what....?

It goes downhill from there. Or it soars, depending on your point of view. I LOVE THIS. Why? Musically, it is written as a gentle, generic elevator Muzak kind of piece. Textually, though, it is an incredibly dark, disturbing love duet of John Hinckley (to Jodie Foster) and "Squeaky" Fromme (to Charles Manson). It's the perfect song for two schizo wanna-be assassins, don't you think?
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1 comment:

lumigan eye drops reviews said...

It can be a verb surprise or surprise, a name for a thing, or a sense of surprise. Derived from the Latin word for "seize" .