Stuck on The Puzzle (Alex Turner): Some Thoughts
It’s been a while since I wrote about a song. Kind of feeling fresh now. Especially with the song that I would like to talk about today. I find it oddly refreshing.
Saying being refreshing doesn’t really mean this song is a happily ever after song. Neither it triggers any blessing that I can sense. Like most of the British songs, it’s simple, but not easy.
I came to know Alex Turner pretty late as when I was young I found it difficult to understand Arctic Monkeys’ whimsy and 80% misanthropy. Yet somehow when I listened to this song two weeks ago, I fell for it at the first play. Melody is kind of easy, lyrics is kind of straight, and emotion is there. After second thought I felt I may have heard it already, since this song is kind of famous and I noticed my nostalgia.
Stuck on the puzzle is one of the songs in Submarine soundtrack, composed by Alex Turner. I didn’t really watch the movie, only the clip. I can see myself already passed the time of teenage romance, but I do enjoy how the song reflects the unsettled feeling especially at our younger age.
But last night I looked up into, the dark half of the blue
And they’d gone backwards
Lyrics always has magic. These three lines haunted me because it conveys the universal feeling we all have had experienced. This feeling is toward a moment I realize the thing is not exactly as ever expected. Although this song is mainly talking about the narrator’s lost in realizing his affection, I do see some interesting ways to interpret the writing.
I have been searching from the bottom to the top, for such a sight
as the one I caught when I saw your
Fingers dimming the lights
I figure in life people are always trying to chasing for something beautiful. Yet when we finally have it in hand and it gets totally disappointing. There is actually a novel talking about this, called Red Rose, White Rose by Eileen Chang （張愛玲，紅玫瑰與白玫瑰）. Beauty lies in absence. The affection is due to obscurity. Keep at a distance is always the best solution. If accidentally got trapped, not gonna get out easily.
This song uses a good 3.5-minutes to explain one of the most contradicted emotion we own. I like the way that it seems we are listening to other’s story, thinking ourselves as a true third party, but eventually realized we are part of it. Part of the pure human nature. I kind of enjoy this awkward balance, because that is what makes the world interesting.
Well, a very soothing and an ordinary song. But I think it worths a glass of wine.
