Something About You

Today has been one of those days when (almost) everything has come up quite excellent. I say almost, as I forgot to pull an April Fool’s prank on my sweety! (Years ago, the boys and I would load up her backpack with kitchen utensils for her walk to work; another time, when she had a bad ankle injury, I swapped her crutches for a child’s pair; and more recently, I froze a cup of coffee with milk to serve her in the morning… she’s a good sport.)

After a relaxing morning, I returned my freshly tuned-up bike to the indoor trainer and connected to the Zwift.com training platform. I thought I’d do about 50 kilometres (31 miles), but that became 60, so why not a few more? Finishing at 70 km, I took a break and fuelled up, and still feeling strong, I decided to go for another 30 or so and brought my day’s total to 101 km (63 miles). That’s the longest I’ve ever gone in one day.

After such a long exercise session, I really feel the endorphins coursing through my body. I’ll probably fade earlier than usual tonight, but I feel great as I write this post. The sensation reminds me of how I felt on weekends in my early to mid-20s when I’d go out with friends (the post-high school group I’ve referred to here before as “friends 2.0,” described in more detail in a post from early 2020). We’d have a fantastic time in cabarets dancing and hanging out, or listening to bands in pubs.

One song we heard in the dance bars starting early in the fall of 1985 was “Something About You” by the English new wave/synthpop/jazz-funk band Level 42. I don’t hear the song played anywhere much nowadays, but it’s an old favourite, and with its uptempo beat, it came to my mind this afternoon.

“Ooh…
Ooh…
How – how can it be that a love
Carved out of caring fashioned by fate
Could suffer so hard
From the games played much too often
But making mistakes is a part
Of life’s imperfections born of the years
Is it so wrong to be human after all

Drawn into the stream
Of undefined illusion
Those diamond dreams
They can’t disguise the truth
That there is something about you
Baby so right
I wouldn’t be without you baby tonight

If ever our love was concealed
No one can say that we didn’t feel
A million things
And a perfect dream of life
Gone, fragile but free
We remain tender together
If not so in love
It’s not so wrong
We’re only human after all

These changing years
They add to your confusion
Oh and you need to hear the time
That told the truth
That there is something about you
Baby so right
Don’t want to be without you
Baby tonight
Because there’s something about you
Baby so right
I couldn’t live without you
Baby tonight

Ooh…
Ooh…
And there’s something about you
I couldn’t live without you
Tonight”

“Something About You,” by Mike Lindup, Phil Gould, Mark King, Rowland Gould and Wally Badarou.
Lyrics retrieved from AZLyrics.com.

In “Something About You,” lead vocalist and bassist Mark King is singing to his lover, acknowledging that there are problems with their relationship but also that he can’t imagine life without her. In the video on a train ride, he’s clearly a bit distracted, pensive and worried. The film ends differently than the song lyrics, which I hadn’t noticed before, though I last saw the video itself many years ago. In my positive vibe this evening, I’m sticking with the optimistic ending.

Speaking of pensive, I was a little apprehensive about going so long on the bike today as, of course, there was Saturday pizza-and-movie-night pizza to make, plus some of the kids and one of the grandchildren are coming for family dinner tomorrow, and Sweety wisely suggested I make my spaghetti sauce today so the flavours could marry up overnight. All of that work is done now, and I still have energy. Life is good.

“Something About You” is the opening track on Level 42’s sixth studio album, their international breakout record, World Machine (1985).

Now you know a little about why this is my Song of the Day for Today. Thanks for joining me here, and please enjoy.

Strangely, the band doesn’t have the official music video posted on their YouTube channel. I found a non-high definition copy from a non-official site (though I’m using it as it properly credits the music and artists), and the sound from the studio track is pretty good, well, for YouTube, anyway:

And, here’s a video of a live performance on the British TV program The Tube, in 1985, from the Level 42 YouTube channel:

If you want the best sound of course, try your streaming service, or the official audio from the studio track on YouTube:

With upbeat weekend vibes,

Steve