discovering pop.

It's taken me a long time but I've grown a respect for pop that I never quite had before. I guess I never found satisfaction in the watered-down crud that the radio stations play, or the country music my parents love. Geez. Then I found Hey Jude, and Barcelona, and Mrs Robinson, and life wasn't quite the same. They spoke to me as clearly as Bach and Brahms and Sibelius and Elgar ever did.

So I'm still discovering the classic albums that define '60s rock... Revolver, Abbey Road, Sgt Pepper's... I'm on Pet Sounds now, off the Beatles for a change (I only ever knew the Beach Boys from that saccharine-sweet song Kokomo, which is like knowing classical music from Pachelbel's Canon). And dang, God Only Knows is languidly, beautifully compelling. That's music as worthy as anything ever written and recorded. There's just something about the shape of that melody and the simplicity of the words that caught my mind like a mousetrap and isn't going to let go anytime soon. There's a je ne sais quoi about it. Like you, my friend...

For you out there: God Only Knows

I may not always love you
But long as there are stars above you
You never need to doubt it
I'll make you so sure about it
God only knows what I'd be without you

If you should ever leave me
Though life would still go on, believe me
The world could show nothing to me
So what good would living do me
God only knows what I'd be without you