#SHEA Ultimate S.O.S. Playlist, Volume 3 (tracks 11-15)

Are you noticing a pattern yet? Playlist additions one week, new subtopic (or continuation of subtopic) the following week, lather, rinse, repeat? Seems to be the way things are evolving right now. If you’re here reading this, I guess that means you’re OK with it!

This week, we’re adding songs that represent Shaun and Lea individually. I’ve tried to include tracks that represent a little of who they are as well as their mindset towards each other, which makes for an interesting mix! Take a look/listen:

SHAUN’S SONGS…

SONG: “Left of Center” by Suzanne Vega  

Songwriter: Suzanne Vega and Steve Addabbo

Submitted by: Kelli (a.k.a. “Me”)

My first personal contribution to the Playlist is a throwback to 1986—the year before Suzanne Vega broke through with “Luka”. “Left of Center” was a contribution to the Pretty in Pink OST; a song that (to me, anyway) represented the POV of Duckie, the “best friend” in the film’s love triangle who was not-always-so-secretly in love with Andie. (Fun fact: I remain disgusted that Andie ends up with Blaine, so much so that I turn the film off after Duckie and Andie walk into the prom hand-in-hand. But, I digress…)

Though I don’t think the song is necessarily a perfect fit for someone on the autism spectrum like Shaun, I do think it’s rather relatable-- while also reflecting his early curiosities about Lea. The bridge even contains elements of something that Lea said to Shaun in 3.2 “Debts”: 

No one is like everyone. We're all unique. But we're also the same.

Bridge lyric: "I think that somehow,
somewhere inside of us...

... if not the same"

We must be similar...

SAMPLE LYRIC:

When they ask me, "What are you looking at?"
I always answer, "Nothing much" (not much)
I think they know that
I'm looking at them
I think they think I must be out of touch

But I'm only in the outskirts
And in the fringes
On the edge and, off the avenue
And if you want me
You can find me
Left of center, wondering about you

HEAR IT HERE 

SONG: “You Are the Woman” by Firefall

Songwriter: Rick Roberts

Submitted by: Tony

Comments from Tony: In the song, particularly the verses, the singer is mentioning how it's not just the "pretty face I see" or "the clothes you wear" or "the things you do", but how the woman makes the singer feel! Definitely a good one from Shaun's perspective - describing how it's the WHOLE of Lea and how he feels when she's in his life. The chorus mentions how the singer "knew it from the start". I like to see this as coming from OUR perspective :-)

Comment from Me: 1) This is maybe the only U.S. pop hit I can think of that starts out with a flute solo. 2) It reached Billboard’s Top 10 in the fall of 1976. 3) A friend of mine decided, in her early years, that any guy that proposed to her would have to sing this song to her first!

SAMPLE LYRIC:

It's not so much the things you say to me
It's not the things you do
It's how I feel each time you're close to me
That keeps me close to you, whoa oh

You are the woman that I've always dreamed of
I knew it from the start
I saw your face and that's the last I've seen of my heart

HEAR IT HERE 

--

LEA’S SONGS………

SONG: “Secret” by Missy Higgins

Songwriter: Missy Higgins

Submitted by: Faghost

Comments from Faghost: “This screams Lea, don’t you think? It’s like we all are spewing the lyrics at Lea, demanding answers.”

Comments from Me: ^^^ To that, I’d include various TGD characters such as Glassy, Morgan, Shaun himself…

Missy Higgins is a very successful Australian artist who has remained active in her homeland’s music scene since the early 2000s. “Secret” is a stark, menacing (and powerful) track from her 2007 album On a Clear Night. Another track of hers from this album, “Where I Stood,” has been used on Grey’s Anatomy and One Tree Hill.

SAMPLE LYRIC:

I would’ve shouted loud and broken through
I would’ve given it all to belong to you
But there were different plans, different rules
You said “where I’m from there is a lock and key
If you’d be so kind as to follow me
I will show you the way to the rest of my sins”

Cos you’ve got a secret don’t ya babe?
Yeah you, you got a secret don’t ya babe?
And I should know
Yeah I should know

HEAR IT HERE (sorry, can't find a lyric video)

--

SONG: “On + Off” by Maggie Rogers 

Songwriter: Maggie Rogers and Nick Das

Submitted by: Kelli

Comments: My second contribution to the Playlist leaps over 30 years in time (from “Left of Center,” I mean) to bring you this intriguing track by rising star Maggie Rogers… I was searching her Heard it in a Past Life album for something that fit. “On + Off” might have drawn me in from the title, but then I saw this explanation of the song from Rogers herself and I decided it made more sense than anything I could say about it!

From Maggie Rogers: “It’s a song about finding someone that grounds you and brings you emotional stability as much as it is about finding someone you have chemistry with. I think love tends to be some strange balance of the two.”

SAMPLE LYRIC:

See me through this wild tide
Stay with me through all of time
If I'm drenched in madness, tangled blues
Won't you? Oh, won't you?

[Chorus]
Take me to that place where you always go
When you're sleeping or your day takes you low, so low
When I'm on and off again, on and off again, on and off again, oh

Take me to that space when I need someone

When I'm shaking or my mind starts coming undone
When I'm on and off again, on and off again, on and off again
You turn me on like

HEAR IT HERE 

--

SONG: “Far Away” by Nickelback

Songwriter: Maggie Rogers and Nick Das

Submitted by: Amy Danko

Comments from Amy: “Nickelback gets a bad rap in the United States. I've never been sure why, and I admit, I haven't liked most of their recent stuff, but their 2005 album features one of my (way too many) all-time favorite songs, and when I was rewatching ‘I Love You’ for the first time, every scene with Lea made me think of Nickelback's ‘Far Away.’ For me, this song said what she was feeling during that long night, and what she wanted most.”

Comment from Me: I, too, have been guilty in the past of Nickleback-shaming, but I agree with Amy… this captures Lea’s dark night of the earthquake-shaken soul, and captures it well.”

SAMPLE LYRIC:

This time, this place
Misused mistakes
Too long, too late
Who was I to make you wait

Just one chance
Just one breath
Just in case there's just one left
'Cause you know, you know, you know

I love you
I've loved you all along
And I miss you
Been far away for far too long

HEAR IT HERE 

Remember, this project is continuing to evolve… if you’ve got a #Shea-suitable song (or songs) to suggest, check out this post to find out how to do it!

(And if you submitted six songs a while back and are eager to submit more, go ahead… just know I’m trying to get all contributors represented and still haven’t hit that mark quite yet. Hopefully that’ll change by Volume 4!)