#SHEA Ultimate S.O.S. Playlist, Volume 8 (Tracks 36-40)

 

Who’s ready for more #Shea song suggestions?

 

Wow, the summer’s almost over you guys. And while shooting on TGD hasn’t yet begun, they SEEM to have the details of said shooting (and corresponding COVID testing) squared away now, and APPEAR to be headed to an early September resumption of production. I know it gets frustrating to weather all the stops and starts, but this year in particular I suppose it’s crucial to embrace every small step of progress.

 

So, back to the Playlist. Volume 8 doesn’t have much of a theme, but its contributions are as relevant as any other “volume” (as will the final volume, in which I’m including a few of the more fun suggestions!). Dig in… take a listen… and remember, you can suggest a new offering for the playlist ANYTIME. Even if you don’t have anything to say about your suggested song…I get plenty of that, and include ‘em anyway!

 

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SONG: “Enchanted” by Taylor Swift

Songwriter: Taylor Swift

Submitted by: Cosmic Lightning

Comments from Me: The “tribute video” mentioned below is one of Sheree-Lynn’s creations; I featured her work earlier in the summer and will feature an interview with her next month.

Comments from Cosmic: “That tribute video I linked before made me realize how well this song applies to Shaun and Lea's first meeting too; a lot of very similar feelings between them I'd imagine. Two people living monotonous boring lives until running into each other by pure chance, where they feel an instant connection to one another which only got stronger and more passionate the more they ran into each other, climaxing with the road trip in 1.11 'Islands Part 1'. It's a great song that sums up Shaun and Lea's Season 1

relationship in my opinion-- the magical early romantic period without all the baggage that came from Hershey or their attempts at trying to be platonic, just two soulmates embracing each other's company together."

 

SAMPLE LYRICS

 

This is me praying that
This was the very first page
Not where the storyline ends
My thoughts will echo your name
Until I see you again
These are the words I held back
As I was leaving too soon
I was enchanted to meet you…

  

 

HEAR IT HERE 

 

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SONG: “She’s Always a Woman” by Billy Joel

Songwriter: Billy Joel

Submitted by: Sonya

 

Comments from Me: Fun fact!... When I first heard the name Billy Joel as a kid, I initially thought he was connected somehow to the title character in the 1968 song “Ode to Billie Joe”. It was about midway through the successful run of singles released from Joel’s The Stranger before I realized there was no connection whatsoever; that he was real and the one in the song was fictitious, that he was a boy and the fictional one was a girl, that he was alive and well and the fictional one had jumped to her (fictional) death. Hey, I was only nine years old when that album came out… cut a girl some slack!

 

Anyway, “She’s Always a Woman” happens to be single #3 from The Stranger. As much as I’ve always been fond of the song, I’ve wavered at times on how I felt about the woman described in the song. Is she worth his time? He seems to think so. But why? She lacks transparency, faith in her partner, the ability to give. She can kill with her smile! She can wound with her eyes! And yet…

 

Wikipedia describes it as “a love song about a modern woman whom the singer has fallen totally in love with to the extent of falling for her endearing quirks as well as her flaws.”

Hmm. Sounds like a certain San Jose doctor and a certain San Jose auto engineer we know, doesn’t it?

SAMPLE LYRICS

 

And she only reveals what she wants you to see
She hides like a child
But she's always a woman to me

She can lead you to love

She can take you or leave you
She can ask for the truth
But she'll never believe
And she'll take what you give her as long as it's free

Yeah, she steals like a thief  
But she's always a woman to me

 

HEAR IT HERE

 

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SONG: “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (Kina Grannis version) 

Songwriters: Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, George David Weiss

Submitted by: Rose Amelie

Comments from Me: Remember when the song “More” appeared in the first edition of the Playlist and I mentioned its roots dated back to a 1962 Italian documentary? Well, “Can’t Help” has interesting roots as well: According to Wikipedia…

 

“The melody is based on ‘Plaisir d'amour’, a popular French love song composed in 1784 by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini. The song was initially written for a woman as ‘Can't Help Falling in Love with Him’, which explains the first and third line ending on ‘in’ and ‘sin’ rather than words rhyming with ‘you’.^” (A-HA! Always wondered about that.)

 

Elvis Presley had the definitive U.S.version of “Can’t Help” in 1962, with covers bringing the song back into focus every now and again… including a dreamy/gauzy version by Corey Hart (yeah, that same “Sunglasses at Night” guy I mentioned in the last Playlist post) and a reggae-ish version by UB40 that topped the Billboard charts in the 90s.

Comments from Rose:
“I know there’s a lot of versions, but this one in particular is so nice! It played in a wedding scene in the film Crazy Rich Asians (I’m not suggesting a Shaun and Lea’s wedding immediately, although that would be very nice in the future).
This version, sung by a woman (Kina Gannis’ voice is so delicate), symbolizes Lea’s feelings after the "I Love You" episode (her final confessions in S3):

 

SAMPLE LYRICS

Shall I stay?

Would it be a sin
If I can't help falling in love with you

Like a river flows
Surely to the sea
Darling, so it goes
Some things were meant to be

Take my hand

Take my whole life too
For I can't help falling in love with you

HEAR IT (the Kina Gannis version) HERE 

 

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SONG: “You Are the Reason” by Calum Scott

Songwriters: Calum Scott, Corey Sanders, Jon Maguire

Submitted by: Vale (this is her first contribution to the Playlist and she’s got a lot to say, so I’m just gonna let her talk here…)

Comments from Vale: “I am always looking for new songs in YouTube—especially when I'm working—and this song came as part of a playlist. At first I thought it was beautiful, but then I started to pay attention to the lyrics and couldn't help but to think of Shea at some point of the series.

“It has always bothered me that we never got the chance to see Lea's POV after the whole post-Shaun's declaration tantrum. For me it was so important because I'm sure that for her this wasn't rainbows and flowers, it must have been hard. She knew she hurt a friend, deeply, but most importantly she hurt herself, she admitted to love him and we all know how hard is to be in love and not actually be with the significant other, the anguish this can produce. To not expand on her feelings, it is just simply wrong IMO… and the cause of why many people out there hate her. It also makes the whole last two episodes kind of hollow. Don't get me wrong, I love them, but I really hope that they have a deeper conversation about what happened when TGD continues next season.

“I like to think that she kissed him because she couldn't hold back any longer and she was eager to do so for so long that just couldn't help it. I would like to set this song between the Heartbreak (S3:18) and the Hurt (S3:19) episode and I will hang onto the only piece of information we got from Lea at the beginning of 3-19 when she says to Dr. Melendez ‘These have been two difficult weeks’ for me this song describes how she might have felt during those two weeks, and how she reacted in S3:20 (I Love You) kind of confirms it.

 

 

SAMPLE LYRICS

 

There goes my heart beating

Cause you are the reason
I'm losing my sleep
Please come back now

There goes my mind racing
And you are the reason
That I'm still breathing
I'm hopeless now

There goes my hands shaking
And you are the reason
My heart keeps bleeding
I need you now

If I could turn back the clock

I'd make sure the light defeated the dark
I'd spend every hour, of every day
Keeping you safe

 

 

HEAR IT HERE  

I also came across a very similar arrangement in duet form... Calum Scott singing with Leona Lewis. Lovely!

HEAR THE DUET VERSION HERE

 

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SONG: “The Luckiest” by Ben Folds 

Songwriter: Ben Folds

Submitted by: Kelli

 

Comments from Me: This one treads a little bit of the same path as “Bless the Broken Road” does (see previous Playlist) when you hear it sung by a woman, but I hear a lot of Shaun in this song as well. I don’t know if “lucky” is part of Shaun’s vocabulary—it seems the concept of “luck” is one he wouldn’t understand/support—but the last two lines I’ve included here resonate for both he AND Lea, don’t you think? (This is why I’m including links to not only Folds’ version, but a jazz cover by Sara Gizarek and a duet featuring Kina Gannis—yes, the same Kina Gannis mentioned above!)

 

Oh, and as an aside… I see that “The Luckiest” has been used in countless weddings since its 2001 release, both as a processional ("down-the-aisle" song) and as a couple’s first dance. Ben Folds, the one who penned the song, is in his mid-50s and recently married wife number FIVE! So I guess that makes me appreciate even more, in a weird way, the way he was able to crystallize the feelings/sentiment behind “The Luckiest” so well.

 

 

SAMPLE LYRICS

I don't get many things right the first time
In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns
The stumbles and falls brought me here

And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it every day
And I know that I am
I am, I am the luckiest…

I love you more than I have
Ever found a way to say to you

 

HEAR IT (the original lyric video) HERE

HEAR THE DUET (Kina Grannis/Imaginary Future) HERE 

HEAR THE JAZZ VERSION (Sara Gizarek) HERE