a mondegreen, a good smell, a good boy
gratitude list
some things I’m grateful for, 5/18/22:
Also:
Walking past pizza smell on the street
Made a really good dijon dressing
Cats sleeping on books
TV is just seeming less interesting than it used to (thank god) and …
“Don’t Bring Me Down,” Electric Light Orchestra
For the last few months I’ve been in the process of selling a house, which means I’ve been in the process of fixing things. Mostly little things, admittedly, but when it comes to DIY projects, no job is too small to freak me out. I don’t know why this is—I’m not half bad at it. What I lack in skill I make up for in determination, and a willingness to go to Home Depot 5,000 times.
Determination is another way of saying: muttering at the motherfucking window that won’t open, and perhaps hasn’t opened since 1958, then taking a break, then muttering at it some more with WD-40 in hand.
The problem with muttering darkly is that it tends to spiral out into other objects. Next thing you know, I’m cursing at the wind for blowing my car door shut (I truly do this) and saying “go FUCK yourself” to a fearmongering rehab ad on the Stuff You Should Know podcast. If I don’t keep it in check, I will end up tailgating someone who is innocently wandering through Costco.
And that is where ELO comes in.
You probably recognize this song. I bet you’ve heard it in a convenience store or something. It’s kind of whatever, standard-issue rock. But it doesn’t matter because it’s just there to get you to the chorus: a Baroque little synth figure comes in, and the delicious, funny delivery of the hook: “Don’t bring me down ... Bruce!”
The Bruce thing is a mondegreen, by the way (a misheard lyric that makes sense and supplants the actual lyrics, i.e. hearing “Lady Mondegreen” instead of “laid him on the green”). The lyrics were the last part of the song to be written, using the nonsense filler word “groose.” People heard Bruce instead, and eventually ELO sort of gave up and started singing it that way. It doesn’t really make sense, but it also doesn’t matter because Bruce does sound like someone who would try to bring you down. And if I sing it while I’m trying to pry open a window with a putty knife, suddenly it’s kind of like I’m calling the window Bruce, and that is funny because the window isn’t trying to bring me down, not trying to do anything except let in light and keep out rain, and when I realize this, I stop taking it personally.
This music video is … weird? Maybe don’t watch it?
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