THAT MYSTIFYING 'SOMETHING'

I had forgotten a song that we used to listen to a lot in the late 1990s till I was reminded of it by Shumita the other day. The song is Elton John's "Something about the way you look tonight".

Elton John sings it beautifully but what makes it brilliant are the lyrics. True to life, we find that there are times when someone one loves looks especially attractive and alluring on a particular night. Could it be the dress, the smile ('A Certain Smile' a la Francoise Sagan and Johnny Mathis), the mood, the surroundings....? Difficult to say and Elton John does not know either -

"And I can't explain

But it's something about the way you look tonight

Oh, takes my breath away

It's that feeling I get about you deep inside

And I can't describe

But it's something about the way you look tonight

Takes my breath away

The way you look tonight."

Then my thoughts centred on 'Something'. Among a multitude of people, what is that 'something' that attracts a person to just 'one' other? Is it physical, chemical, magnetism, body language or .....?

I love to take the route of lyrics of songs to find meanings of words and so I thought of those that delve into 'something'. An old song I recalled was Cole Porter's "You Do Something To Me" which dates back to 1929. All old crooners have sung it including Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Perry Como right down to Sinead O'Connor in 1990. And what is that 'something' you do-

"You do something to me, something that simply mystifies me

Tell me, why should it be, you have the power to hypnotize me

Let me live 'neath your spell, do do that voodoo that you do so well,

For you do something to me that nobody else can do!"

Here 'something' is 'mystic', 'hypnotic' and 'voodoo'! Is that worldly or ethereal?

Another outstanding song with a lot of 'something' in the lyrics is "Strangers in the Night", one of Frank Sinatra's best.  He sings-

"Something in your eyes was so inviting

Something in your smile was so exciting

Something in my heart

Told me I must have you."

Lovely, but 'something' remains undefined!

I then turned to perhaps the most popular song on this inexplicable phenomenon. The song is, what else, "Something"!

People of my vintage would remember it well but it is worth recalling a few important facts about this gem of a song. Written by George Harrison of The Beatles and sung by them in 1969, it topped the musical charts in the USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and West Germany. Within three years, it was sung by over 150 artists making it the second-most covered Beatles composition after "Yesterday." Who's who of those who have sung it include Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Shirley Bassey, Ray Charles, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton. Frank Sinatra regularly performed it and called it "the greatest love song of the past 50 years." Elton John said "it is probably one of the best love songs ever written, better than 'Yesterday'". Shirley Bassey hit the top ten on music charts with her version sung with deep emotion and passion and is my particular favourite. Here is what it says-

"Something in the way she moves

Attracts me like no other lover....

Somewhere in her smile she knows

That I need no other lover

Something in her style that shows me....

Something in the way she knows

And all I have to do is think of her

Something in the things she shows me

I don't want to leave her now 

You know I believe and how"

Am I any wiser or just chasing butterflies? I can do no better than recall words from Oscar Hammerstein's classic number "Some Enchanted Evening" in "South Pacific"-

"Who can explain it, who can tell you why?

Fools give you reasons, wise men never try."