Soak Up The Sun by Sheryl Crow

“Soak Up The Sun” music video
“Soak Up The Sun” live performance

Some songs just don’t work when they are arranged for marching band. There is a tradition in marching bands to play arrangements of pop songs in the stands and sometimes during halftime shows. Some songs like “Gimmie Some Lovin’” and “Hey Baby” are fantastic and some like “Who Let the Dogs Out" are simply painful.

One year when I was in the Northwestern Marching band, our director handed this arrangement of “Soak Up The Sun.” My instrument section really enjoyed playing the song because we had the melody the entire time but musically that was a horrible thing as my section was the alto saxophones. The purpose of alto saxophones in a marching band is to fill in harmony under the melody and provide counter-melodies, not the melody.

Now the alto section wasn’t exactly the most “mature” group so when we realized we had the melody we played it as loud as possible. So as we played the song, our director gave my section “the hand” (a gesture meant to tell us to play softer) throughout the entire song. After the song was done our director gave us a stern look and verbally reprimanded us for our unmusical playing and all I could think was “lighten up.”

After playing the song once we never played it ever again. Maybe it was because of the mediocrity of the arrangement or maybe it was because our director realized what a bad idea it was to give the alto saxophones the melody.

Sheryl Crow released "Soak Up The Sun" as the first single from her fourth studio album C'mon C'mon. Released in April 2002 "Soak Up The Sun" became one of the biggest hits of the summer becoming Crow's best-selling single since her 1993 breakout hit "All I Wanna Do."

"Soak Up The Sun" feels like everything that is great about summer. Musically Crow captures the feeling of sunshine using energetic synthesized sounds and relaxed guitar licks. The groove is punctuated by popping sounds that drive the songs while the main guitar line is laid back. The tension between these two parts creates a groove that makes the song rock.

Sheryl Crow's sings with a sense of ease and relaxation. She glides through the lyrics so smoothly that some of the stranger lyrics like "my friend the communist holds meetings in his RV" come off as matter of the fact observations. The attitude in her voice matches the lyrics of the song which are basically telling us to chill out.

As a lyricist Crow plays with figurative language while making interesting observations. In the first verse she talks about not having enough gas to go to a communist party. She doesn't have a television but she is ok with this as she concludes "it's not having what you want, it's having wanting what you got."

In the second verse, Crow reveals that she doesn't get paid enough to "win me some of your love." She describes that she it at odds with her love as she is looking up and he is looking down but she is not mad. When she wonders if something is wrong with him, she concludes that maybe she is crazy too.

The chorus is a declaration of optimism, a statement that she is going to enjoy life. She is going to relax and soak up the sun and tell everyone else to lighten up. The verse describes a life that isn't perfect and a relationship that is flawed but she is resolved to enjoy life and relax.

What Crow is telling us is that enjoying life really is more about attitude than the actual situation. There are points in life when even a positive attitude can’t make a difference but more often than not it can.

When we played “Soak Up The Sun,” my section and I could have decided to just be annoyed that we were playing a mediocre arrangement of a song that has no business being arranged for marching band. Instead, we decided to have a little fun with it. Was it helpful to the rest of the band? No, was it a little annoying to our director and everyone else in the band? Oh yeah, but did we have a fantastic time doing it. Yes.

After giving us “the hand,” and giving us “the look,” our director did chuckle to himself a little. I think he understood that sometimes it’s just not worth getting that mad. I got to admit that over the four years I had him as a director he did in fact “lighten up.” Kind of . . .

Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters by Elton John

One of the challenges of being an immigrant to the United States is the holidays. When my parents who came from Taiwan, raised my brother and I, they made an effort to participate in the major holidays in order to provide an “American” childhood. Some holidays made more sense then others. My parents understood Valentine’s Day, which correlated with a similar Taiwanese holiday, but others like Halloween were a little bit more mystifying. Seriously, why do you dress up as characters in our popular culture and beg for candy from complete strangers?”

Thanksgiving made a little bit more sense. The stories of the pilgrims and Native Americans did not mean much to my family, but the idea of coming together as a family and sharing a meal did.

One Thanksgiving when I was young, we went over to a family friend’s house and before we ate, we went around the table and said what we were thankful for. As I pondered the yam dish in front of me that for some reason had marshmallows in it, Thanksgiving started to make sense.

The true meaning of thanksgiving is for families to take a moment out of their lives to share a meal together and reflect on what they are thankful for in their lives. When I think back on my Thanksgiving experience I think about the times with my family, the three Thanksgivings I spent with college friends and the current tradition I now have of sharing that day with my wife’s family. What I am most thankful for in all of that are the people I shared those times with. As Elton John sang, “I thank the Lord for the people I have found” from his song “Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters.”

There was an Elton John before The Lion King and after “Your Song.” A daring, compassionate and audacious artist, Elton John not only revealed himself but also reflected the world around him. From 1969 to 1979 Elton John released thirteen albums including the double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. The pace and quality of his albums is something rarely seen in popular music. Elton John released Honky Chateau his fifth solo album in 1972. “Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters” was the second to last track on Honkey Chateau, an album that included other popular songs like “Honky Cat” and “Rocket Man.” Bernie Taupin, Elton John’s lyricist, wrote these lyrics after hearing a gun go off in New York City. Elton John considers this one of his must underrated songs and plays it frequently to describe his love for New York City.

There is a balance in lyrics between keeping them specific enough so that they connect to peoples feelings but ambiguous enough that they relate to different peoples’ lives. Bernie Taupin is a master of expressing themes and emotions through his lyrics while maintaining this balance. This song is about looking back at an experience and realizing truths about the world and the way people live their lives. Along with these realizations comes thanksgiving for the people in our lives. Sometimes it is in our struggles that remind us of the beautiful people in our lives.

Elton John carries on the tradition of popular piano players from artists like Little Richard. From a young age, Elton John trained as a classical pianist. This foundation allowed Elton to explore different types of music including, Jazz, Country, Blues and Rock music. “Mona LisasAnd Mad Hatters” features subtle and skillful piano playing. Elton varies the background creating motion between the vocal phrases with rising and falling shapes while outlines the chords of the song. The piano line seems organic and natural but is also deliberate and intentional providing a foundation for the emotional setting of the song.

From the affirmation of the melodic leaps to the longing of the held notes, Elton John creates a melody that is introspective and honest. Not often thought of as a great vocalist, Elton John demonstrates his ability to sing in an effortless way, clearly expressing the lyrics while drawing us in like a master storyteller. The clarity of his voice has slight edges and tension, which reflects a worldliness and understanding of the deepest levels of our humanity.

This is one of my favorite, if not my favorite song of all time. I first heard this song when Elton John performed it on a televised concert after the attacks on the World Trade Centers on 9/11 to honor the work of the firefighters, policemen and other heroes. It seemed so fitting. Here was a song about New York City, about a loss of innocence but more then that, a song of thanksgiving. I had always enjoyed Elton John’s music but never thought of him as master musician until I bought Honkey Chateau and delved in to the vast catalog of the music he recorded.

My wife and I featured this song during our wedding ceremony. We wrestled with the idea of having a pop song performed at the wedding. What we came to was that the genre of the song was irrelevant. This song is a musical statement that reflects our lives growing up. But more important it expresses how thankful we are for the people in our lives. After all that that was said and done, it really was the people in our lives that made our wedding day so meaningful.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving. I’m not sure if it really matters that we recognize the original intention of Thanksgiving. If the personal meaning that we get Thanksgiving relates to the pilgrims, fantastic. If it’s not, no big loss. My parents found great meaning in the simple act of breaking bread with people we care about and I hope that you all do too.