One of the positive benefits of digitally archiving all my CDs is that I get to hear a lot of things that I haven’t heard in (literally) decades. The iPod in my car is set up with a random playlist of things added to iTunes in the last year, so it’s mostly a mix of eMusic downloads and songs from bands that start with the letter “A”. Recently, I was driving around and was taken aback when an 80s-sounding song with a different type of lyrical message played. I was doubly surprised to see that it was from the one-”hit” wonder band Art In America (from their only album 1983’s Art In America, which produced their only “hit”, the song “Art In America”). I believe they are chiefly remembered for having a harp player as a fulltime member of the band. That’s a regular big old acoustic harp, not an electric or horizontal or altered one. Must’ve been fun to take on the road. In my mind, the whole harp thing gave the band an image that was squeaky clean. Which is why this song “Won’t It Be Strange” caused me to do a double take. Here’s the lyrics (as best I can make them out, incorporating bits from another website):

*****************************************
Won’t It Be Strange
Performed by Art In America
Words and Music by Chris Flynn

I needed to see you
I needed to fall
I need to feel all of you
I can’t wait for the Masters and Johnson’s call
Do you think will hear me?
Well you just might not heel
But darling I just need to know
Is it your love that I’d feel?

Won’t it be strange,
When the world brings us bondage and pain?
And if there is someday
Some laughter for a change
Won’t it be strange- won’t it be strange?

Do you think you will hear me
When my moment has come?
Do you think you will hear me
With your face mask and blindfold on? Yeah
Do you think you will hear me
Well you just might not heel
But darling I just need to know
Is it your love that I’d feel

Won’t it be strange,
When the world brings us bondage and pain?
And if there is someday
Some laughter for a change
Won’t it be strange- won’t it be strange?

And if you’re not for certain
Don’t take the box for what’s behind the curtain
When your sealcoat’s re-haired, find out….

Won’t it be strange
When the world brings us bondage and pain?
And if there is someday
Some laughter for a change
Won’t it be strange- won’t it be strange?
*****************************************

Okay, so basically they seem to be singing about an S&M relationship. How could I not have known that at the time the album came out (1983) or when the CD was finally issued (1996)? It sure seems like something I would’ve remembered. Of course, I’m sure the whole S&M theme is just a metaphor for something else… like how hard it is to play a harp or something…

Of course, things are always more complicated than you originally think. In the course of researching this blog entry, I ran across this incredibly detailed deconstruction of the album, courtesy of a familiar pen. However, there’s not much of a comment on this song, which bums me out.

Latre.

Pet Peeve of the Day: The docking station for my laptop introduces noise into the audio channel.

Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “heathenism resort”.