I have never paid much attention to Rachael Yamagata. She was just another singer/songwriter I threw at the side like an editor would a manuscript to a slush pile. Worn Me Down and The Reason Why brought good moments in The O.C, but the rest of the songs in Happenstance were pretty much fillers to me.
I cannot say her second studio album, Elephants… Teeth Sinking into Heart is any better, but her opening song, Elephants, made all the difference to change my mind – if only just a little – on her. It was like from the deep darkness of my music playlist closet, she reached out to me like a bedtime boogeyman, and sank her teeth into my heart.
In Happenstance, Yamagata’s throaty voice has called merits for her songs, but she did not quite hit it for me until she decided to switch gears and lanes and drove right down Heartache Valley.
The weakness her fingers held as she plays the piano, were like fingers of an ex-girlfriend groping the rumpled sheets on the empty bed as she tried to tame her shattering heart. The anger she hid in between the lines of her animal safari metaphors, were like the tears of a former lover as he faces the truth about a fallout relationship – how by loving the wrong girl, he has learned to hate her. The betrayal. The frustration. The wariness. The pain.
Falling in love today is not the same as falling in love once upon a time. For someone who has been through a broken record of disappointed relationships, you begin to wonder if there will ever be a day when it is possible for an ever-after ending. If it still exists in this world.
Someone once told me that the harder thing than being caught up in all the relationship drama is being alone. So, I suppose this is why everyone is still making the same mistakes. Holding out their hearts way too early and getting themselves hurt way too easily. At least you feel something.
It is the one thing a person needs a lot of courage to stay away from. Other than that, it is an endless walkabout into the wilderness, watching your back for pouncing cheetahs, looking above for circling vultures and looking under for poisonous snakes.
“So for those of you falling in love / Keep it kind, keep it good, keep it right / Throw yourself in the midst of danger / but keep one eye open at night.”
Happy belated Valentine’s Day. While you have survived the one day that makes you cringe, you have 364 more that will not make it any easier.
Download the song HERE.
Posted by Celeste 
Posted by Celeste 
