Saturday, April 20, 2013

R is for...


Romeo and Juliet...Dire Straits, 1983.

Angsty 80's songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.


The question here is not only where to start, but also where to end...you know before the tears start.
When we made love you used to cry
(I think that was a good thing.)

Believe it or not, there was actually a day when the lyrics of this song just sort of ran together in the background of whatever important teenage things I was doing. I think the use of the names Romeo and Juliet probably gave me the natural reflex action of trying to tune out, like I would for anything else Shakespearean.

Eventually I came to realized that the dice were loaded from the start, but the time was wrong. Uh-oh! Parallels started being drawn. I was once again letting myself be drawn into a drama. How could she look at him like he was just another one of her deals? And what about my own story of falling in love right as high school graduation rolled around? The timing was wrong.

We ignored that possibility, and persevered! We fought the good fight for three years. I was beyond devastated to say the least when our relationship ended, and couldn't really listen to many songs without feeling them far too much.
You promised me everything 
You promised me thick and thin yeah
Now you just say oh Romeo you know
I used to have a scene with him...
...You said I love you like the stars above
I'll love you 'til I die...
(sigh)

Months later someone stepped out of the shade and said something like "you and me babe, how 'bout it"? Suddenly the song was being sung to me with more emphasis on the happy parts, as if things never went wrong for them.

I can't do everything but I'd do anything for you
I can't do anything except be in love with you

Do I need to tell you how this one ended? Here's a hint...
And I dreamed your dream for you
And now your dream is real
How can you look at me
As if I was just another one of your deals


20 comments:

  1. Stumped yet again...and the video won't play. Man, it's NOT my week...

    Tina @ Life is Good
    Co-host, April 2013 A-Z Challenge Blog
    @TinaLifeisGood, #atozchallenge

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  2. I do LOVE the way you weave the lyrics into your tales of angst.
    This was an album I bought because everyone else did. I hated it thereafter. Then a couple of years later, I decided to listen to it again and was bowled over, especially with Romeo and Juliet. Such a great song. :)

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  3. The song? LOVE. The video? Oy! Dreadful.

    Great pick!

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  4. I hope that means you had a happy ending. Nice post.

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  5. Great song - great theme!
    Thanks and happy A to Z-ing
    Jemima at Jemima's blog

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  6. Romeo and Juliet...yeah, well we all know how that one began (Romeo was in love with the beautiful Rosaline) and how it ended....

    Plug your ears, angst-ridden 80's teens!!!

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  7. Hey Andrea - I am enjoying your A-Z posts! You are a really great writer.

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  8. Umm...how can there be an 80's song I've never heard of?

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  9. My god I loved this song when I was a teenager! Whenever it would come on the radio I would crank it up and sing along to it, pouring all the melodrama I possessed into it.

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  10. Flash back!!!!
    Loved, Loved that song, still can remember my crushes from middle school that this song reminds me of!

    Thanks for sharing & love your blog theme...

    http://wearinglemon.blogspot.com

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  11. Deja VU!!!! Dire Straits!!! I loved loved them so much!

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  12. The really cool thing about Shakespeare, is that his stuff applies to so many different situations over time. As for Dire Straits, I always wanted to know what was so very 'dire' that they named their band after it.

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  13. Awesome A to Z theme. I will have to check out your other posts. Meanwhile, this is one of my fave songs of all time :)

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  14. Love this song. It's amazing to me how a song can be associated with such strong memories, and I can completely see how that happened in this case. Good choice for 'R'.
    ____
    Find me:
    Blog: http://allysonlindt.com
    email: Allyson.Lindt@gmail.com
    Twitter: @AllysonLindt

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  15. I've included this song too - thanks for the visit btw. I love the 'bottom of the heart' emotion that oozes from this song.

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  16. Great A to Z theme. I tend to shut out lyrics much of the time, but other times the words will captivate me and I start looking for the parallels in my own life. Dire Straits was an excellent group. I was a fan.

    Lee
    An A to Z Co-Host
    Tossing It Out

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  17. Great post... Must admit that I always read way, way too much in to lyrics!

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  18. My, my, my. Dire Straits. Completely overlooked for the genius of their writing skills, especially this song and Brothers in Arms.

    Beautiful song. Can still bring me to tears. In fact, it's doing just that as I listen to it now.

    Heather

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  19. MISSED THIS ONE, TOO! Where was I??

    Oh yeah. Chess club.

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  20. So very, very good. One of my wife's favourite songs.

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