Saturday, February 1, 2014

Fool for You

So I'm not sure how many of you have seen Alice Smith's performance of "Fool for You".  
(Click the picture and you can watch the performance in a new window.  I couldn't figure out how to make it not autoplay, so I just linked the picture - it will load automatically when you click the link.  Make sure you come back after you watch it though to finish the post).

It is fantastic, a cover of a Cee Lo song, and I like both, but feel like the song means different things coming from a woman.  




You can find the lyrics here.  I needed to look at the words to fully understand since I wasn't familiar with the song before hearing her version.

A couple of thoughts:
"Cant nobody tell me nothing, I said it is what it is"
1) This performance to me engenders a grown sexuality.  Without being half clothed or gyrating across the stage in theoretical celebration of women's bodies, the performance conjures up the deepness of good sex.  Though the song is about much more than sex, the beats, the words, the artists insertion of self (facial expressions, dance movements) all point towards the personal, transformative experience that characterizes good sex... and the type of connection the song describes.    

"Any mistake you make, I just might forgive."
2) I had never heard of Alice Smith before that performance.  She showed up and she owned the stage that night.  I can't stomach most awards shows (and similar events), but this left me feeling grateful for all the creativity and hard work of everyone from back up signers and light techs to camera people, the all female band, and of course Alice Smith herself who made it possible.  They all excelled.

"Sweet sugar, I surrender.  I don't want no other man.  Baby you win."
3) As a girl I was taught to be guarded when it came to sex.  Convinced while I might be looking for a companion, the boys/young men around me would just be looking for sex.  This guardedness over time makes it hard to surrender and sometimes I admit that's exactly what I need to do, just surrender to love, my own desires, and the ease of a relationship so good.....grown (and tended) is the only way to describe it.

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