fated to pretend

I have to be honest. Sometimes I wake up from dreaming I was the third member of Uh Huh Her. Camilla Grey on vocals, Leisha Hailey on Bass and K on drums. Whew. Those are the days I wake up with a smile on my face and act crazy-happy all day long.

I am so sure I can make a killer drums on Say So, having practiced air-drums to that song more than 100 times. The band was supposed to be a trio anyway and who but me is more perfect to make it back to what it was originally? (What? No hands??, Ok so I get the point).

 
So then, why aren’t we born rockstars?

 
Thinking about that I am convinced we should have been rockstars. All it takes to be one is the appreciation of music, the passion to make music, and the true-blue persistency share the sound no matter what. Play on, put it out and rock the world so to speak. When people ask me what makes me happy, I answer them in a straightforward manner, “I put on a record I like and listen”. It’s that simple. That always gets me in the mood. That makes me feel alive. No matter how many times I’ve listen to it, the records I choose still gets me going. Those are essentially true for the songs of the moment. I never start a day without listening to my playlist.

 
Now in my list are the Uh Huh Her EPs and one singular song that is probably my favorite rock song of the moment, “MGMT’s – Time to Pretend” from the album Ocular Spectacular.

 
I came across this song through Adriana’s video for the April 2008 GQ cover. The guys at GQ did a fantastic job capturing Adriana (OMG, wearing a leaf), and did this fantastic mind-numbing montage of her on the beach with this song. If you watch it a few times, this song will stick to you. It’s the type of song evoking that never-ending recall reflex, to say the least. At the end of the day, all you have are images of Adriana and compulsively you find yourself just singing “yeah, yeah, yeah”. Perhaps because it uses synthesized nature sounds at the beginning, it feels a lot like electric rock has come home.

 

And by the way they used this song at again at the 21 movie soundtrack. Yes, it’s the movie about blackjack and the clever students who made money out of the math. Still doesn’t ring a bell? Hmmm, it’s the movie we complainingly thought was a not-so-nice movie but still saw anyway just to catch Kate Bosworth, and nodded our heads unendingly when we were disappointingly right. The movie opened with that song. And I must say, they tricked us into thinking it was going to be a nice film, using that fantastic song at the intro.

 

In any case, because of that movie, that song is stuck in my head again, and it is the only song that gets to get in queue with rocker chick songs of my usual playlist.  It’s actually a song about rockstars and their fated lives. And I must admit that it’s fairly superficial but the tune is tight and catchy.
 

In my mind, we are all born to be rockstars. It’s just that maybe most of us ignore that call early on. At least in my dreams, sometimes it becomes true. Or I’m fated to pretend.

 

MGMT- Time To Pretend Lyrics

 

I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw, I'm in the prime of my life.
Let's make some music, make some money, find some models for wives.
I'll move to Paris, shoot some heroin, and f**k with the stars.
You man the island and the cocaine and the elegant cars.

This is our decision, to live fast and die young.
We've got the vision, now let's have some fun.
Yeah, it's overwhelming, but what else can we do?

Get jobs in offices, and wake up for the morning commute?

Forget about our mothers and our friends
We're fated to pretend
To pretend
We're fated to pretend
To pretend

I'll miss the playgrounds and the animals and digging up worms
I'll miss the comfort of my mother and the weight of the world
I'll miss my sister, miss my father, miss my dog and my home
Yeah, I'll miss the boredom and the freedom and the time spent alone.

There's really nothing, nothing we can do
Love must be forgotten, life can always start up anew.
The models will have children, we'll get a divorce
We'll find some more models, everything must run its course.

We'll choke on our vomit and that will be the end
We were fated to pretend
To pretend
We're fated to pretend
To pretend

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah