Torture is the wrong word for the situation, but it keeps coming to mind even though I doubt that the folks who wrote Article 17 of the Geneva Convention envisioned someone playing the same song on loop when they decided to outlaw torture against prisoners of war. Yes, I know. I’m not a prisoner of war, I’m just a lowly graduate student. However, if you had to hear Sean Paul’s “I’m Still in Love With You” at least three times every evening for the last two weeks, you’d be tempted to call it torture too.
My roommate, Adja, is not a bad person. In fact, Isa and I loved her when she first moved in. Not only did she pay rent on time, she also brought home pasta dinners from the Italian restaurant where she worked. However, we never asked her about her music taste when we interviewed her, if she played the music loud and if she ever got in a mood in which she played the same song over and over. Adja is still cool, she just doesn’t realize that the other inhabitants of apartment 3 don’t care much for Sean Paul.
On Friday evening, I put on my dancing shoes (slip-on black Rocket Dogs) and headed over to the Temple Bar for the Maneja Beto show. As soon as I entered the familiar Santa Monica lounge, I headed over to the bar and bought my usual bar/club drink, an amaretto sour. I then entered the room with the stage and took a seat at an empty table lining the west wall. I was alone, but it didn’t feel weird. I just sipped my drink and patiently waited for the band members to come out.
Everything felt fine until the resident DJ played a version of “I’m Still in Love With You” by someone else besides Sean Paul. It was less annoying, but I still felt like banging my head against the table, screaming and kicking someone. Yes, all at the same time.
The irony hit me.
Even when I tried to go out to enjoy music I like, I was still forced to listen to those lyrics. Maybe someone — my roommate, the DJ — wasn’t trying (albeit without knowing) to annoy me. Perhaps it was all just a grand effort by some higher power to make sure the words in the bouncy hook stay seared in my consciousness. Honestly, no one needs to try. Those words are stuck in my mind, and it has nothing to do with Sean Paul.
And I thought I was the only one who wretched at the sound of “Dutty dutty love.” Even if we could get a ban on this song under the Geneva Convention, you could still be extradited to Egypt and made to listen to it there.
Repeated Sean Paul listens are like syphilis, they never get better.
Jajaja…..We’d like to make dedication to loteria chicana “I’m still in love with you” by Sean Paul from all of us here in the blogging world.
I know what you mean, back in the day my tia used to get on all our nerves by playing “Purple Rain” by Prince over and over and over again. That was unitl her record came up missing. Hmmmmm, I wonder where my tio buried it.
I’m one of those who plays music loud and gets in the mood of listening to the same song over and over, sometimes over the course of a few days. And my feet starting hitting the floor in sync with the music.
I feel sorry for my future college roommates. I don’t think they’ll appreciate me playing Mexican music (specifically, Chalino Sánchez, Banda El Recodo, Vicente Fernández, and Antonio Aguilar) when I’m writing essays. It’s the only way I can.
Since I haven’t listened to any modern music since the heyday of G-Funk…does anyone know if Sean Paul’s song a cover of Alton Ellis’ “I’m Still in Love With You”?
But how as the Maneja Beto show?
i’m so sad that i missed maneja beto in l.a.! i’ve still never heard them play–only individual band members either alone or in other groups whenever i go to austin. unfortunately, they formed after i moved away from tejas. and my friend just made a tank top of their logo. it must be maneja beto week! did you enjoy the show?