#62 - "Another Night" by Real McCoy

 "Another Night" — Real McCoy

I find myself getting pretty meta the further along I go in this project. At this point, I end up speaking on at least three levels. First, there's the song itself.. when I listened to it, and how it was an important part of my life. Second, I'm also speaking from the time in which I inducted the song into the hall of fame, because sometimes that's important too. There's a third level, but I can't remember what it is.. even though that was the whole reason I brought this up to begin with. Maybe I'll remember as I go. Anyway, this does get a bit complicated, writing this journal on so many different levels.

This song, "Another Night" by Real McCoy, is from my junior high/high school era.. I'll have to look up exactly when that was. It was really when I discovered a great love for dance music with a fast beat and a lot of synthesizers. I listened to La Bouche's "Be My Lover" around the same time, I'm pretty sure. There's something special about that particular type of music.. I just love 90s dance music.

Now, again, I didn't have a very exciting life in those years, and I do think it's a hole in my heart that I'll carry with me when I die (though I won't have to worry about it anymore once I'm with Jesus). But I still carry the wounds of not finding my place, and not feeling like I had a spot to fit into. To be honest, all I really remember specifically about this song is lying in my bed, listening to it... and to La Bouche... and dreaming. Just dreaming about having a better life, dreaming about fitting in, dreaming about having a girlfriend. So listening to that song certainly takes me back to those emotions and feelings, although they've dulled a little bit over time.

Let's talk a little about the song itself. The repetitious nature of a dance song is something I love. I'm in a faith community with a lot of traditional people who listen to older hymns and songs, and I'm surrounded by people who don't always love repetitious songs and choruses, and I just can't relate. I don't know what it is about repetition that I appreciate.. maybe it's just that it's comforting to me. I don't know. But that's a key aspect of this song. The refrain is beautifully sung, and it just gives me this feeling of whimsy and possibility and hope and love.. all the things I wished I had, as a young man who just laid in his room a lot.

Well, let me get back to that meta stuff again, because as I'm writing these entries, I'm getting incredibly nostalgic. And I think there's some healing taking place even as I write this. I've thought about all these feelings over the years as I've processed it, but writing this is helping me maybe come to some peace about it.

About my childhood... I'll say it again... I had wonderful, loving parents, a normal relationship with a sibling, and some great teachers. But I was just a freaking awkward kid.