14. Feist – 1234
July 25, 2008
It can be just the music. How the vibe is filled with glee. How the handclaps punctuate the infectious groove or how the wind instruments lilt.
It may as well be because of the lyrics. How the words hint on nostalgia - All teenage hopes, blah blah, blah. Money can’t buy you back the love that you had then (uhm, I guess). The nursery-rhymey attempt.
It can also be in the way Leslie sings. The fragility in the phrasing. The imminent possibility that she will falter in singing the high notes.
It can also be because of the video. How minimalist it is (One long take, astig!) and still be unexpected. How the dominant colors are metallic yet soft to the eyes. It may also be because of the naturalness of the choreography. Performing the extraordinary feat of dancing like one doesn’t know how.
I can come up with more things to say about Feist’s 1234, but I guess, this song means more to me now because our kids sing along when this plays in the car or on the iPod Dock in the apartment.
Having our kids sing-along means (at least, to me) that they appreciate the kind of music we listen to. Nacho and Asha will only have to start singing “Oh, wo-oh!” in harmony and I’m already deluged with emotions. I can’t wait till Yumi starts talking, singing.
I cannot emphasize more the interconnectivity: our kids, lines about being young and carefree and expected to make mistakes, the dancing-like-no-one-is-watching passion, the first four numbers!
I can go on and on but before that, here’s the video again:
