Camera Obscura, Swans (2009)

The song is here.

(The video is just the album cover, so no point in putting it on here.)

It is absolutely triple-A rated ear candy.

I was having dinner at Noodles & Company (which is a pretty good chain) on Michigan Ave. a while ago and I heard over the noise this incredibly sweet pop song, with a girl singer, exactly my kind of thing, but I could not discern enough to track it down in the few seconds I heard out of it. I was downcast by this, figuring it was lost forever into the void. But then I went back there a few weeks later and was elated to hear it again. It was as delightful as I remembered it being. This time I was able to capture a few scraps of lyrics, and I was able to — get this — whistle the melody into my phone, so I wouldn’t forget it. I thought it might have been Camera Obscura, but I wasn’t sure, and my first efforts to identify it did not work out. When I got home I related this all to my son, who is by now well acquainted with my musical obsessions, and who has mad Internet noodling skilz. He quickly found it. So, a happy ending.

(I previously had another song by Camera Obscura on here called French Navy.)

Lyrics below the fold

There are flowers in my house
And I bought them myself
No surprises in the record collection
You must have thought I was someone else

I’m still afraid to get lost
In a city I might explore
But I’m not afraid to have
An eloquent boy at my door

at my door
at my door
at my door

Oh you want to be a writer
Fantastic idea
You say you’ve never seen America
I really think you’d like it there

Maybe you should travel with me
Is this the best idea
Because you’ve never seen a red wood
and you’ve never touched a deer

a deer
a deer
dear

a deer
a deer
my dear

Are swans deceiving us all
Oh I for one should know
I never felt myself so graceful
And I never swam so slow

so slow
so slow
so slow…