A Double-Decker Romance

My sister has a theory that girls pay a lot more attention to song lyrics than guys do. I'm inclined to agree. After all, I was the guy who claimed "Jumping Jack Flash" as his favorite song for ten years before I even knew what the lyrics to the last verse said. I've also thought on multiple occasions that I'd like to have Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale" played at my funeral, though aside from a generally understood notion that the song is a metaphoric interpretation of a wild party, I have no clue what the song is about. Whatever the reason, guys like me just seem to evaluate songs by sound over meaning.

Anyhoo, last week I caught the new movie "500 Days of Summer" at the legendary Cinedome in Hollywood, and once I got home I downloaded a few selections from it's most excellent soundtrack. Two of the tracks were from The Smiths, a band that in traditional fashion I have embraced about twenty years after their demise. One was "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want," the other, "There is a Light That Never Goes Out," a song I favored for the catchy melody of its chorus.

Then I actually listened to the lyrics of said chorus:

And if a double-decker bus crashes into us,
To die by your side would be a heavenly way to die.
And if a ten-ton truck kills the both of us
To die by your side, well the pleasure-the privilege is mine.

Now I've gone on record as saying that I would prefer to go in dramatic fashion when my time comes, perhaps in such an auto-related event. But the lyrics still made me laugh a little bit for juxtaposing such a dark theme against a whimsical melody.

Maybe I'll start paying better attention to the lyrics from now on...I might be missing out on some classic ironies. And that would really be tragic.