Interesting and sophisticated
refusing to be celebrated
it’s a monumental big screen kiss
it’s so deep it’s meaningless
One day you’ll just up and quit
and that’ll be it
just then the stripper stopped in a coughing fit
she said sorry i can’t go on with this
Yeah that’s awful close
but that’s not why
I’m so hard done by
It was true cinema à clef
you should see it before there’s nothing left
in an epic too small to be tragic
you’ll have to wait a minute
‘cause it’s an instamatic
Yeah that’s awful close
but that’s not why
I’m so hard done by
Just then the room became more dimly lit
as the emcee carried on with it
and now that i got you all strangely compelled
I’m afraid that Candy’s not feeling well
Close, but that’s not why
i’m so hard done by
I’d like to thank the Tragically Hip for saying with So Hard Done By something that I am still unable to articulate in my own words.
I hear time and again from people how this band or that song helped them through hard times when they were younger. Being a trained musician as a teenager, and worse, a hardcore music snob, I was unable to lean emotionally on music when I was having trouble.
Now, though, I am seeing deep meaning in songs of my past. I am sure many people have found deeper meaning in these songs, but for me, it’s something of a revelation. Kind of like a gifted mechanic suddenly discovering that a particular shade of green on an otherwise unremarkable car has had a profound emotional effect on him.
It’s awful close, anyway.