Seen It, Done That, Been There (Thoughts on Getting Older)

It's interesting how age adds wisdom but also boredom. We all know the formula for a good romantic comedy.

1) Boy meets girl.
2) Boy gets girl.
3) Boy loses girl.
4) Boy gets girl back again.

(Yes, I know it sounds very one-sided, but that's the formula, folks!).

So how many romantic comedies can you see before they start to seem like movies you've seen before? How many TV situation comedies can I see before I start to recognize plots from I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners?

More and more, I love originality but it's harder and harder to find because there are only so many ways that people relate to each other and even fewer ways to write about them in ways that are unique. So...horror movies seem less horrifying, comedies are less comedic, and so on. When I happen upon something new and different, wow, I love it!

The same thing happens with music. I have lost count of the number of times that my kids heard a song on the radio played by a modern band and commented what a great new song it was. Except...the song is older and has already been covered by other bands. Tonight my son and I saw Smash Mouth in concert. Remember them from 10 years ago? More on them in my next blog entry. Of course they have many of their own songs but one of the most popular on the night, very well played and sung, was I'm a Believer. It was written by Neil Diamond. Since 1966, these are the bands and singers that have recorded the song, starting with The Monkees:

• 1966 The Monkees single, also on the 1967 album More of The Monkees
• 1967 The Fifth Estate (band) on the album "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead."
• 1967 The Four Tops on the album Reach Out
• 1967 The Ventures on the 1967 album Guitar Freakout
• 1967 Neil Diamond on the album Just for You
• 1974 Robert Wyatt single, also on the 2004 album His Greatest Misses
• 1979 Bram Tchaikovsky on the album Strange Man, Changed Man
• 1979 Neil Diamond on the album September Morn (with new lyrics)
• 1979 Tin Huey on the album Contents Dislodged During Shipping
• 1982 A La Carte on the album Rockin' Oldies
• 1990 Lulu Santos on the album Honululu (with Portuguese lyrics)
• 1995 Vic and Bob with EMF, non-album track (#3 UK Singles Chart)
• 1996 Neil Diamond on the album In My Lifetime
• 2001 Smash Mouth on the Shrek Soundtrack
• 2001 Eddie Murphy on the Shrek Soundtrack
• 2005 Daniel O'Donnell on his Rock n' Roll Tour

Does this make it a good song? YES! It has been very popular for 42 years and counting. It has not been unique since The Monkees first sang it, but it's still very good! Of course, it's a 4-minute song and we all know how we can listen to the same song over and over, but if it's a novel or movie it's disappointing when we recognize the plot because of the time it takes to digest the novel and even the movie. We've all heard and probably uttered the phrase, "There go two hours of my life I won't get back!"