hey ya

i've heard outkast's hey ya song plenty of times. it's catchy and upbeat, and i've really enjoyed it since it came out. made me happy.

but i really loved the song when obadiah parker did a cover of it. you can see him singing it and fantastically integrated with the original hey ya music video here.

i was walking my dog today and listening on this version on my ipod. and for the first time, in the maybe 70-90 times i've heard this song, i really listened to the lyrics. this isn't just some hip hop (is outkast hip hop?) song that goes "what's cooler than being cool? ice cold! i wanna see ya'll on your baddest behavior!" the first few lyrics really surprised me.

my baby don't mess around because she loves me so and this i know for sure
but does she really wanna but can't stand to see me walk out the door?
i can't stand to fight the feeling cause the thought alone is killing me right now
thank god for mom and dad for sticking two together cause we don't know how

hey ya...

you think you got it but got it just don't get it till there's nothing at all
we get together but separates always better when there's feelings involved
if what they say is "nothing is forever" then what makes love the exception?
so why are we so in denial when we know we're not happy here

and then the rest of the song is just dance off, pants off. well, not pants off, but you know, shake it like a polaroid picture. (which you're not really supposed to shake, btw, if you when them to develop properly).

anyway, it's just that i've heard this song so many times and never listened to the lyrics. this once happy song actually made me feel so sad when i really heard what the lyrics were saying. guess sad songs and waltzes don't have to always come in the form you'd expect.