She Acts Like You

[elle]

i've been looking through threads and even though we have a separate one fror Brother and Sister and Sick Of You, there's no thread for SALU.

(if there is please consolidate, but search gives me nothing)

this is my favorite song of the 3. yes it's simple, in both melody and words. but it's pretty. natural voice, sounds so Lindsey.

what adds to it for me is that although song is apparently describing a daughter in the movie, but you can easily hear that LB used some personal experience, however simple the lyrics are. probably observations that all of us as parents make looking at our kids. some regular life insight. just love that!

[michelej1]

I can't really get into the words, because I don't know what "all dressed in blue" has to do with personality type. I don't know what he means about the person, disinterested, above it all. It's hard for me to grasp what he's describing. Perhaps the movie would give me insight.

But when he does the twist and says he wants to open up things for her when "she acts like me" I did think of his comments about Stella.

As for the playing, I think it's less detailed than his work on Sick of You and Brother and Sister. I don't dislike it, but I don't notice it.

Michele

[elle]

Originally Posted by michelej1

I can't really get into the words, because I don't know what "all dressed in blue" has to do with personality type. I don't know what he means about the person, disinterested, above it all. It's hard for me to grasp what he's describing. Perhaps the movie would give me insight.

i'm thinking of something like saying "whatever" to anything that he has to say or may want from her

i agree that "all dressed up in blue" seems to be more about the simple rhyme then something deep, but somehow it just fits into the picture of a little girl all made up / dressed up in what she considers the latest and greatest. (i'm judging by my daughter who likes to dress up and make up clothes combinations that nobody else would come up with - definitely expresses her personality!)

Originally Posted by michelej1

But when he does the twist and says he wants to open up things for her when "she acts like me" I did think of his comments about Stella.

yeah... he's egocentric - wants to see himself in his daughters and then it's all better and he would give them anything

Originally Posted by michelej1

As for the playing, I think it's less detailed than his work on Sick of You and Brother and Sister. I don't dislike it, but I don't notice it.

i agree with that. but still like the simple clean melody in SALU.

guitar playing and arrangements i like better in the other 2 and Always Judging. and then there's that mandolin in most of those songs that makes them sound so Mediterranean (and being from the region originally, that's something i grew up with, it was in the background all the time, so it's a bit weird to hear on LB's songs).

he doesn't play the mandolin btw, someone else is listed in liner notes... i have to get the CD out of my car and transcribe those one of these days when i have a bit more time.

[michelej1]

People blasted the Dixie Chicks version of Landslide, but the mandolin they used on that song did stand out to me.

I didn't think it was at all bad and if they ever did a cross over like Lindsey did with LBT, I could see having both him play during Landslide and a mandolin.

Of course, when Lindsey showed up for the Behind the Mask tour in 1990, he played guitar on the song while Christine played piano and it was one of those moments I never thought I would see again. It meant the world.

As for SATU's all dressed in blue, it reminded me of Stella also because of that magazine article where it said she was dressed in holiday clothes (it wasn't the holidays) and was bossing the family dogs around. You just knew that she had run up and dressed herself. So, that song made me think of Lindsey and his daughter and maybe other women in his life -- who like to dress up and who see their exterior adornments as personal statements and extensions of who they are or who they want to project.

Michele

[Lindsfan]

Originally Posted by elle

this is my favorite song of the 3. yes it's simple, in both melody and words. but it's pretty. natural voice, sounds so Lindsey.

what adds to it for me is that although song is apparently describing a daughter in the movie, but you can easily hear that LB used some personal experience, however simple the lyrics are. probably observations that all of us as parents make looking at our kids. some regular life insight. just love that!

I like all three songs equally, but agree with your reasons for this one. I really love it.

As a parent, this song just jumped right out at me. The disinterested line screams teenager to me! And assuming the parents are having relationship issues in the movie, the dressed up in blue line could be referring to sadness. Dressed up in it meaning when looking at his daughter he sees mainly, or even overwhelming sadness. Which would make sense if her parents were having problems.

Elle, your interpretation makes a lot of sense too, though, to me. With Lindsey, it could go either way.

But the main thing is after many years of marriage, and having kids, I completely relate to those moments that most of us have I think, when we hope our kids don't take on the less desirable traits of our spouse (usually when we're not getting along with said spouse ). Especially the ones that might be emotional nightmares for them when they grow up. When you see those things creep in once in a while, it makes you stop and think ...and worry a little. Which then gets you thinking about your own traits (good and, especially bad) that they're inevitably picking up as well. And praying that our own issues aren't what is causing those disinterested and sad vibes we get sometimes with our kids.

Obviously, parents can overthink things sometimes

[michelej1]

The blue harkens to the light flashing lines Lindsey has used, blue and white.

Michele

[sodascouts]

I haven't seen the movie so I immediately thought of it as a love relationship - Lindsey's done the "she/you" bit before in NGBA and "Go Insane," for instance.

This is definitely my favorite of the three (I don't count "Always Judging" because there's not that much LB there). It's the most melodic and enjoyable, IMHO. Brother and Sister gets boring and Sick of You is so simplistic it almost sounds like a toss-off. "You need a song? Give me a couple hours." By contrast, "She Acts Like You" comes across as more thoughtful and seems to carry real emotion.

It's not perfect - I don't like that held note at the end - but out of all the three, it's my favorite by far.