Yeah yeah...the title got me straight away.
What girl, regardless of age, doesn't want songs written for/about her by some groovy guy?
Writing, the creative process in whichever form, is a response to life.
An experience, emotion, sensation, conversation, image, person, moment, a witness.
It requires thought, sensitivity, honesty, patience, a certain way of looking at and seeing things...
And then, courage because all creative expression makes us vulnerable.
What is in a song?
layers of music and words telling a story,
a different kind of snapshot,
that brings people together in sounds, vibrations, movement, dance.
That is a special energy,
so if someone felt so inspired as to create a piece of that around you it would (hopefully) be a huge compliment no matter how clichéd or corny.
Surely that means that someone has seen something more than an exterior or appearance. They have taken time to look harder and deeper to know who you are.
So I like this book for it's simple descriptions,
it's monologues marking moments of unspoken treasures.
All the things left unsaid.
We say what we shouldn't and don't say what we should.
I like the insight into how the characters think and feel about life and each other.
Life is amazing at any age but from 18 onwards new experiences are huge. Work, study, music, responsibility, reality, freedom, first love, travel, hopes and dreams...WOW, totally wonderful and overwhelming!
Mandy and Tim are young, lost and fragile.
Music brings them together, binds them, they express themselves through it with their band crushes, mix tapes, love of vinyl and for Tim his lyrics.
There is an ageless maturity in some of his thinking that is quite touching, mixed with humour and a little poetry. I like pensive minds perhaps that's why it appeals to me or the creative process, but it also takes me back.
"You can say so much without words. I guess I didn't mind before when Mandy didn't talk much because you can tell more about people during the silences. I know so many people who talk a lot and talk such a lot of shit that it's nice to have someone who doesn't say that much, but says things that are worth listening to when they do speak." - Tim
"...In those couple of seconds I try to commit every inch of the swell of her breasts to memory, every detail from the curve of her collarbone to the edge of the black lace bra under her shirt. I try to take a mental photograph of that tantalising inch between her skirt and her stockings when she walks, those acres of legs in black nylon. I'm forgetting how to breathe." - Tim
"One person, one moment, can change things forever. Perhaps I've always known this. After all, it only takes the three chords and the two and a half minutes of a great pop song to break your heart or make you feel invincible." - Mandy
Lots of cute awkwardness to love.
