And now, the top Gwen Stefani Related Moment of My Life. This is gonna have to be short because I have to leave to drive lightyears away to Irvine to get to her concert on time.
"Simple Kind of Life" is probably my favorite No Doubt song, my favorite Gwen song, and in my Top 5 favorite, most personally heartwarming/breaking songs of all time. (Also on that list: Grand Theft Autumn by Fall Out Boy (of whom I am seeing tomorrow in concert [but that's another post]), I'll Fly with You by Gigi D'Agostino, The Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel and a wild card song).
This is the first song Gwen ever composed completely on her own. It's one of the most honest songs I've ever heard - at points it doesn't even care if it rhymes anymore:
I always thought I'd be a mom
Sometimes I wish for a mistake
The longer that I wait the more selfish that I get
You seem like you'd be a good dad
That entire verse isn't even concerned with being included in a song - it's just honesty that I doubt could ever have been written by a man. It's exclusively the female perspective, and it's not often that you hear that on the radio. (Mad props to Alanis and Tori Amos, while we're at it.)
I fell in love with this song while I was falling in love with one of my high school friends. We were close enough to know one another well and hang out occassionally, but not close enough to hang out that often (he was in college for most of my time spent in high school), and his absence throughout most of my days made me pine for him more, and cherish our coffee dates and movie nights. He inspired my first mature thoughts of adoration and love - the first person I ever thought I could marry, not just go to a dance with. I remember walking throughout Williams-Sonoma with my mom when I was 16, and looking at the couches and silverware and other adult-home necessities that I generally yawned over, but this time, I couldn't wait until I was old enough to have a home and come here to decorate it. With him, more specifically. Children, home, family, the works, and that was nothing something I thought I wanted.
But could I ever really have that? The life I chose for myself when I was sixteen - eventually attending film school, on my way to fame and fortune and Hollywood - didn't seem to encourage families or anything "simple". But if anything, the family part with love and committed relationships (and suburbia and humility and co-dependence) is what's complicated. Those things are anything but simple to get.
Did I mention I love her pink hair? And that I was so inspired by Gwen's dye job that I decided to try it myself?
Okay, so I didn't have the balls (or enough dye) to color my whole head pink. And yeah, Gwen did it first. But dying your hair punk colors is the sincerest form of flattery.
Again.
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