As noted on the album's official description, "Ernest Evans Hussalonia" makes many references to pop music of the 1950s and 1960s, yet sounds very little like that type of music. That certainly holds true, yet I think that "Peggy Sue" might be the track that most reminds me of the music that it references. Musically it is still quite different, but the repeating lyrics in the last half sound like they might have come from the late 50s or early 60s. In fact, if my memory serves me well, a rhyme or two might even be the same as one or two used in the original Buddy Holly song with the same title as this track.
I mentioned in an earlier entry that my personal favorite tracks on this album might be "Chubby Checker," "Limbo Rock" and "What Will Become of Me?" (tracks that also happen to appear in succession). Already I must revise that list, in this case to add "Peggy Sue." A benefit of writing this blog is becoming apparent to me, namely that by forcing me to listen repeatedly to songs I may otherwise not have listened to as often, and to listen to them closely, I am learning to appreciate much that I had been overlooking before. "Peggy Sue" was one of those tracks that I didn't dislike but nonetheless never paid a great deal of attention to before. For whatever reason, it just didn't stick out in my memory. Now, however, having listened to it several times to prepare for this writing, I am enjoying it more and more. I can't help but feel that if writing this blog has no other reward then developing a greater appreciation for some of the Hussalonia songs I didn't take proper notice of before, then I am more than amply rewarded. "Peggy Sue" is an absolutely beautiful song!
I confess that, yet again (get used to this, kids) I'm not really sure what to write about this song. I've given it multiple listenings to prepare and yet each time I hear it I find that it washes over me so quickly, and makes such an emotional impression, that I'm not sure how to properly express my reaction to it. As I continue to acclimate myself to writing this blog, I am faced, with each entry, with the question of exactly how to go about writing something about each song that does it justice, expresses my personal reaction to it, yet doesn't rely too heavily on interpretation and traditional music criticism. After all, my aim here isn't to imitate "Rolling Stone" articles or bland documentary interviews from VH1; it is to give a little bit of exposure to one of my favorite musical cults while maintaining a format closer to that of a personal diary than that of typical journalism. General interpretation may be a part of my personal reactions to the music, and I definitely mean to include the personal interpretations that are a part of my reactions, yet I fear that relying too heavily on interpretation might have too much influence anyone who might actually read this stuff. I would encourage listeners of any music to try and experience music, at least their initial listening, with an open mind, and not get caught up in the interpretation of others. I speak only for myself here, but I feel that music, like most things, ought to be an individual experience, first and last. I want to express my individual reactions here, but I don't want to ruin your own. Besides all of that, I have a long history of misinterpretation when it comes to understanding an artist's/author's intention with his/her works. While I strongly support people forming their own personal reactions to art, I'm not a fan of the whole "Death of the Author" idea either. I'm an author myself, and, like most living things, I don't want to die.
With all of this in mind, I hope you'll forgive me if what I write about "Peggy Sue" is a little vague and brief; the same goes, likely, for a lot of future entries that I will write.
The lyrics that make up the first part of "Peggy Sue" are quite obscure to me. They speak of escape, and also of returning to someone who, in the last part of the song it is revealed, is the title character. I do not really understand the meaning of these lyrics, that is to say, what the intended meaning was. They do bring to mind some personal thoughts and memories for me, however, though this may have nothing to do with what the song is really about. I am reminded of those situations in which one is torn by and between loneliness and the urge to be alone. I can imagine that the eponymous character here, Peggy Sue, is the subject of the affections, and perhaps the simultaneous lack of affection, of one who cannot make up his/her mind about what they want out of life in regard to relationships. The escape, the call for Peggy Sue to look away, and the sense of testing things out all bring to my mind someone trying to figure him or her self out, varying between a commitment to a relationship and an urge to escape from it, or else a commitment to solitude and an urge to escape from it, or, once again, both at once. Not, admittedly, very fair to Peggy Sue, but all's fair in love and war, they say. Are they correct? I have no idea. The repeated rhymes that draw the song to a close imply at first that Peggy Sue doesn't really understand what is going on in the narrator's mind, and what they are going through emotionally, and, at the end, it implies that the narrator has decided to choose the relationship over the solitude. I can't say I relate to the conclusion in this scenario, but the situation is one that is quite familiar to me. It brings to mind the idea of falling in love with the idea of someone rather than the actual person; appropriately, there is another Hussalonia song with the title of "I Love the Idea" of you. Again, this is something I'm quite familiar with, a subject I've given much thought to over the years. The song doesn't really describe a setting, but the combination of music and lyrics, and the way that I interpret them, give me a rush of memories and imaginings of days spent at the beach and a series of ambiguous telephone conversations, swirling around with sunlight, a dream that wasn't mine, and seemingly endless uncertainty, hopes and disappointments.
Again, I can't emphasize enough that I don't really know what the real intended meaning of this song is, and that what I've written here is really a personal (in fact, quite personal indeed) interpretation. Whether you share my interpretation or not and whether my or your interpretations reflect the real, intended meaning or not, I can say one thing very much in earnest: this is an absolutely beautiful song, beautifully recorded. In other words, this is classic Hussalonia. The vocal is breathtaking, and instrumentation is lovely, and the rhyming section is quite catchy, something that is in keeping with the tradition of the 50s and 60s pop music that this album makes so much reference to. If, like me, you heard this song only to find yourself not paying it close attention and moving on to other tracks that you initially find more memorable, I urge you to give this one another listen. I passed it over too quickly on my initial listening, and I'm glad that, in writing this blog, I rediscovered it and was able to appreciate it. If nobody else gets anything out of this blog, at least I got something out of it!
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