This song pops into my life every few years, often for quite ridiculous reasons, usually at the most dramatic moments, and it has now been over thirty years since it was first released. Each time I hear it, I remember how darn good a tune it is, and I find something completely new in its deceptively simple meaning.
I don't believe that anything is ever truly random, so the Universe might just be telling me something. No, not that today will finally be that day when everything falls into place, but rather that a good life isn't something that can ever "happen" to me—it must be something I make for myself, however meager the materials at hand.
Much like "How Soon is Now?" by The Smiths, the ultimate lesson is about rising above the circumstances to find joy in what is, to discover meaning and purpose in the giving over the receiving. Yes, the situation may well feel like crap, and yet the burden is all in my attitude.
It doesn't get better—I have the option of becoming better.
Much like "Every Breath You Take" by The Police, I wonder if people are missing the point. It's a song about an obsessed man, perhaps even a stalker, not a romantic song to be played for the first dance at a wedding reception. You need to listen to the verses, not just hum along to the catchy chorus.
The vocals are rather generically '80's, though the instrumentation is genius. I have heard dozens of newer "indie" bands try to mimic this sound, and none of them can even come close.
If I'm still around in a decade, ask me again what it means. I might give you a totally different answer.
—8/2016
The The, "This Is the Day", from Soul Mining (1983)
Well, you didn't wake up this morning
'Cause you didn't go to bed
You were watching the whites of your eyes turn red
The calendar on your wall
Is ticking the days off
You've been reading some old letters
You smile and think how much you've changed
All the money in the world
Couldn't buy back those days
You pull back the curtains
And the sun burns into your eyes
You watch a plane flying
Across a clear blue sky
This is the day
Your life will surely change
This is the day
When things fall into place
You could've done anything if you'd wanted
And all your friends and family think that you're lucky
But the side of you they'll never see
Is when you're left alone with the memories
That hold your life together like glue
You pull back the curtains
And the sun burns into your eyes
You watch a plane flying
'Cause you didn't go to bed
You were watching the whites of your eyes turn red
The calendar on your wall
Is ticking the days off
You've been reading some old letters
You smile and think how much you've changed
All the money in the world
Couldn't buy back those days
You pull back the curtains
And the sun burns into your eyes
You watch a plane flying
Across a clear blue sky
This is the day
Your life will surely change
This is the day
When things fall into place
You could've done anything if you'd wanted
And all your friends and family think that you're lucky
But the side of you they'll never see
Is when you're left alone with the memories
That hold your life together like glue
You pull back the curtains
And the sun burns into your eyes
You watch a plane flying
Across a clear blue sky
This is the day
Your life will surely change
This is the day
When things fall into place
This is the day
Your life will surely change
This is the day
When things fall into place
This is the day
Your life will surely change . . .
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