I Want You Back.....

I am in the mood to write today......

I want to write about one of my all time favorite songs ever, "Airplanes", by a band called Local Natives. There are so many songs out there about make up and break ups. And way too many songs about casual hook ups and other junk. I love when I find a song about something different, especially when it is about something special like family. Here are a part of the lyrics from my favorite song...

The desk where you sit inside of a
frame made of wood
I keep those chopsticks you had from when
you taught abroad in Japan

I love it all so much
I call
I want you back

I did not know you as well
as my father knew you
every question you took the
time to sit and look it up in the
encyclopedia

I love it all so much
I call I want you back

It sounds like we
would of had a great deal to say
to each other
I bet when I leave
my body for the sky the wait will
be worth it

I will admit that when I first heard this song a few years ago that I did not pay much attention to the lyrics. I loved the chorus and would kind of shoot the line "I want you back" along with the song. I honestly thought it was a break up song. I was not paying attention to all the words. Then one day it really hit me what the song was about.....It was about them wanting an ancestor back. They longed for a relative that passed away, I imagine a grandfather or grandmother. The song is about one of my favorite subjects ever...Family History! This making it the best song ever!

This immediately made me think of my grandfather, Charles Alfred Gideon, a man I never met. My grandfather died when my father was only 18. I have always loved hearing stories from my father about my grandfather. He went by the name Charlie. He was a painter. My father called him a constant source of embarrassment. I heard he had a wild sense of humor, which helps me understand where my fathers awesome sense of humor comes from. If my father ever brought home a bucket of chicken for dinner he would call out "got some chicken. wanna neck?" He said it was what his father would say every time he brought chicken home. I have always wanted to meet him. I heard he was a little crazy, which I can relate to, I am really crazy! I know he had an ancestor that he longed for that he never met. He was named after an Uncle Alfred. Uncle Alfred was a track runner and died in college from appendicitis. I have seen letters and documents that my Grandpa Charlie wrote where he talked about how much he wished he met his Uncle Alfred and how he wondered what he was like. He wanted him back as I long for my Grandpa Charlie back. And There is one line in the song that I could change to fit my story. My grandfather never taught abroad in Japan, and I don't have any chopsticks from him. But I do have his copy of the Book of Mormon from when he took the missionary discussions and was baptized. He wrote a lot of questions and comments in the margins of the book. I love reading his thoughts and seeing his handwriting. I know we would have had a great deal to say to each other. I can't wait until I leave this body for the sky and get to meet him. It is strange a person can feel so close to someone that they have never met.

I was lucky enough to go see Local Natives play live in October 2010. I cried a little as they played "Airplanes." So grateful for a song like this that makes me think about something so important! and is so thought provoking. Is there any ancestor in your life that you want back?

Here is the song. I love both versions of this...one live original version of the song and the other is an awesome acoustic version. Could not decide which to post so I am posting both. I love the song that much!

Acoustic Version