Three Obsessions

I have OCD. Doctor says so.  It doesn’t manifest itself in a “must turn lights off 15 times” kind-of-way. Nope, I just get words, phrases or certain scenes stuck in my head. And I think about them over and over again.

It’s not like I consider every aspect of these things, plumbing them for all the hidden meaning and depths, oh no. That would be  almost sensible.I just think about them, repeat them and they go round and round my head like a screen saver (flying toasters anyone?). Einstein spent his spare time mulling over the speed of light and relativity, Bob Dylan runs over old songs in his head until a new one forms, zen masters consider koans. Me?  I  think about these three things (amongst others):

The Cosby Show – We’re Still Soup

From 4 minutes on.

This. This. This – I think about it every time I have soup. And also times when I’m not having soup. Theo Huxtable, Bill Cosby’s on show son, is at a corporate meeting and he tells the people that make soup that their slogan “We’re not just soup” is terrible as people love soup, it’s “hearty and honest”, they should stick to their core business and have the motto “We’re still soup” instead. That’s it.

Have I seen the episode a lot of times? Nope. Am I a big Cosby Show* fan? Nope – this is the only episode I even remember watching. So what is it about Theo Huxtable’s speech about “We’re not just soup” that sticks with me. I have no idea. It’s not really deep or profound. It tells me nothing much apart from what the show’s (and presumably Bill Cosby’s) world view is.

If I had to make a slight guess, I may have been impressed by the “honesty” and insight of the character when I was 7. And that was enough. Enough to make me think about it weekly for the past 20 years.

*isn’t it strange that it’s called the Cosby show even though Bill Cosby is called Dr Huxtable in it?

Tom Jones – If I Only Knew

Again another thing that goes through my head far to often. Obsession with Tom Jones? Nup. Love of the song? No siree, Bob.  Now for this one, I can almost put a finger on why this song comes into my head so often…

This was Tom’s modern comeback record, making number 11 in the charts. I remember being slightly intrigued by Tom Jones before by an advert for British Gas (maybe?) where a wife tells a husband not to worry and put his feet up and listen to Tom Jones – It’s Not Unusual, I think it was.

“Who is Tom Jones?” My young mind wondered. And here he was. Back. Back. Back!

Then the song disappeared (but stayed in my head).

And then he did the Reloaded album that was massive and was really his “comeback” album and it had the Talking Heads cover on it with Kelly Jones from the Stereophonics. I some times think about that too. But it mainly supports/has supported my thinking about this song.

Madness – Lovestruck

Maybe it’s a comeback thing? This was Madness’s comeback single in 1999. Definitely (defiantly?) Not Their Best Song. I think that was important for it sticking in my head. Not as an earworm but more as a concept. The lyric “I’ve fallen for a lampost” gave me something to make me think about it – yes, whenever I consider (e.g. look at) a lamppost I’ll start thinking of this song. And the final thing? The terrible pun of “Love’s Truck” that appears in the video.

This was all it took for me to think of this often.

Until I put this on now I’d only ever heard it once. It’s kind of Beatlesy.

John, November 11