Second Life Online

En nu even iets heel anders. Uiteraard droomt iedereen over betere tijden, terwijl we ernstig lijden onder de geweldige vervelende middelmatigheid van ons dagelijkse leven. Toch? Dit liedje gaat over een meisje dat overdag lijdt, maar ’s avonds een tweede leven leidt: online, waar ze kan zijn wie ze wil zijn op de manier die zij wil.

Het liedje is geïnspireerd door mijn eigen ervaringen op BBS’en en chat boxes en door de opkomst van semi-3D virtual reality platforms. Hier is bijna niemand echt wie hij of zij lijkt te zijn, maar inmiddels is dat eerder regel dan uitzondering, of zelfs de bedoeling.

Muzikaal gezien is dit een uitbijter: veel meer een popsong dan de akoestische americana-achtige nummers eerder op de plaat. We houden echter een akoestisch versie achter de hand voor voorkomende gevallen. Aan het einde voor de oudere nerds onder ons: Peter’s versie van een telefoonmodem! Let ook op de achtergrondvocalken van Peter en Rob.

Luister dit nummer op Spotify of Youtube:

And now for something completely different. Don’t we all dream of a better place to be, while suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous mediocrity in everyday life? This song is about a girl leading a boring and annoying life during the daytime while living it up at night – online. That’s the place she can control, where she can be who she wants to be, the way she wants to be.

The song was inspired by my own experience in online BBSes and chat boxes in the nineties and revived again by the semi-3D virtual reality meeting places started out by Second Life. People you meet in there are almost never who they appear to be, which may be the whole idea after all.

Musically speaking, this is much more of a poppy song, far off from the acoustic Americana-style stuff earlier on. We do have an acoustic version at hand for appropriate circumstances, though. The noise at the end is for the old-school computer geeks amongst us: Peter‘s synth version of a telephone modem! And note Peter & Rob on backing vocals as well.

Back to Square One (Album pagina)

 

Lyrics

Early morning, wake up call
She doesn’t feel like work at all
Being bullied around by a stupid boss
Really drives her up the wall

She often dreams away to another place and time
‘Cause tonight she will be fine
In her second life online (be who she wants to be)
In her second life online (see who she wants to see)
In her second life online (where she’s in charge and she can hold the key)

She takes a shower, looks in the mirror
She don’t like everything she sees
Too little of this
And a little too much of that
It’s not what it’s supposed to be

But tonight online will be a different story
‘Cause tonight she looks just fine
In her second life online (go where she wants to go)
In her second life online (show what she wants to show)
In her second life online (not sharing things you’re not supposed to know)

The men in the bars they are disgusting
There ain’t no reason why she’d trust them
‘Cause the minute she gives them something
It turns out they’re only after one thing

But tonight online will be a different story
‘Cause she’s the one to draw the line
In her second life online (please who she wants to please)
In her second life online (tease who she wants to tease)
In her second life online (what you get is only what you see)

In her second life online (be who she wants to be)
In her second life online (see who she wants to see)
In her second life online (where she’s in charge and she can hold the key)

 

Credits

Music & lyrics by JeeWee Donkers

JeeWee Donkers: vocals, acoustic & electric guitars
Peter Holen: keyboards & vocals
Rob Weenink: bass guitar & vocals
Frank Schuuring: drums