I Heard Your Song Before My Heart Had Time To Hush It

Many daydreams of mine have revolved around the meeting of a pretty girl in a record store. We'd bond over our mutual likes, I'd suggest something that would prove both my musical knowledge and my sensitive side. She would giggle at my amusing recollections of misheard lyrics. It would be the beginning of something very beautiful.

Last night I was in New York's premier music snob's record store, Other Music. As I flicked through the racks of new releases and indie classics, I spotted a pretty young girl doing likewise further down the aisle. I could see out of the corner of my eye as she kept picking up Joanna Newsom's astonishingly beautiful new album "Ys", looking intensely at the packaging, and putting it down again. She would then wander around the store, looking at other albums, only to return and pick up "Ys" and put it back down again. As she persisted with this process in my head I was urging her "Buy it. Do it. Do it". When she placed it down for the final time and began to walk away I turned, gathered up all my courage, and said in my sweetest tone "You really should buy that". She laughed and explained that she came to the store with every intention of buying the album, but once she was in the store she just couldn't seem to make the decision. Knowing very well the feeling of indecisiveness I was able to fully empathise with her and felt we had an instant connection. She asked whether I had the album and I replied in the affirmative, explaining that although it was quite a difficult album to initially grasp due to the length of the songs and the wordy nature of the lyrics, ultimately the album would prove extremely rewarding. I'd hoped that this explanation would not only provide her with the information necessary to convince her to purchase the album, but also give her a good exposure to my accent in the hope that it may broaden the scope of the conversation. Whilst the first goal was achieved successfully, the second was, unfortunately, not. She merely thanked me for my assistance and proceeded to the counter. My heart felt a small ache akin to the sorrowful plucking of a harp string.

As I was on the Q train back down to Brooklyn, listening to "Ys" and eating M&Ms in order of my least favourite to most favourite colour (brown, yellow, orange, green, red, blue), I had a flashback to the store where I recalled the pretty young lady looking at Newsom's first album, "The Milk Eyed Mender". This led me to the conclusion that she did not own it. Of course with hindsight it makes perfect sense; no-one who owns "The Milk Eyed Mender" would hesitate to buy "Ys", she had obviously just read about Newsom recently. A feeling of dismay washed over me. Not only should I have suggested she first purchase "The Milk Eyed Mender", as it is both a wonderful album and would act as a primer for "Ys", but the suggestion may just have been the oxygen the interaction needed for it to fully blossom.

And so as I sat on the train, I not only pondered over what could have been, but also felt slightly worried that the young lady may not give the album the exposure required and perceive her purchase to be a bad one. She would forever blame that handsome stranger she met on a rainy New York evening and "Ys" and I would suffer the same fate; both of us discarded without truly being known.