I’ll Look Up and See
30(+1) Day Song Challenge Day 29: “A Song You Remember from Your Childhood”
Most of the music I heard during my childhood is the ones my parents used to play in the car. They used to have this collection of their own CDs they would burn with their favorite music. These CDs introduced me to First Love (Nikka Costa), Eternal Flame (The Bangles), Celebrate (Lake), Lovely Day (Bill Withers), September (Earth, Wind & Fire), Bicycle Race (Queen), and the list goes on. But there’s this one song that really caught my attention, and I would always try to sing it even though I don’t really catch the lyrics, and might I add that it’s unusual to have the internet on your phone back in those days, so I can’t really look it up while in the car. Aw, I actually miss those moments. Anywho, the song is Someone in the Dark by Michael Jackson.
This song is a soundtrack to a really famous movie, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. I apologize beforehand because I never really watched the movie. I mean, I was really young back then, so even if I did watch it, I don’t really understand what’s going on. Just a movie about a funny-looking alien with a glowing finger who befriends a kid. They have all sorts of crazy adventures, including that famous bike over the moon scene, and in the end, the friendly alien has to leave earth and come back home to their home planet. It’s on my watchlist, but I haven’t really got to it yet.
Anyway, speaking of the song. The song didn’t catch my attention because it was a soundtrack for a famous movie. The song itself is already catchy for kid me back then. I remember looking out the car window and imagining myself having fun with a mysterious friend I met during the night. Of course, my parents eventually told me that this song talks about E.T., the alien from the movie. They told me how the story goes, and it made me really sad when I knew that E.T. eventually leaves his human kid friend in the end.
After knowing the movie's ending, I’d always feel really sad when I hear the words “goodbye” in this song (I believe you and I could never really say goodbye). But the only word I catch during the car rides is just goodbye. I think it’s because I wasn’t really fluent in English yet back then. I mean, I was probably in pre-school or the first grade. You really can’t blame me for not being fluent in a language that isn’t my native language (Indonesian kid here).
After a few years passed, I finally have my own Blackberry phone. It has the internet, so I can finally browse the lyrics myself. I remember finally understanding the last part of the song and feeling sad. It’s a really bittersweet goodbye.
I believe you and I
Could never really say goodbye
Wherever you may be
I’ll look up and see
Someone in the dark for me
I love how instead of saying, “I’ll always remember you,” the lyrics just go with, “Wherever you may be, I’ll look up and see someone in the dark for me.” It gives a stronger emotion to this particular song. It makes sense because the protagonist seems to be longing for a friend during the first verse (All alone wishing on stars, waiting for you to find me). So looking up to the stars and remembering this friend really completes the song.
Michael’s smooth voice soothes your heart in a great way. Especially with how the theatrical strings and electronic keyboard accompany that voice. Even the flow of the major and minor chords helps create the image of a starry night in our minds. It perfectly defines the bittersweet emotions. Perhaps it was what caught my attention at first. I was a kid who didn’t even catch most of the lyrics, but I can imagine the emotions just from how the music sounds. And I was enchanted by that feeling, by how the song sounds like.
Evidently, years later, when I’m twenty, I still remember this song and how it made me feel back in those childhood days. I still love the song. It gives me this sort of nostalgic feeling. Like, remembering kid me who was afraid of the dark but was a little more comforted with the lyrics.
When someone in the dark reaches out to you
And touches off a spark that comes shining through
It tells you, “Never be afraid”Then somewhere in your heart, you can feel the glow
A light to keep you warm
When the night winds blow
I guess, however old I will be, this song will always have a special place in my heart.
— Nathania S. Alexandra, 2021
