January [*]

David Paton explained the meanings of January in a video interview with Radio Borders.

The chorus is not singing about the month of January, but actually a girl named January. Paton got the name of the female protagonist from a book that his wife was reading.

Paton also explained that the verses have no connection with the chorus, and that the verses are about the success of their song Magic, and how it has affected his life.

Looking at Verse 1: "Life gets me higher" - He's saying that his life has been positively affected from Magic, and that it has brought him great success, so he's in a high place in life and enjoying it. "I can show, I can glow, I can wake up the world." - I think he's saying here that he can positively affect the world with his music. Most people will know the chorus for Magic (Oh, ho, ho, it's magic, you know. Never believe it's not so.) and most (if not all) those people will probably admit how catchy the song is.

Verses 2 and 4: "Sun like a fire." - Not sure what this means exactly. Maybe he's saying he has a burning passion for something, but I really have no idea at all what this has to do with the song Magic. "Carry on don't be gone bring me out of my home sweet home." - Again, I don't know what he's talking about here. Maybe he's hoping to tour so he can travel the world, but that might be a stretch. "Gotta know me, gotta show me." - Once again, this whole second verse, I don't quite understand. Possibly saying that you have to know him to know how good he feels with the success of Magic. Again, that might be a stretch. Also might be saying he wants to see how Magic has affected you as well. As a bonus, I'll answer this question at the end of my interpretation.

"You've been facing the world, you've been chasing the world." - The only way I can interpret this is if the "You" is Magic. I don't think the band knew that the song was going to achieve the success it did, so when they finished the album, the song was "facing the world.", facing challenges such as poor sales and negative criticisms. However, the song achieved massive success, reaching #1 in Canada for a week, and top 20 on other weekly charts, which meant the song was now "chasing the world." Another way to interpret the "chase" is the song pursuing its success around the world.

Verse 3: - "Time it's a flier." - A (intentional?) pun on the band name Pilot, being a flier. Also, to the fact that time flies when you're having fun. Paton was around 26 years old when Second Flight (the album this song comes from) was released in 1975. "Sunny day, fly away, English summers are gone, so long." - Hard to tell how this is supposed to be worded. Is he telling the sunny day to fly away? I think he means, it's a sunny day and he's flying away. Possibly quite literally, as the band toured, though never popular enough to tour in America. Of course, sunny days usually represent a good day, or good times to be had, so I think that's what the sunny day is referring to. I don't know what the English summers being gone has to do with Magic, and I'm not sure if he's saying so long as in farewell, or good riddance. "Gotta go up gotta ??? up." - I thought the ??? lyric was blow up. If it is in fact grow up, that would make sense, as stated before, Paton was about 26 years old when he worked on this album. If it's "blow up", then I think he's talking about Magic getting more and more popular, as well as "Go up", as in going up the charts.

So, that's my interpretation. Anyway, how did Magic affect me personally? Well, I had originally bought the album it came from (titled "From The Album Of The Same Name, though dubbed Magic in Japan) just for that song. However, on a road trip to a convention, I decided to listen to the entire album, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life. So many great tunes from that album. In fact, Magic is no longer my favorite song on the album. I'd recommend listening to "Don't Speak Loudly", as it sounds very similar to Magic. I also like Just A Smile, Girl Next Door, Lovely Lady Smile, Over The Moon, Never Give Up, and Auntie Iris. I love the entire album, but those are my favorites.

Second Flight also has some good tunes, such as You're My No. 1, Bad To Me, Call Me Round, and I'd highly suggest Passion Piece, as I believe it's the only Pilot song to feature the band's keyboardist Billy Lyall on lead vocals. It's a very catchy big-band/ragtime type of song, similar to that of Queen's Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy.

Morin Heights also has some good tunes for me, my favorites being Canada and Penny In My Pocket.

Going back to how Magic inspired me; David Paton himself did a guitar lesson on Magic a few years back, and mentioned he'd do the bass tab if he had the time. He didn't end up doing it, so I transcribed the entire bassline. I sent it to David Paton and he approved it, and I uploaded it to my Twitter.

Anyway, sorry for the lengthy comment. Hope you enjoyed reading it though!

This song is about the month of January and about this guy being a whiny little bitch.