More than simply a song about childhood, this beautiful and heart-felt lyric surely comments on something most of us recognise - the way in which time seems to speed ever faster as one grows older. Weeks and years rush by for adults, caught in their repetitive cycles, in a way that's simply not true for children. Jones is reminding us of how fresh the world once seemed, and how a child's inquisitive spirit makes everything seem fresh and new and memorable - in a sense more real.
One of my own strongest memories of childhood is spending a hot, windless afternoon in a field near my house. Lying down and watching at ground level as insects went about their lives, and being drawn into that miniature world for a while in a way that made time seem to stop. There was certainly something magical about it, and even now it seems more 'real' in some sense than much of what has happened to me today. That seems to me to be what Jones is saying here - and she also describes that ways in which we can actively seek to capture moments like that: "So hold on to your special friend/Here, you'll need something to keep her in/Now you stay inside this foolish grin".
In closing, I'll note how badly dating a song in its title or lyrics can date it, or make it seem irrelevant to later generations. How easy is it now to empathize with Gary Moore's Parisienne Walkways - Paris in 1949 - or Frankie Valli's Oh What A Night ("Late December back in '63/What a very special time for me?" Luckily for me, I was born in April 1963, so Jones's song has a special sort of resonance for me, but it would be a shame to think it might go unnoticed by those born much more recently.
@leighrichmondroose Leigh, fabulous, beautiful comment. You capture well what you feel when she sings. I saw 2 years ago at (again) in a tiny little theater called "The Magic Bag" in Ferndale, Michigan. She was ON, giddy. I hope other youngsters chance upon your reflections. I am a 1955 origin model. Right at the trailing edge of an amazing musical explosion. Freshman in high school; 1969---remembering being at a "party" staring at the cover of 'Are You Experienced?', Jimi Hendrix 1st album and staring at the fuschia and purple tones thinking blankly; "Ah, no." Music has been the tuning fork...
@leighrichmondroose Leigh, fabulous, beautiful comment. You capture well what you feel when she sings. I saw 2 years ago at (again) in a tiny little theater called "The Magic Bag" in Ferndale, Michigan. She was ON, giddy. I hope other youngsters chance upon your reflections. I am a 1955 origin model. Right at the trailing edge of an amazing musical explosion. Freshman in high school; 1969---remembering being at a "party" staring at the cover of 'Are You Experienced?', Jimi Hendrix 1st album and staring at the fuschia and purple tones thinking blankly; "Ah, no." Music has been the tuning fork of my life, couldn't imagine it without....
@leighrichmondroose Leigh, fabulous, beautiful comment. You capture well what you feel when she sings. I saw 2 years ago at (again) in a tiny little theater called "The Magic Bag" in Ferndale, Michigan. She was ON, giddy. I hope other youngsters chance upon your reflections. I am a 1955 origin model. Right at the trailing edge of an amazing musical explosion. Freshman in high school; 1969---remembering being at a "party" staring at the cover of 'Are You Experienced?', Jimi Hendrix 1st album and staring at the fuschia and purple tones thinking blankly; "Ah, no." Music has been the tuning fork...
@leighrichmondroose Leigh, fabulous, beautiful comment. You capture well what you feel when she sings. I saw 2 years ago at (again) in a tiny little theater called "The Magic Bag" in Ferndale, Michigan. She was ON, giddy. I hope other youngsters chance upon your reflections. I am a 1955 origin model. Right at the trailing edge of an amazing musical explosion. Freshman in high school; 1969---remembering being at a "party" staring at the cover of 'Are You Experienced?', Jimi Hendrix 1st album and staring at the fuschia and purple tones thinking blankly; "Ah, no." Music has been the tuning fork of my life, couldn't imagine it without....
More than simply a song about childhood, this beautiful and heart-felt lyric surely comments on something most of us recognise - the way in which time seems to speed ever faster as one grows older. Weeks and years rush by for adults, caught in their repetitive cycles, in a way that's simply not true for children. Jones is reminding us of how fresh the world once seemed, and how a child's inquisitive spirit makes everything seem fresh and new and memorable - in a sense more real.
One of my own strongest memories of childhood is spending a hot, windless afternoon in a field near my house. Lying down and watching at ground level as insects went about their lives, and being drawn into that miniature world for a while in a way that made time seem to stop. There was certainly something magical about it, and even now it seems more 'real' in some sense than much of what has happened to me today. That seems to me to be what Jones is saying here - and she also describes that ways in which we can actively seek to capture moments like that: "So hold on to your special friend/Here, you'll need something to keep her in/Now you stay inside this foolish grin".
In closing, I'll note how badly dating a song in its title or lyrics can date it, or make it seem irrelevant to later generations. How easy is it now to empathize with Gary Moore's Parisienne Walkways - Paris in 1949 - or Frankie Valli's Oh What A Night ("Late December back in '63/What a very special time for me?" Luckily for me, I was born in April 1963, so Jones's song has a special sort of resonance for me, but it would be a shame to think it might go unnoticed by those born much more recently.
@leighrichmondroose Leigh, fabulous, beautiful comment. You capture well what you feel when she sings. I saw 2 years ago at (again) in a tiny little theater called "The Magic Bag" in Ferndale, Michigan. She was ON, giddy. I hope other youngsters chance upon your reflections. I am a 1955 origin model. Right at the trailing edge of an amazing musical explosion. Freshman in high school; 1969---remembering being at a "party" staring at the cover of 'Are You Experienced?', Jimi Hendrix 1st album and staring at the fuschia and purple tones thinking blankly; "Ah, no." Music has been the tuning fork...
@leighrichmondroose Leigh, fabulous, beautiful comment. You capture well what you feel when she sings. I saw 2 years ago at (again) in a tiny little theater called "The Magic Bag" in Ferndale, Michigan. She was ON, giddy. I hope other youngsters chance upon your reflections. I am a 1955 origin model. Right at the trailing edge of an amazing musical explosion. Freshman in high school; 1969---remembering being at a "party" staring at the cover of 'Are You Experienced?', Jimi Hendrix 1st album and staring at the fuschia and purple tones thinking blankly; "Ah, no." Music has been the tuning fork of my life, couldn't imagine it without....
@leighrichmondroose Leigh, fabulous, beautiful comment. You capture well what you feel when she sings. I saw 2 years ago at (again) in a tiny little theater called "The Magic Bag" in Ferndale, Michigan. She was ON, giddy. I hope other youngsters chance upon your reflections. I am a 1955 origin model. Right at the trailing edge of an amazing musical explosion. Freshman in high school; 1969---remembering being at a "party" staring at the cover of 'Are You Experienced?', Jimi Hendrix 1st album and staring at the fuschia and purple tones thinking blankly; "Ah, no." Music has been the tuning fork...
@leighrichmondroose Leigh, fabulous, beautiful comment. You capture well what you feel when she sings. I saw 2 years ago at (again) in a tiny little theater called "The Magic Bag" in Ferndale, Michigan. She was ON, giddy. I hope other youngsters chance upon your reflections. I am a 1955 origin model. Right at the trailing edge of an amazing musical explosion. Freshman in high school; 1969---remembering being at a "party" staring at the cover of 'Are You Experienced?', Jimi Hendrix 1st album and staring at the fuschia and purple tones thinking blankly; "Ah, no." Music has been the tuning fork of my life, couldn't imagine it without....