Sometimes there just really isn’t some profound point or nugget to be gleamed from the lyrics of a song. Sometimes, the song just speaks to a feeling or an emotion that resonates with you – whatever the reason.
Don’t you be wasting all your money syrup and honey
Because I’m sweet enough
Don’t you be using every minute on making a living
Because we’ve got our love
Listen to me
One, two, three
Baby, baby, baby
Spend your time on me.
– Duffy: "Syrup and Honey"
Sometimes the backing music is what attracts you to a song, like that gal sitting across the way that caught your eye but you're not sure why. Or maybe it’s just a particular bass line that thumps just right in your chest to make you smile. You could care less about the rest of the song, but you’d sit through it just to hear those few notes.
Or maybe that song takes you someplace. Someplace deep down memory lane or someplace you haven’t been yet, be it the streets of what you imagine Paris would be like; or the sultry porch of a Louisiana night with crickets chirping, a cold beer in your hand taking the edge off the humidity as Ella Fitzgerald sings to you in the background.
Someplace safe. Did you know that in firefighter training, in order to help you breathe correctly while wearing the mask, it's recommended you hum? I wonder where that tune takes that firefighter: hell on earth around them or life and death hanging in the balance? I hope it's someplace safe.
Nothing in Duffy's “Syrup and Honey” is earth-shattering on its own. Yet from its opening line, Duffy's a cappella intro, followed by a lonely and repeating line of a guitar in a slow, driving blues timbre makes this song something great. Especially on this track, the power of Duffy’s voice — the breaks, the rises only to fall off a cliff — all have the effect of a solid gut punch.
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