Turn Around Bright Eyes

Turn Around Bright Eyes: The Rituals of Love & Karaoke by Rob Sheffield

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


As a 30-something person who grew up with MTV (back when they played music videos and hadn't even started to dabble in reality TV), I am drawn to Rob Sheffield's books every single time. The titles that instantly get an 80s song stuck in my head are like magnets! And this one got me from the very beginning: "Once upon a time I was falling apart. Now I'm always falling in love." Can a book start any better than that?

This memoir woven with karaoke tales is about Rob's life as a widower and falling in love with his current wife. While I have not exactly been known to rock a microphone, I do want to rock - right now and always! When I wasn't thinking about song lyrics, there were statements like this that made me go, "Ohhhh yeeeeeaaaaaah!" (a la Yello)

"I am not an and suddenly person. I am a gradually, reluctantly and begrudgingly person...I distrust flashes of light or moments of clarity. Stealth is my jam and guile is my butter."

I get that. I don't always want to be chipper and nice (and I can be nice, dammit). This book isn't just about music. There is some advice in here that we can all use.

"You better watch what you sing, if you don't want to sing it for the rest of your life."

And this might be the most important tip anyone needs. "No man ever plans to turn into Rod Stewart. It just happens. <--- been="" br="" fellas="" warned="" you="">
Sometimes I forget how much a part of our pop culture karaoke has become. Can you imagine some of the best non-musical movie scenes that had a dash of silly/dramatic singing/lip-synching? Rob did.

"If 'Pretty in Pink' had been made a few years later, when he would have enjoyed access to karaoke equipment, Duckie wouldn't have to settle for lip-synching 'Try a Little Tenderness' in the record store for Molly Ringwald. He could have sung his own version." THE HORROR!!!

It's towards the end of the book when Rob writes that he has problems. I DO, TOO! I don't want to live in a world with people who don't respond to me saying a song lyric with singing or completing the song! It is such a simple thing that makes me happy (unless it's that stupid Proclaimers song which makes me punchy - DON'T EVEN START, PEOPLE)!

I'm so happy there are so many great and terrible songs from the 80s and 90s to give Rob inspiration. I hope the next book (and don't even tell me there isn't another one because I can't deal with that) includes more of my favorite songs disguising a few life lessons.



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Love Is A Mix Tape

It's rare that a book sits on my wishlist for so long that I wait years to read it. And I have no good excuse for not getting around to this one sooner.

Seeing that stack of cassette tapes on the cover of Rob Sheffield's book brought back memories. Ever notice how it almost looks like the tapes have faces - the spools of tape look like sad eyes, the kind that beg you to take them back (even if you have no place to play them). They're like old friends who have said no to Botox. They won't change no matter what.

Kids today have probably never touched a cassette tape. They will never know the sadness of popping in a cassette only to have it - and your favorite songs - chewed up by a player. They will never appreciate the random pairing of songs on a tape that happens to include a few snippets of the DJ talking over the song as it was recorded from the radio. Note: this is almost impossible these days as many radio stations are run by robots, not people who actually press play.

Sure, kids can create a playlist, even record it on a CD, but it's not the same. I think Sheffield says it best:

You go back to a cassette the way a detective sits and pours drinks for the elderly motel clerk who tells stories about the old days -- you know you might be somewhat bored, but there might be a clue in there somewhere. And if there isn't, what the hell? It's not a bad time. 

To say this book is an ode to the cassette tape is an injustice. It's about one man's love lost suddenly. It's about a life lived through music - good, cheesy and even bad. I had not heard of many of the songs listed through this brief biography. It doesn't mean I can't relate to the emotion a song brings from the very first beat. I love music almost as much as I love chocolate and naps. But I will never eat a piece of chocolate or take a nap and remember a very specific part of my life the way I always will with music.

I will forever be grateful to the artists who have provided my life soundtrack. I will also be grateful to Mr. Sheffield for reminding me that no matter what life gives and takes away, the rhythm will always get me. I will always be footloose. I will not stop until I get enough. I should be dancing. I will not stop believing. And I will never get tired of this book.