Song 32:
"Again" by Lenny Kravitz
Peak: 4
Year: 2000
Year end position: 9
Alphabetical Songs by Artist: 1/3
Chronological Songs by Artist: 3/3
Video?: Yes
Spotify?: Yes
For the second time on this blog, we've had two consecutive
songs with the exact same title. The
first two were songs #12 & #13, which were both named
"Action". In case you don't
remember, there are some rules that I incorporate. The first is that if the songs are really the
same song that hit the charts twice, then I am not doing separate blog posts
about them. The second rule was that if the
songs were distinct from one another, I am blogging about the highest charted
one first. If both charted at the same
level, I am blogging about the one that came chronologically first first. With that in mind, it's obvious that the two
"Again" songs are not the same, and since Janet's hit #1 and this
song peaked at #4, it comes after.
This is going to be the second post in a row where I call
out "Adult Education" by Hall & Oates. Today, I am referencing that song because
much like it, this song was a new song that was included on a "Greatest
Hits" album. I was always of the
opinion that albums like that didn't really spawn any new hits, but this is the
second time it's happened, and I can think of a handful of other times, so
maybe I need to rethink that.
This song also came in the middle of what was an amazing run
of award success for Lenny. This song
won him the Grammy award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for the 3rd time
in a row. He would go on to win it again
the next year for a total of 4 in a row.
Astute readers will see that he only had 3 top 20 songs, so it stands to
reason that some of those songs were not "hits" by the chart
definition. As I learned later, they did
away with this category shortly after this run by Lenny Kravitz. The Grammy people combined it the Female award
to produce "Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo"
Let's get into the lyrics of this song, and maybe compare it
a little with "Again" by Janet Jackson. If you remember, the action that
"Again" was describing in her song was falling in love, specifically
not falling in love. In
"Again" by Lenny Kravitz, the action it is describing is "Seeing
you". In both songs, there is an
absence of a lover from the past. The
difference is that while Janet is not initially so thrilled to see her lover,
Lenny seems to really exalt his missing lover.
He even says right off "I've been searching for you". He goes on to call her "A sacred gift of
heaven". He also later says "I
longed for you, my love forever".
As with the first "Again", you don't really know why they
aren't together. It seems like Lenny
totally is up for a reunion. The song
makes it sound as though he's lost her somehow, and doesn't know where she
is. That makes me wonder if the object
of his affection is on the same page.
The video might shed some light on what is going on in this
song, but I'm afraid it doesn't do as much for me as I was hoping it
would. It looks like the plot of the
video is that Lenny is some kind of loveless relationship with Gina Gershon (of
all people). He meets a waitress at a
diner, and he has mad, passionate love with her. The next day he goes back to the diner, and
he just misses her. This seems slightly
off message from the lyrics of the song.
First off, there is no mention in the song of a current relationship
that is looking to get out of for this mystery woman. Also, Lenny couldn't possibly be that busted
up about missing the waitress, as he could come back 5 minutes after the end of
the video and he's run into her again. The video does tell a story though, so in that
sense it is good, I just don't think it's the story told in the song. One last thing about the video, there is a
brief scene of Lenny Kravitz's bare butt, so if that's your thing, you won't be
disappointed.
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