there she goes

(ED: Sorry to Gina, but this is one of those instances where you can't control inspiration. Ergo, she gets bumped off the top of the main page. Sorry.)

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The La's - There She Goes

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There she goes
There she goes again
Racing through my brain
And I just can't contain
This feeling that remains

There she goes
There she goes again
Pulsing through my veins
And I just can't contain
This feeling that remains

There she goes
(There she goes again)
There she goes again
(There she goes again)
Racing through my brain
(There she goes)
And I just can't contain
This feeling that remains

There she goes
There she goes again
She calls my name
she pulls my train
No one else could heal my pain
And I just can't contain
This feeling that remains

There she goes
(She calls my name)
There she goes again
(She calls my name)
Chasing down my lane
(She calls my name)
And I just can't contain
This feeling that remains

There she goes
(There she goes again)
There she goes
(There she goes again)
There she goes
There she goes
There she goes again
Racing through my brain
And I just can't contain
This feeling that remains

There she goes
There she goes again
Pulsing through my veins
And I just can't contain
This feeling that remains

There she goes
(There she goes again)
There she goes again
(There she goes again)
Racing through my brain
(There she goes)
And I just can't contain
This feeling that remains

There she goes
There she goes again
She calls my name
she pulls my train
No one else could heal my pain
And I just can't contain
This feeling that remains

There she goes
(She calls my name)
There she goes again
(She calls my name)
Chasing down my lane
(She calls my name)
And I just can't contain
This feeling that remains

There she goes
(There she goes again)
There she goes
(There she goes again)
There she goes
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This is an infectious little early Brit-Pop number from a nearly unknown band that somehow still gets radio airplay. (Some of you are just glad I'm not writing one of these on another country song. I understand.)

The La's were the baby of Lee Mavers, a Liverpudlian who had a knack for poppy hooks (that's a pretty good pun, and you'll understand why later) and chiming guitars. He was a direct synthesis of the Byrds-style country-pop-rock that R.E.M. had resurrected with albums like Murmur, and the scattered, dissonant post-punk that the Smiths (How Soon is Now?) had been the primary purveyors of. His songs combined the ethereal sound of the twelve-string guitar with dark, almost Lou Reed-esque subject matter.

"There She Goes" is a primary example of this. The sound of this single (The La's second, released in 1988) is pure pop perfection, with it's repetitive chorus, it's insistent guitar figure, and it's almost endearingly desperate vocals.

As a result, the song has been on numerous movie soundtracks, such as "The Parent Trap" remake with a pre-pubescent Lindsay Lohan and (as performed by the Boo Radleys) the Mike Myers film "So I Married An Axe Murderer". In fact, the song is both the opening and closing song for Myers' initial foray into film.

However, even a cursory glance at the lyrics can raise eyebrows as to its appropriateness in a Disney movie. The lyrics "pulsing through my vein" and "no one else could heal my pain" suggest a different muse powering this song: heroin.

"There She Goes" is not a love song, at least not to a person. It's a reflection of the addictive qualities of opiates, and how it gets it's "poppy hooks" into one's brain. (See, the pun writes itself.)

Lee Mavers has denied this allegation time and time again, but popular theory is he's just saying that to keep his royalties coming in. The song is in a freaking birth control pill commercial, so it's got some commercial appeal.

The best description I ever heard about this song is "It's either about a girl who's like a drug, or a drug who's like a girl. Not much difference when it comes down to it." That's what makes the song ring true.

It's got the same infectious rhythm your heart beats when you feel the spark of attraction, when you feel like you can't live without someone, when all you want to do is be with that person.

It's got the same infectious rhythm your heart beats when the hit kicks in, when the nod hits you, when the smooth dreamy feeling of narcotic intoxication comes over you.

This song captures the universality of the euphoria that comes when either you're in love or you're high.

Lee's vocals make this track. He squeezes the last notes out of the choruses, which are practically indistinguishable from the verses. His rendition of the word "remains" strikes a chord, because it's the same "high lonesome sound" that emanates from Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, and any number of old-style bluegrass singers.

They knew heartache. Lee Mavers knew heartache too, whether from lost love or a lost fix.

It's the Roger McGuinn chord figure that slides it's way into your brain and lodges it's way into your everyday routine. You find yourself singing it alone in the shower, humming it on your way to work, tapping out the rhythm with your fingers at your desk.

Every part of the song seems calculated to worm it's way into your nervous system and never escape.

It's universal, it's catchy, it's seemingly innocuous, it's great. It might just be the best song ever.