I (Heart) David

My hands-down favorite song at the moment is "Tiger Phone Card" off of the new Dengue Fever album, Venus on Earth. It's a duet sung from the point of views of two lovers living apart, overseas.
At first, it sounds like a simple dancey number. (That's generally what you have to go on when you don't understand Khmer: just the sound of the music itself.) But "Tiger Phone Card" is one of the few DF songs that's actually sung in English, so I had to listen to it over and over again to desifer the words (the guy's singing isn't all too clear, and the girl's Khmer accent is quite thick). But having been able to sift through the lyrics, to my surprise the song turns out to be a clever modernization of a tradition Southeast Asian "I Miss You" song.

These "I Miss You" songs come from a folk tradition and are always about a woman waiting at home (while either working on the farm, or with child; and the sky is probably raining) for her lover to return (and he's usually working elsewhere to support the family, or in the army; either way, the fact is: he's not there with her). These duets pretty much just serves as a vehicle for these lovers to lament over missing one another.

"Tiger Phone Card" follows the exact same structure the "I Miss You" (or for the Vietnamese-mind, I'll call it the "Em Nho Anh, Anh Nho Em") song. One of the staples of the structure is that the beginning has to always set up I'm over here, and you're over there, and we're thinking of the other.

Now when I listen to the song, which is on heavy repeat through my speakers, it reminds me of David. We've been living apart from one another for about 2 years now (if not counting the year and half of him at UC Santa Cruz). And though we're handling distance fine--no crazy drama, thank god--it doesn't mean that being this far from each other is emotionally easy. Ever since I was able to transcribe the lyrics to "Tiger Phone Card," I can't help but convert into a trite kid who finds insight in pop music, in this homage to cheesy SE Asian love songs. The song now feels like it was designed for us (especially how the girl starts the chorus).

Tiger Phone Card lyrics (song link here)

Guy: You live in Phnom Penh
Girl: You live in New York City

Both: But I think about you so (so, so)
So much I forget to eat

Guy: It’s 4am I check my email
Girl: I’m just about to fall asleep

Both: So I write you back and forth
For days until we'll be together


[Chorus:]
Girl: The first thing that I’ll do
Both: Is throw my arms around you
Guy: And never let go
Girl: And never let go

Guy: I call you from my hotel room
I’m sitting on the hallway floor
I know that we are so (so, so)
So tired my phone card will expire.

Girl: You only call me when you’re drunk
I can tell by your voice
It’s the only time that you
open up to me
and tell me that you love me

[Chorus]

[guitar solo]

Guy: I’m 30,000 feet high
Flying through the dead of night
I took an ambient
So you can visit me in my dreams

Girl: You were red and blue lights
Floating right in front me
Your face was so (so, so)
So bright I had to close my eyes to see

[Chorus]


(Credit: I got the audio link off of The Hype Machine blog. Also note: I'm not 100% sure on all the lyrics, such as when she says "I'm about to fall asleep" to his "4am" line, since 4am in NYC would only be 4pm in Cambodia.)