There is no dearth of romantic songs, both Hindi and English. Like everyone else, I have listened to and loved quite a few over so many years. There are so many that I identified with or that had some incident or story connected with them, be it Annies song or When you say nothing at all or Tum ho to or Phir Dekhiye (I know its not exactly a romantic song, but there’s a story there too!). And yet, when I started meeting T initially, there was only one song which kept humming in my mind all the time, right from the first few times we met. Wonderful tonight.
Wonderful tonight (the live version with Dire Straits) is a timeless classic. The beauty of the song lies in its simplicity. The guitar is mesmerizing, but it’s a simple riff, nothing fast or loud or outlandish and difficult to play. In fact, it is amongst the first songs most budding guitarists learn to play well. The tune, the speed, the mood; everything is slow and light and perfect. The lyrics are again very simple and straightforward; no big words of till death do us apart and of feeling out of the world and in seventh heaven etc. It just describes a simple evening with your loved one. She wonders what clothes to wear; brushes her long long hair; she helps me to bed… And yet, add everything together and we have one of the most memorable and evergreen romantic songs ever.
I didn’t know why it was only Wonderful tonight then and not any other song as well. But as I slowly got to know T during those extraordinary three weeks of my life, I realized that this is exactly how it felt with her. Every evening spent with her, every chat outside the ward, everytime we gossiped at the MSB, this is exactly how it felt. It wasn’t a ‘You fill up my senses’ sensation, and it definitely wasn’t a ‘When you say nothing at all’ one (those who know her would agree that she hardly ever says nothing at all). It wasn’t any overpowering all-conquering swooning and knee weakening sensation. It just felt happy; it felt alive; it felt peaceful; it felt like being yourself without any burden or act; in short it felt wonderful. It felt like, if I can feel like this for the rest of my life, there really isn’t anything more I can ask for.
The song stands out for the simpleness of its emotion, for the spontaneous and non-pretentiousness of how he feels when he is with her. And that is exactly how T turned out to be; simple and spontaneous in all her thoughts and actions, with no pretensions or airs about her. The amazing thing is, I loved the song much before I realized all this. My subconscious realized in few days what took me almost three weeks to realize. And it spoke to me thus, through this song. Probably that is why it is said; in the matter of love, always follow you heart and not your head. It knows you much better than your head ever can!
