Music Review: Everything But The Girl "Missing (Todd...)
Everything But The Girl
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Missing (Todd Terry Remix)
Album: Amplified Heart
Year: 1995
Tracey Thorn searches for a lost love in the repentant “Missing.”
Panic-striken synths open the single, setting a desperate tone. In the first verse, Thorn arrives into her first love’s neighborhood. The family restraurant he used to work at as a teenager is now a pharmacy. The flower store is still thriving. The high school has been rebuilt and now an administration building. She walks down his street and stops at 521 without thinking. It’s a number she cannot forget, even if she tried to erase it from her mind. She looks for signs of him – the worn basketball net over the garage, the blossoming oak tree, the floral wreath his mom hung in the window – but all the objects have been removed. She knocks on the door and is shocked to see a woman with a platinum blonde hair, urging her dog to be quiet. She asks if the woman if she knows anything about her ex-boyfriend. But the woman answers that she didn’t know him. It’s like he never existed. She thinks he could live in New York, a place he said he always wanted to live or California, because he liked the heat.
In the chorus, she says she needs him to survive. Losing him meant her heart went with him, too. There’s a void in her that only he can fill.
In the second verse, she fears the worst. He died and she never found out about it. He was a smart man who was able to maneuver his way through social politics with skill. He was ambitious while she and the rest of his friends were satisfied with dreaming. She steps in the front of the house and she can see him sticking his head out of the second story window, yelling that he would be out in a minute. She would wait for him on the grass, knowing he would look outside and wait for her.
The chorus is sung again.
In the third verse, she regrets returning to her past. It upset her to find out he’s no longer there. While she’s ventured the trip back before, she didn’t knock on the door his home. Her life has taken a negative turn after their breakup. None of her plans came to fruition and she’s alone. He was the only perfect thing in her life and she ruined it to go out with someone else.
The chorus is sung again.
The first verse is sung again with a remisicent synths accompiant. Thorn touches the door, remembering the numerous times she went in and out from his home.
The chorus is sung again to close the single.
Since they broke up, Thorn has been involved with a guy who merely likes but has no intentions of actually loving her. Her career prospects are dim and one of her parents passed away. Her life was promising while she was dating him. She wants the idealism back and to start over. But However, he wasn’t there and it was a last resort. She realizes now she’s stuck and there’s no way of getting out.
Thorn’s despondent, lonesome vocals long for the simplicity and ease of her young adulthood. She’s hopeless and knows now she can’t go back. It just hurts he moved on without a thought.
The rattled arrangement first trembles and then hardens from the numbness. While the Todd Terry remix improves significantly on the original, it’s still stereotypical dance. Other than the remiscient synth which appears to express shock, the remix sticks to the drum machine/synth formula of the genre.
The fair “Missing” has its moments, showing potential for both EBTG and Terry.
Album: Amplified Heart
Year: 1995
Tracey Thorn searches for a lost love in the repentant “Missing.”
Panic-striken synths open the single, setting a desperate tone. In the first verse, Thorn arrives into her first love’s neighborhood. The family restraurant he used to work at as a teenager is now a pharmacy. The flower store is still thriving. The high school has been rebuilt and now an administration building. She walks down his street and stops at 521 without thinking. It’s a number she cannot forget, even if she tried to erase it from her mind. She looks for signs of him – the worn basketball net over the garage, the blossoming oak tree, the floral wreath his mom hung in the window – but all the objects have been removed. She knocks on the door and is shocked to see a woman with a platinum blonde hair, urging her dog to be quiet. She asks if the woman if she knows anything about her ex-boyfriend. But the woman answers that she didn’t know him. It’s like he never existed. She thinks he could live in New York, a place he said he always wanted to live or California, because he liked the heat.
“I step off the train/I'm walking down your street again/And past your door, but you don't live there anymore/It's years since you've been there/Now you've disappeared somewhere, like outer space/You've found some better place.”
In the chorus, she says she needs him to survive. Losing him meant her heart went with him, too. There’s a void in her that only he can fill.
“And I miss you, like the deserts miss the rain/And I miss you, like the deserts miss the rain.”
In the second verse, she fears the worst. He died and she never found out about it. He was a smart man who was able to maneuver his way through social politics with skill. He was ambitious while she and the rest of his friends were satisfied with dreaming. She steps in the front of the house and she can see him sticking his head out of the second story window, yelling that he would be out in a minute. She would wait for him on the grass, knowing he would look outside and wait for her.
“Could you be dead?/You always were two steps ahead of everyone/We'd walk behind while you would run/I look up at your house/
And I can almost hear you shout down to me/Where I always used to be.”
The chorus is sung again.
In the third verse, she regrets returning to her past. It upset her to find out he’s no longer there. While she’s ventured the trip back before, she didn’t knock on the door his home. Her life has taken a negative turn after their breakup. None of her plans came to fruition and she’s alone. He was the only perfect thing in her life and she ruined it to go out with someone else.
“Back on the train, I ask why did I come again?/Can I confess I've been hanging round your old address?/And the years have proved to offer/Nothing since you've moved/You're long gone, but I can't move on.”
The chorus is sung again.
The first verse is sung again with a remisicent synths accompiant. Thorn touches the door, remembering the numerous times she went in and out from his home.
The chorus is sung again to close the single.
Since they broke up, Thorn has been involved with a guy who merely likes but has no intentions of actually loving her. Her career prospects are dim and one of her parents passed away. Her life was promising while she was dating him. She wants the idealism back and to start over. But However, he wasn’t there and it was a last resort. She realizes now she’s stuck and there’s no way of getting out.
Thorn’s despondent, lonesome vocals long for the simplicity and ease of her young adulthood. She’s hopeless and knows now she can’t go back. It just hurts he moved on without a thought.
The rattled arrangement first trembles and then hardens from the numbness. While the Todd Terry remix improves significantly on the original, it’s still stereotypical dance. Other than the remiscient synth which appears to express shock, the remix sticks to the drum machine/synth formula of the genre.
The fair “Missing” has its moments, showing potential for both EBTG and Terry.