Music Review: Hoku "How Do I Feel (The Burrito Song)"

Hoku

How Do I Feel (The Burrito Song)

Album: Hoku
Year: 2000

  Happy Easter everyone!

         Hoku won't admit she regrets a breakup in the garbled  “How I Feel.”

          Aped synths open the single, which seem to be from Lynyrd Synyrd’s intro from “Sweet Home Alabama,” setting a hinky tone. She was hanging out with some friends at Mexican restaurant. As she got up to go to the bathroom, she locked eyes with a cute guy. He was grinning at her, with some salsa dribbling on his chin from the burrito. When she returned from the bathroom, his gaze met hers again. It was as though his chestnut brown-haired girlfriend didn’t exist. He slipped her his number on her way back to the table. It was the beginning of a six month relationship. (“I was free when we met/You were eating a burrito/With a girl. some brunette/At El Tarasco's/Then you smiled like you knew/Someday we'd be together/And together we were for awhile.”)

          In the chorus, the entire time they were dating, things didn’t seem right to her. Finally, she called it quits. It made her wonder if he would leave her like he did with his ex-girlfriend. Now, she wonders if he’s applied to colleges yet or if he made the varsity basketball team. But for the most part, she’s doesn’t really care anymore, which bothers her. (“How do I feel/Ever since I walked away from you/I miss you for real/Everyday of my life/How do I feel/Now that it's over/Well the thing that I miss the most/Is missing you.’)

        A couple months after the breakup, she avoided El Tarasco’s and the beach. She saw him everywhere she went and it hurt. Lately, though, the ache has been going away and she even ordered carry-out from the restaurant. She can’t stop thinking about him, though. (“I was lost for a while/Every place brought back a memory/Of a kiss or a smile that you gave me/Now it's changed/Well I guess/More and more I miss you/Less and less/Sometimes it's hard to let you go.”)

            The chorus is sung again.

           In the bridge, she says she was sad for a little while and kept dwelling on it. However, she has snapped out of it and ready to start dating again. (“Sometimes /You get trapped in a time of your life/But you know it gets a little easier over time.”)

An edited chorus is sung. (“How do I feel/Now that it's over/For the thing that I miss the most.”)

         In the second bridge, she says the angst gave her inspiration. When it would rain, she’d take a walk in her neighborhood and let herself get wet. She let her feelings out on paper, writing about his beautiful hair. She would strum her guitar, playing the chorus of R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts” over and over until she burst into tears. (“I miss the moody walks in the rain/I miss the poetry, I miss the days/I miss the sad songs I used to play/But the one thing I miss the most/Is missing you.”)

       Another edited chorus ends the single. (“How do I feel/I miss you for real/How do I feel/Now that it's over/For the thing that I miss the most/Is missing you.”)

         Hoku’s smirking vocals rubs her blissfulness not only in her boyfriend’s face but in everybody else’s, too. She has to prove a point and show he didn’t give her any intimacy issues at all. She’s well and currently is on the lookout for another cute guy to date. However, she is still hung up on him, masking her sobs in her tacos and refried beans. El Tarasco’s has become a quiet shrine to their love.

Speaking of El Tarasco’s, it is actually a real place in El Segundo, California. It’s random to put it in there. Then, she continues to give more detail, including the type of dinner he had. Flirting with a mouthful of food and an obvious girlfriend seated at the table is the least romantic scenario.

            The callow “How Do I Feel” does nothing but the ears but will get the stomach rumbling.