-^-for posterity-^-

happy new year
lately, people have been peppering me with the question, ‘what song do you sing on new years?’ i have no answer. there’s that old song, ‘let old acquaintances be something or other’ but i don’t think anyone actually sings that. i sometimes hum a line or two of that song using invented words that make no sense. no one understands and they smile and i giggle.

there is one song that i never knew about. it is by a band called abba. my mother once bought my brother an abba cd and he only listened to it one time and decided it wasn’t any good.

for some reason, people here listen to abba. last night, to celebrate the upcoming new year, i went to a friends house to eat and be merry. his house is small. his family is wonderful and no one took the new year seriously at all.

it was 11:55 and i was pretending to be excited. they all wanted to go to bed but i asked them if i could stay until it was 12:00. they all slouched in their chairs and stared at me wishing i would go. someone decided to put on the ‘happy new year’ music video by abba.
here are the lyrics and i’ll describe what happens in the music video in parentheses.

No more champagne
And the fireworks are through
(a blonde girl and a guy with dopy, long hair are sitting on a white couch. they did their best to make it look like there was a party, there is a hat, a streamer and a glass on the table, but it is all poorly done.)
Here we are, me and you
Feeling lost and feeling blue
It’s the end of the party
And the morning seems so grey
So unlike yesterday
Now’s the time for us to say...
(now, for the big chorus, they go to a huge party scene with about 20 people all dancing and throwing confetti into the air. when the camera pans out a bit, you can see how hilariously small the part is. at this point, it’s about 11:57 and i’m wishing i was anywhere else.)
Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have a vision now and then
Of a world where every neighbor is a friend
Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have our hopes, our will to try
(now, for the most depressing line of the whole song…)
If we don’t we might as well lay down and die
You and I
(they change styles a bit. you see, there are two men in the band, both with dopy hair, one small and one tall, and two women, one with poofy black hair and the other with straight blonde hair. they put the two men back to back and the two women back to back. they put them on some sort of a spinning thing and they ask them to sing. what you see is one face go whizzing by singing a word or two and the other face going whizzing by. i don’t know what they were thinking. it’s terrible and makes you dizzy. i’m thinking about leaving.)
Sometimes I see
How the brave new world arrives
And I see how it thrives
In the ashes of our lives
(they go back and forth to the party scene and people jumping and dancing and throwing confetti. this song is much too serious for new years day.)
Oh yes, man is a fool
And he thinks he’ll be okay
Dragging on, feet of clay
Never knowing he’s astray
Keeps on going anyway...
(once again back to the heads spinning around and around and around. it’s now 11:59.)
Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have a vision now and then
Of a world where every neighbour is a friend
Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have our hopes, our will to try
If we don’t we might as well lay down and die
You and i
(once again with the dying line)
Seems to me now
That the dreams we had before
Are all dead, nothing more
Than confetti on the floor
(i had been watching the clock on the wall for a long time. the second hand was snaking around slowly. at this moment, with five or six of my vietnamese friends slouching in their chairs just wanting to go home, i stand up and scream, ‘HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!’ and they all look at me like i’m a moron. one of them starts to clap and another one turns the sound up on the television. well, it was the new year here. most of you were having ham sandwiches or something. it was noon on wednesday.)
It’s the end of a decade
In another ten years time
Who can say what we’ll find
What lies waiting down the line
In the end of eighty-nine...
(just to show you how old the song is…)
Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have a vision now and then
Of a world where every neighbor is a friend
Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have our hopes, our will to try
If we don’t we might as well lay down and die
You and I
(what a wonderful way to end a song and usher in a new year with a line like, ‘if we don’t we might as well lay down and die, you and i.’ after that line, i got up, mounted my motorcycle and left driving through empty streets making sure i didn’t just lay down and give up my tenuous grip on life.)