JOHN LEGEND: COMFORTING YET…A LITTLE CREEPY

John Legend: Save Room
Forthcoming on Once Again (2006)

This is making its tour online and I like it well enough to post. The underlying interpolated melody was incredibly familiar to me and for a moment, I guessed it was Brenton Wood but Paul Nice reminded me it was actually The Classics IV’s “Stormy.” Will.I.Am co-produced this and while I’ve been skeptical about some of his other work, I like what he does here; the track has that ring of familiarity (at least to those who know their oldies) but it doesn’t sound like an obvious throwback for younger folk.

My friend once described Legend as “the homeless man’s Hathaway” (this being a tongue-in-cheek homage apparently to a Bill Simmons-ism) but here, he doesn’t sound Donny-esque at all…honestly, he sounds more like a pop crooner (“he sounds white” says my wife). That’s not a criticism, just an observation.

Ok, so the creepy part…the hook is nice and most of the song is a run-of-the-mill love ballad but listen to the 2nd verses:this just may hurt, a little
love hurts sometimes when you do it right
don’t be afraid of a little bit of pain, pleasure is on the other side
Maybe I’m just reading a bit much here but this really sounds like he’s coaxing a woman into losing her virginity to him. I don’t really need to hear that. Just sayin’.