SHOCK
TO MY SYSTEM
(Music by Rick Springfield, Tim Pierce & Bob Marlette / Words
by Rick Springfield)
So there I stood
Square on my side
Of the great divide
A message came across the void
And for the first time in my life
I'm awake, I'm alive
I thought I was immune to this
'Til I felt the static charges in the air
I touch you, you're a live wire
You're the raw fire
Burning in my heart
It took me by surprise
That's no lie
You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
A spark, a real shock
You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
You start, I can't stop
You taught me how to listen
Shock to my system
My soul my skin
You plug me in
And all of my pain is gone
Just like it never was
And for the first time in my life
I know what I feel.
Now every time we touch
I'm caught off my guard
That's no lie
You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
A spark, a real shock
You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
You start, I can't stop
You taught me how to listen
Shock to my system
Shock to my system
You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
A spark, a real shock
You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
You start, I can't stop
You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
A spark, a real shock
You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
You start, I can't stop
You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
(total playing time 4:32)
Rick says:
One of the few straight love songs on the album - melodicrock.com
Rick also says: It's one of the
older songs, which we really reworked instrumentally - to make it, fit more with the album
... it was a much more keyboard oriented song originally. This song I wrote with Bob
Marlet is a producer and a great musician. I don't write with many other people and have
something happen, it was really good writing with somebody else. It's - I guess I wrote it
as a love song. I've forgotten now. I don't like to think of them as only love songs - it
seems so f******g trite! But it is!
The demo is much more like an R & B kind of feel ... and we added human loops to it
... and a lot more electric guitars and things ... weird s**t. - eiozine.com
Song Facts: This can be
found on Karma.
Whew! I'm
glad I'm not the only fan who hears "shark" in this song. Now that I've got that
out of the way...
I always felt this was a love song, but in a different way. To me this really sounds
like a parent expressing feelings of love and wonderment of their child. I don't
know if I came up with this idea after watching Rick's Behind the Music (because this song
is played in the background when they are talking about the birth of Joshua) or not, but I
really thought that this is what this song was about.
"...square on my side of the great divide, message came across the void and for the
first time in my life I'm awake, I'm alive." I felt like when I was a new
parent, there was this great span in-between what I thought I knew about being a
parent, and what it actually meant to be a parent. I was now responsible for someone
else for the rest of my life. There was so much of "me" in this person,
that I would live on in them even when I was gone.
The whole parent *thing* is certainly a shock to anyone's system. Less sleep,
less time to do things for you and for yourself, more thinking about the well being
of someone else for a change-instead of looking out for number one. The line
"...you taught me how to listen" also summons up for me all the things about
being a parent. Not only am I hearing the cries of a child, I'm hearing the hopes
and fears, the pleasure and the pain of growing up. I'm also listening to my child's
music, movies and television programs - but basically to censor and help them to not grow
up too fast.
"my soul my skin, you plug me in and all of my pain is gone just like it never
was" I don't think about myself much anymore, unless I've got some kind of
glaring problem. It's all about my kids. I've got to be okay for them.
They are my spark that keeps me going.
This song is also so pillow talk-nighttime-easy listening-radio ready, it's a wonder it
wasn't picked up by some lonely hearts radio show and launched onto the public. It's
a wonder, and a shame. (I could say the same about "Act of Faith" too -so
I'll say it here, instead of that review - "Here's my heart my love is in it" -
that so SCREAMS a lonely hearts request, does it not??) All those years of hearing
Jack Wagner's "Lady of my Heart" with the hopes that one day I'd hear a Rick
song on the radio airwaves at 1am wasted. :-) Just for the record, "Lady of my
Heart" was a B side to a single. I think it got a lot of notice being featured
on General Hospital, and criminey I wish Rick had at least relented to having one song
played on that show while he was there. I know, this song is about 18 years
too late...but I'm thinking "Inside Silvia" wouldn't have cut it. However,
I was hoping that the fact that STMS played in Rick's BTM might have helped.
Guess not.
|
|
And for the first time in my
life
I'm awake, I'm alive
I thought I was immune to this
'Til I felt the static charges in the air
Obviously, this is about finally finding your soul mate. The one person that you
have been searching your whole life for. The one person that you thought you would
never find.
I touch you, you're a live wire
You're the raw fire
Burning in my heart
I think this is about the chemistry that two people can feel when they fall
completely and madly in love with each other. Maybe kind of like that "new
love" feeling. I was fortunate enough to find my "live
wire" nearly 25 years ago (I was only 16!!!). I think Rick describes it
well...the shock that I felt when I would merely think about my
husband. Awwww....just the thought!!
I always thought this song was about his son. Interestingly, in an online interview when
Karma was first coming out, he said that he couldn't remember what had inspired it.
He did say something like "a generic love song" or something like that at
the time, and I know that a lot of other people have equated this song with romantic love,
but to me it was so much like what I felt when my daughter was born, taking the love and
the extent to which another person can be a part of you and touch every corner of your
soul to levels you'd never conceived of, that I have never been able to hear it any other
way.
Another one of my favorite songs.
I like how he is not afraid to show his vulnerability "for the first time
in my life I'm awake I'm alive" The right person (his wife?) showed him
what love is. He hasn't felt that kind of love before so it is a "shock to my
system". He never thought he would feel that way.
This is just another example of Rick putting his feelings out there for us to see.
This is probably
my least favorite song on the cd, and I don't really dislike it. That's just how
strong of a cd this is for me. This is my favorite, least favorite, song that I've
had to pick. I've read the discussion about who the inspiration of this song might
be and although I do see some places where I can associate with his kids, there's parts of
it that have more of a sexual attraction kind of feel to it, for me that doesn't make the
song go in that direction for me.
My favorite part is "I thought I was immune to this......you took me by surprise"
That's really the best kind, something wonderful coming when it's not expected, it's more
like a gift than something you were looking for.
I also find the word "immune" very interesting. It's not like he's saying
he thought it would never happen, it's more like he was trying to protect himself against
it, and it happened anyway, but it's a good thing.
This song speaks to me of that
shock of parenthood. I can see it being a romantic love song too, but it fits my
experience of having a child. It's the connection that cuts through all of your
defenses. The bonding and physical contact with your child makes you feel alive and
extremely devoted to that little soul you've been entrusted with. The line "You're
the raw fire burning in my heart" makes me think of the feeling that this person
is a very important part of you. The feeling of the line: "I thought I was
immune to this..." makes me think of the cynical position some of us hold in
life before we are hit between the eyes with the pure joy of having a child in our lives.
This is a great song!
Not one of my favorite songs, I'm
afraid. I like what it says, but I can't get past that it sounds like he's saying
"shark" instead of shock.
The first verse makes me think of Rick feeling all alone
"on his side of the great divide" and experiencing love at first sight
"a shock to my system". That feeling of "I'm awake, I'm
alive" that you have when you fall in love.
"And all of my pain is gone
Just like it never was
And for the first time in my life
I know what I feel.
Now every time we touch
I'm caught off my guard
That's no lie"
I love this verse. It reminds me of how I felt about my husband when we first met. I had
gotten dumped and really didn't want to put my heart out there again. But when I met my
husband and got to know him and fell in love with him, it was like the pain of the old
break -up
never happened. And I still catch myself staring at him, wondering how I could possible
love him more than I already do and how lucky I am to be in this relationship, it catches
me off guard. Makes my heart give a little lurch.
I like this song. To
me, it's about the chemistry two people feel when they meet and know they are "the
one" and you get that feeling in the pit of your stomach every time you think of that
person. |
