And Everything Changed

Andy Shauf “Spanish on the Beach”

The character in “Spanish on the Beach” is a guy looking back on a vacation with his ex-girlfriend with enough hindsight to see exactly how the events of that trip foreshadowed the impending end of their relationship, but also a wistful nostalgia – “I wished it could be permanent.” Andy Shauf’s lyrics are plainspoken and economical as they glide along his melodies but they convey volumes of subtext about this guy and these fairly banal anecdotes. The third verse, in which he recalls fantasizing about a purposefully obnoxious public wedding proposal, is funny but also clever in sliding right by a crucial detail: “if I had bought the ring.” It does a lot to explain why the song feels more ambivalent than melancholy – he clearly had his doubts before this point, but now he seems to be wondering if he’d made the commitment they’d be together, albeit probably unhappy.

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