LOVE STUFF!
I never liked the cover photo of Elle King on her album Love Stuff, but I really love this picture of her. She’s lying down with her arms forward, showing off some awesome tattoos and those gorgeous eyes. I love the shirt (or dress?) she’s wearing with the shiny yet soft-looking material with the shiny gold trim on the hem of the sleeves and neckline. The way her hair is softly curled loosely and she’s leaning on her hand, together with the other details I mentioned is incredibly romantic.
But not this song! Ex’s and Oh’s could be referring to some ex-partners she regrets having been with – we can ALL relate to that one! Many times I’ve tortured myself over a particular post-high school boyfriend (someone I knew for 4 years during high school, and then dated immediately after high school) who still tries to get back together with me every time he has a break up: just move on already buddy (I did). OR, ha! She might be regretting her treatment of some ex-partners. One of the lyrics makes me think she just stayed with someone while times were bad (winter) and then as soon as things were looking up for her, she took off on them (spring). Lots of allusions to mistreatment in this song: “frozen in the spring” – did she freeze someone out? Give them the cold shoulder, stop speaking to them – completely cut them out of her life as the “seasons go by”?? Sounds like it to me.
“So the hearts keep breaking and the heads just roll, you know, that’s how the story goes” has a couple of thoughts for me. One is, she is saying she was just one after another after another and whatever, that’s just the way it is, if one person doesn’t fit in her life she just goes to on to the next, and then the next. From one person to the next perhaps, never being on her own. But also, second thought on “story”, could be a sarcasm, as in that’s their story, that’s what they have been telling other people, making her look bad and she’s saying “you know, that’s how the story goes”, because she’s a famous person and after someone is with you they feel like they have a right to talk shit about you to the tabloids. Comes with the territory I imagine and it must feel so frustrating that you can’t do anything about it.
The first two paragraphs to this song, makes it sound like she’s going to tell you a story, like, she’s being very specific there, and then the One, Two, Three bridge comes in and changes your mind because now she says there are many ex’s trying to get her back…..but then the song moves on to staying, leaving, being a heart-breaker, etc., and we’re back to regretting our ex’s. Because they haunt her. They still want her. They won’t let her go! (And we all know what the oh’s are……)
LOL so I am trying something new here today, just upgraded my blog website so that I can include M4P recordings of my lovely voice accompanied on my tenor ukulele. We’ll see if I can do this song any justice, as much as you could when you are performing it on a uke – and I messed up during the last round of One, Two, Three: I can be heard saying “come back to me” instead of “run” – dang it!!
So here is a pdf of Ex’s & Oh’s in the key of D minor, and a recording of me playing and singing it. Enjoy!
Cat's Ukulele Songs 