Last week I suddenly remembered a couple of lines from a song I once heard: The sun comes up, I think about you... I could hear more of the melody in my mind, but couldn't remember any more, so I turned to my trusty friend YouTube and found out the song is called "Losing My Mind" by Stephen Sondheim. I listened to a few different versions. Here is one of the original recordings (pieced together with a more recent recording to restore a missing bridge that was cut so the song could fit onto a vinyl record). [youtube="http://youtu.be/gkygFzLyQyg"] I love the melody and the repetition of the line "I think about you": The sun comes up I think about you The coffee cup I think about you ...(and in the next chorus) The morning ends I think about you I talk to friends I think about you The obsessiveness of the emotion is so clear through these lyrics. But as I kept listening, I felt that the line "It's like I'm losing my mind", which happens at the end of each chorus, somehow doesn't fit. It's distracting and takes the focus away from this idea of constantly thinking about someone. Of course, I can see what Steve was getting at with the lyric, but somehow it feels like...cheating. A few days later, I heard this Johnny Mercer tune for the first time: [youtube="http://youtu.be/OgoqYHtBEOY"] It's called "I Thought About You" and expresses exactly the same sentiment... but doesn't get sidetracked. Every scenario Mercer paints takes us back to this same idea. That works better for me. I love the first four lines of Sondheim's tune so much, though, it irks me that the rest of the words feel awkward. What do you think? Do you like either (or neither) of these songs? Do you have another favourite song that uses this same theme?