Chuck & Sarah: A Simple Song that says so much

Anyone remember that scene from the movie “Garden State” where Natalie Portman introduces Zachary Braff to The Shins where she says “You gotta hear this one song it will change your life…I swear!!”? It is one of my favourite movie scenes of all time, you see Braff’s character listening to “New Slang” and it just hits him like an epiphany, from that point on having met Portman’s character his life did change.

Fans of CHUCK know that the Pilot episode ends on that beach with "A Comet Appears" by The Shins and that indicates a point where having met Sarah and getting the intersect Chuck’s life changes.

So a last month I was watching Saturday Night Live (SNL) just to see The Shins… and they did it to me again with a simple song called "Simple Song". I remember chatting with a fellow Chuckster about my attachment with this song and how I felt it related to Chuck and Sarah. I had a sense that at some stage I would have to write about it; it stirred the emotions that much!!

This song is just so amazing; it almost seems that it was written about Chuck & Sarah. In fact I have convinced myself this song IS about Chuck & Sarah. The love, the angst, the happiness and the sorrow of our favourite spy couple.

He made a fumbling play for her heart... the act struck a spark

The way Sarah and Chuck make each other better people; Sarah showing Chuck that he destined for better things and that he can be a hero just by being true to himself and Chuck showing Sarah that she doesn’t have to be just a spy, she can be a real girl and she deserves a real life.

Pay special attention to the last 6 lines of the song, which I believe is just the essence of the Chuck & Sarah romance.

Below are the song lyrics which I just want to share with you all; I think the song speaks for itself so I will not add any unnecessary analysis

Simple Song By The Shins (Lyrics by James Mercer)

Well, this is just a simple song,

To say what you done.

I told you 'bout all those fears,

And away they did run.

You sure must be strong,

And you feel like an ocean being warmed by the sun.

When I was just nine years old,

 I swear that I dreamt,

Your face on a football field,

And a kiss that I kept,

Under my vest.

Apart from everything,

 But the heart in my chest.

I know that things can really get rough,

When you go it alone. Don't go thinking you gotta be tough,

And play like a stone.

Could be there's nothing else in our lives so critical,

As this little home.

My life in an upturned boat, Marooned on a cliff.

You brought me a great big flood,

And you gave me a lift. Girl, what a gift

Will you tell me with your tongue,

And your breath was in my lungs,

And we float up through the rift.

I know that things can really get rough,

When you go it alone. Don't go thinking you gotta be tough,

 And play like a stone.

Could be there's nothing else in our lives so critical,

 As this little home.

Well, this would be a simple song,

To say what you done.

I told you 'bout all those fears,

And away they did run.

You sure must be strong,

When you feel like an ocean being warmed by the sun.

Remember walking a mile to your house,

Aglow in the dark?

I made a fumbling play for your heart,

And the act struck a spark.

You wore a charm on the chain that I stole, Especial for you.

Love's such a delicate thing that we do,

With nothing to prove,

Which I never knew.

Finally I have spoken about how much I love The Head and The Heart’s “Rivers and Roads” but does anyone else think “Simple Song” could work as the final song on CHUCK? We started on the beach with a song by The Shins; could we end it on that same beach with a song by the same band?

You guys know how much I love my symmetry!!

Can any of the You-tube gurus out there cut something together? I think it would be awesome! :)

Love's such a delicate thing that we do...

PS: If you love "Simple Song" like I do, buy the latest album by The Shins called "Port of Morrow" which features the track!!

PPS: The Shins are confirmed to be performing in Australia at Splendor in the Grass 2012, along with a lot of other great bands heard on Chuck but I don't think I can make it... :'-/

PPPS: Shout out to @Dom2392; a fellow CHUCKSTER on Twitter who I keep promising to do a post on the brilliance of Sarah Walker's legs. Dom, my next post while not solely about Agent Walker's pegs will be packed with mentions of said Agent's legs...and arms....and clothing...and weapons...

A song of post-CHUCK malaise

Well as awesome as chocolates, bunnies and bilbies are Easter is a time of year that many of us often reflect on what the great sacrifice of the individual for the many. Sacrifice, love, family, fellowship and goodwill you don’t have to be religious to value these concepts and when I reflect on the concepts I often comeback to CHUCK and how the show enshrined these concepts and staying true to them throughout its five season run.

So now is as good of time as any to post again here on “Cheerful Symmetry”; truth is I would have loved to have written more here but I have started back at university some six year after first graduating. It has been non-stop with lectures and assessments plus becoming an uncle for the first time has kept me very busy and has meant I have neglected my blog writing. So I plan to make the most of this window opening up on my schedule and get something written.

I feel horrible for not having written here since the end of CHUCK and I put it down to the post-CHUCK malaise that has engulfed many of us; but whilst I haven’t watch too many episodes of the show since the CHUCK finale I have continued to listen much of the great music we have heard on the show.

I want to talk about one song in particular which I find myself listening to constantly now; probably more now since CHUCK finished than before when I first heard it in Chuck Vs The Third Dimension; that is the amazing track Lost Coastlines by Okkervil River.

The song was used brilliantly towards the end of that episode to describe Chuck’s acceptance of his loss of innocence in seeing Sarah killing Mauser in the previous episode (the seminal Chuck Vs The Santa Claus).  In many ways it was Chuck and Sarah’s Rubicon; Chuck finds the act of killing abhorrent but he recognizes that Sarah will do anything to protect him as he would for her. Even though it scares him he understands there is no turning his back on Agent Walker his future is with the beautiful yet deadly Sarah come what may.

The song is about setting off on a journey being unsure where it would take you… Chuck and Sarah’s journey took us to so many great places on the show. When I listen to the song now (and I have been a lot) it reminds me of a different journey; my journey to a world without CHUCK.

Sometimes the journey is just as important as the destination
(Thanks Liyana for the pic edit)

Let me break down the song, see what you all think…

Lost Coastlines By Okkervil River

Packed and all eyes turned in
No one to see on the quay, no one waving for me
Just the shoreline receding
Ticket in my hand, I'm thinking wish I didn't hand it in
'cause who said sailing is fine?
Leaving behind all the faces that I might
Replace if I tried on that long ride
Looking deep inside but I don't want to look so deep inside yet

This to me is my initial feeling on the ending of the show and the isolation I felt. It is also how CHUCK ended, I have not felt up to watching the past episodes again because as great the finale was it really was a heart-wrenching and draining experience. I feel like I have left a part of life behind but I am not prepared to move on yet.

Sit down, sit down on the prow to wave back
There might not be another stop further on the line
Look out, look out at each town that glides by
And there's another crowd to drown in crying eyes

This reminds me of the shared experience of CHUCK-loss; there were many brilliant Chucksters around that I talked to about the finale and how I felt and to all of you… I humbly and truly thank you all for it.

At the end of the day though, nobody can tell you how to feel; it’s a personal journey and so the sense of isolation  still remains.

And see how that light you love now just won't shine
There might just be another star that's high and far in some other sky
We sing, 'Is that marionette real enough yet to step off of that set
To decide what her dance might be doing?'
Ruining the play, too, and the ensuing melee escape.
We packed up all of our bags, the ship's deck now sags
With the weight of our tracks as we race beneath flags black and battered
Rattling our swords in service of some fated, foreign lords

Coming to the realization that CHUCK is over we now have the opportunity to find a new passion in the knowledge that we have fought had for the cause (with the psychological scars to prove it) and we as Chucksters will move on  in different directions but forever linked by the show.

I would like to think that somewhere down the line we will be rattling our swords in service of a new CHUCK project; because the show just means that much.

We sail out on orders from him but we find
The maps he sent to us don't mention lost coastlines
Where nothing we've actually seen has been mapped or outlined
And we don't recognize the names upon these signs

For me this is the realization that no matter how much we enjoy these new shows or interests, they are not CHUCK… the experience feels different, not better or worse…just different. 

So for me it is a new understanding; it tells me how special CHUCK is and that emotion blend that sets it apart from the rest.  I can’t recognize the heart of CHUCK in any other show, no matter how hard I look.

And every night finds us rocking and rolling on waves wild and wide
Well we have lost our way, but nobody's gonna say it outright
So we just go …. La la, la la la la, la la la la la la la la la la la laaaaa
Oh oh ohhhh….

The acceptance of that feeling of CHUCK-loss, it is the elephant in the room…we may never see it again and my feeling of indifference for anything else TV has to offer. I have come to terms with being lost and I am OK with it and for now I am just going to wallow in it.

I really hope that doesn’t sound too melancholy, it is just that the show has meant so much to me emotionally, creatively and even spiritually that I do feel somewhat lost especially when I think that there will be no new episodes of the show.

There are a lot of good show out there to watch now like Castle, Game of Thrones, How I met Your Mother etc. but in my opinion no other show has the same blend of heart, action, comedy and drama as CHUCK and that is why it will always be special to me.

I hope to be able to talk to you all about a Chuck movie some day; until then please feel free to find me on twitter ready and willing to talk about the show to anyone and everyone.




I will forever by rattling my sword in service of this cast



PS: I hope you have all had a great Easter and all the best to those celebrating Orthodox Easter this weekend.



Georgia the Easter Bunny says Christos Anesti & Happy Easter all!!