Music: Ordinary Day by Vanessa Carlton

For some reason, "Ordinary Day" has always stood out in my head.  It never got as much acclaim as Vanessa Carlton's previous hit, "A Thousand Miles". I still think that this song shows her versatility as a songwriter, especially considering she was 19 when she wrote it. 


So what makes this song so special it warrants mention? The answer is simple; it talks about a girl losing her virginity without getting explicit.  In fact, the casual listener may think it's a harmless ditty about a slow, summer's day.


If you haven't heard this song, please do yourself a favor and visit the link below:

For the sake of brevity, I won't post all the lyrics, only the pertinent ones.  What we learn from this song is that this guy comes along and seduces her because he was so stunning.  He could have been attractive or simply done something else to make himself stand apart from the crowd. Perhaps even more damning is the hint that he has done the same to other girls before: 


And as he asked if I would come along 
I started to realize- 
That everyday you find 
Just what he's looking for, 
Like a shooting star he shines. 

And using his smooth operator charm he convinces her to give in to his sexual advances.  He tells her to take advantage of her fleeting youth and that she can have whatever she dreams of, so long as she makes the leap into adulthood.  If that seemed vague enough, we then learn that she "knows" him in the Biblical sense of the word.

And I as looked up into those eyes
His vision borrows mine.
And to know he's no stranger,
For I feel I've held him for all of time.

What I find more provocative is that we get to experience the orgasm the girl has during the course of the song.  There is one stanza where the rhythm increases and crescendos. 

Please come with me,
See what I see.
Touch the stars for time will not flee.
Time will not flee.
Can you be 

Where it not in such a lovely tune, the whole "please come with me" line would be branded vulgar. But there it is, he is requesting her to share an orgasm with him.  And in an almost touching way, we learn that this girl sees two people sharing an orgasm as an event where the whole world melts away and there are just two people, in time, connecting not only to each other, but to the universe itself.  

At the end of this stanza, the tempo returns to the slow plodding which started this song, and she starts regaining her senses and questioning if it was all a dream. Then she sees him in the doorway.  And he's holding a deal, which could be seen as an engagement ring.  

But I've never liked that interpretation.  I've always seen the boy as more of a great seducer of women who tackles his prey and moves on to the next one. As to what the "deal" could be with this interpretation, I haven't a clue, unless the spelling is changed to "dill".