Those Things They Do

I just rewatched the movie "That Thing You Do!" because it was on TV and I recognized the Orange circle. And I like the movie and the song. Anyways I watched it, great fun. Then I re-learned the song on guitar. I made the epiphany while learning it that they never say what exactly she does. The Wonders are always so vauge when describing what she is doing. The most depth they get into is "doin' that thing you do." What is she doing? Is she raping people? Is she spontaneously combusting? Is she inventing a new subspecies of firebreathing rhinos? Is she curled up in a dark room drinking Fresca until death? What is it?

I came to realize that almost every song of that era is really vague, like the Beatles' "Love Me Do." "Love, love me do. You know I love you. I'll always be true. So please... Love Me Do." The obviously omitted lyric from the original recording was "You know I love you, despite that there's a huge dragon parading around the square and making a bloody mess out of the festivities. Also, the scissor people of Zeta Centauri are quite upset with the racket we're making. You'll tell us how you really feel about our music, saavy? I'll always be true." Those lyrics were rumored to have been taken out because they seemed too ominous for the idealistic time. All song have been compromised. Censorship is rampant and we must speak out before explexica