Too Much Information

I've always been an avid collector of trivia of all shapes and sizes. Over the past few years it's all been put towards some constructive end via regular pub quizzes – but back in the first year of uni those days were just beginning, and I still wasn't convinced there was any real value in my own fascination with 'useless information'. I couldn't say for definite whether it was actually standing in the way of my social life (and if so, how)...but I had my doubts.

Of course, come second year, the doubts were largely dispelled by my stint on the 'University Challenge' team...but that's another story. ;)

I think this marks my (admittedly slightly clunky) first attempt at working in some French too, in the form of a couple of lines from Francis Cabrel's excellent Qu'Est-Ce Que Je Viens De Dire?, which also seems to deal with a young man struggling to concentrate on what he finds important in life.

TOO MUCH INFORMATION

For once let’s forget the hurt in the heart

And talk about the pain

In the busy scrambling brain

Where to start?

Too much information

Flooding through the corridors of thought

That’s why this guy’s so often overwrought

That and the lack of conversation.

Heading for a mental catastrophe

Et la voix dedans me dit

“Tout va bien, t’as la tête ailleurs”

Head elsewhere, head in the clouds.

Longing to share the top facts and info

With somebody, anybody

If they’ll listen and at least pretend

To be interested they can be his friend.

Friendship’s hard to come by in this way

And as for anything more, well

The ones he likes are all party animals

Like the millions of others all over the world.

Not that much interest

In the day it snowed in the Sahara

Or the Battle of the Atlantic

Or a little-known Queen song.

And as it turns out

The heart can’t be forgotten

More and more these days

It rules the head.

That’s when his whole world starts sinking

A ship in a brainstorm

Capsized by far too much thinking

He does it to keep his heart warm.

Thanks to: Francis Cabrel for Qu’Est-Ce Que Je Viens De Dire?, Elvis Costello & The Attractions for Party Girl, and Brian May for Let Your Heart Rule Your Head.