During his three years of exile in Boston as a scholarship student at the Berklee School of Music, far from his Florida home, Jonathan Bates pulled further and further away from all that the city represented. “There wasn’t much to do except get drunk, do drugs, or get into fights,” he remembers. “And it always seemed to be snowing. So I started to write music.”
Beginning with … boredom never sounded so sweet, a home-brewed EP that he produced in 1999 and gave away to strangers on the street, Bates put together a body of work under the name mellowdrone. “I didn’t want to use my own name because people might come to expect me to do only one kind of music,” he explains. “With another name, I felt that I could do anything.”
The disc made its way to L.A., and Bates, convinced that “Berklee really sucked,” followed. Essentially homeless for several months, he crashed on the couches of friends, picked up odd jobs, but mainly concentrated on writing new material. Once he got his own place he pieced together a makeshift studio, with a bargain-basement computer, a tinny Casio keyboard from Radio Shack, and a few guitars.
From this jumble of mismatched gear came the second mellowdrone EP, glassblower, on January 1, 2001, which Bates sold exclusively on his website, mellowdrone.com. Word of this odd, somewhat solitary, and frighteningly talented artist began to spread: Ryan Ayanian spent three months tracking him down in order to sign on as his co-manager, and producer/A&R executive Tony Berg, whose track record includes discovering Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Beck, made mellowdrone one of his first signings after coming onboard at ARTISTdirect Records.
“Jonathan isn’t afraid to take on difficult subjects,” he explains. “He does not write with inhibition. And that individuality is also manifest in his recording process, which is the most unusual hybrid of DIY and state-of-the-art I’ve ever encountered. His recordings have a homespun quality, yet you’re dazzled by the sonics. That, coupled with his songwriting and his talent as a musician, distinguishes him from anybody I’ve ever heard. Plus, he can make me laugh at will – which gives him a power over me I’m not altogether happy about.”
As an opening act for Elbow, South, Remy Zero, Starsailor, and other headliners at West Coast shows, mellowdrone added stage chops to studio wizardry, both in group and solo settings. “One moment he’s playing something beautiful and mesmerizing,” says Ayanian, “then all of a sudden he’s a total smart-ass onstage. At one of his earliest shows a few girls sitting in the front were laughing. Jonathan stopped in mid-song and said, ‘Hold on…will you laugh again, please?’ He totally put this girl on the spot, but she did laugh, and he recorded it and wove the sample into the rhythm of his next song. He had everyone eating out of the palm of his hand.”
Citing influences that range from film score composer Danny Elfman through French avant-gardist Erik Satie to his “favorite Beatle” George Harrison, Bates has taken the next big step in his career with the EP a demonstration of intellectual property, an ambitious project conceived specifically to break free from pop clichés and force people to look at themselves and their world in unfamiliar ways.
“I don’t want to be preachy,” he insists, “and if I took myself too seriously I’d be the first guy to make fun of that. But with everybody sick of what’s going on but not doing anything about it, if I can say something through music that makes people really question the way things are, then that’s all I really want to do. But who gives a fuck what I think anyway.”
For more info on the band please visit the official home page.
http://www.mellowdrone.com
http://myspace.com/mellowdrone
happy together
Mellowdrone Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I do
I think about you day and night
It's only right
To think about the girl you love and hold her tight
So happy together
If I should call you up
And you say you belong to me and ease my mind
Imagine how the world could be
So very fine
So happy together
I can't see me lovin' nobody but you
For all my life
When you're with me, baby the skies will be blue
For all my life
Me and you and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice
It has to be
The only one for me is you
And you for me
So happy together
Imagine me and you and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice
It has to be
The only one for me is you
And you for me
So happy together
I can't see me lovin' nobody but you
For all my life
When you're with me baby the skies will be blue
For all my life
I can't see me lovin' nobody but you
For all my life
When you're with me baby the skies will be blue
For all my life
So happy together
So happy together
In "Happy Together," Mellowdrone frontman Jonathan Bates sings about being deeply in love with someone to the point where he can't imagine loving anyone else. The song opens with the line "Imagine me and you, I do," which sets the tone for a daydreamy love song. Throughout the song, the singer thinks about this person day and night and how it's only right to hold onto the person they love and keep them close.
Bates goes on to suggest that he's so deeply in love with this person that he can't even fathom the idea of the world without them. He envisions a world in which they're together, and everything is just fine. The chorus repeats the line "So happy together" as a mantra, emphasizing that the singer and their love interest are truly happy when they're together.
Overall, "Happy Together" presents a classic love song theme that's both timeless and universal. The lyrics may be simple, but the message is powerful: love can make you feel alive and happy.
Line by Line Meaning
Imagine me and you
Picture a scenario where both the singer and the listener are together
I do
The singer not only imagines it but also accepts it as a possibility
I think about you day and night
The singer obsesses over the listener
It's only right
It is appropriate for the singer to think about the listener in this way
To think about the girl you love and hold her tight
The singer desires to love and physically embrace the listener, who is presumed to be female
So happy together
The singer believes that this union would result in joy and contentment
If I should call you up
The singer considers the possibility of contacting the listener
Invest a dime
The singer is willing to pay the cost of making a phone call
And you say you belong to me and ease my mind
The singer hopes that the listener reciprocates their feelings, and thus feels reassured
Imagine how the world could be
The singer imagines the positive impact this union could have on the world
So very fine
This impact would be overwhelmingly positive
I can't see me lovin' nobody but you
The singer cannot imagine feeling this way about anyone other than the listener
For all my life
This feeling is expected to last a lifetime
When you're with me, baby the skies will be blue
The singer believes that the listener's presence will make their life much brighter
Me and you and you and me
A continuation of the theme of the two being together
No matter how they toss the dice, It has to be
Regardless of any complications or random chance, the singer believes that they are meant to be with the listener
The only one for me is you
The singer believes that the listener is the only person who could make them feel this way
And you for me
The singer hopes that the listener feels the same way
So happy together
The song ends with a repetition of the chorus, emphasizing the positive emotion that the singer anticipates from this imagined romantic liaison.
Contributed by Ian N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@DomnulFisk1
I think this is the best version if this song. Thanks a lot!
@Co0k135m4n
where can i download the song? anybody, please? great upload btw!