There’s a song that feels like a shared secret, lying forgotten in a club locker that once belonged to both me and a friend. It’s Broccoli, Etc.’s track, and I can’t even tell anymore if it was mine or theirs.
No More Encore Requests
The guitar intro of this track has the power to transport me back to the clumsy days of youth. 🎸
Although Broccoli, Etc. released the ‘No More Encore Requests’ EP in 2007, it took me over a decade to discover their music. I can’t recall the exact year, but I do remember being fed up with a winter that refused to end, even as April approached. ❄️ I was certain that the world was slipping into another ice age, as I shivered through the day in lighter clothes, tricked by the occasional warmth that would quickly vanish with afternoon rain. 🌧️
Then one day, I cracked open a window that had been shut tight for months, and a warm, comforting breeze swept in, like a hug from mom. That single moment transformed my room into a pocket of spring. 🌼 On my desk, the speakers played ‘No More Encore Requests’, and it felt like winter could never touch spring again. From that day, the song became one of the most-played tracks in my playlists. 🌺
We can’t sing a song that’s ended
Even if everyone wishes for it
Don’t make me feel miserable anymore
If you’re pretending to hold on, let’s stop here
Please don’t make my heart flutter and keep staring
I know it’s just a passing regret
No matter how much we said we loved
Can those feelings return again?
We can’t go back
Saying this without any expression
Does that make me cruel?
Please don’t make my heart flutter and keep staring
I know it’s just a passing regret
No matter how much we said we loved
Can those feelings return again?
We can’t go back
Saying this without any expression
Does that make me cruel?
It seems I can’t do without you
Does saying that make me miserable?
How would I have felt then?
We can’t go back
Saying this without any expression
Does that make me cruel?
We can’t sing a song that’s ended
Even if everyone wishes for it
Don’t make me feel miserable anymore
If you’re pretending to hold on, it’s best to stop here
Though it’s a song of heartache, to me, it felt like a promise that winter couldn’t overstay its welcome and encroach on spring. And just like that, winter vanished without a trace. From then on, it became a frequent tune in my playlists. Sure, winter came back with a vengeance every year, but the man in the song never reunited with his love, did he? 💔
While today’s music, tightly packed with instruments and vocals, is alluring, I prefer music with spaciousness, like floating between galaxies or quantum vacuums. 🎶 If the former feels like being in a massive concert crowd, the latter feels like being the star on a small stage. Being the star is always cooler than being just another face in the crowd. 🌟
Such music sometimes lets me meet the old me, with edges that weren’t polished but were charming in their own way. I was clumsy but, in my own way, okay. I’d advise against listening to rock until sunset at the Blues House under Hongdae’s Far East Broadcasting Station, but I’d also want to pat my old self and say, ‘It’s all going to be okay.’ Even if it wasn’t quite okay. 😅
This year, like those days, winter was relentless. So from March, I played ‘No More Encore Requests’ whenever I could. It didn’t rush winter away, but it gave me the strength to keep hoping for spring. 🌷 I hope this song, deserving of the title ‘universal art’, can help heal more people as it did for me.
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