Over the years there have been a few songs that I’ve heard fragments of only two or three times before they were lost into that tedious sound warehouse in the sky some refer to as the ionosphere. There is seldom a common bond between these songs and why I still remember those random thirty-second segments is something I don’t always understand myself. Was it the melody that caught my ear? Snappy lyrics? Catchy beat? Was it the fact I was doing something important when I first caught an earful of the song? Who knows? Here are but two Meditations on a Mix Tape.
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We were meant to be together...above the palm tree
For years I was aware of a brief bit of audiotape that I had surely recorded sometime in the early 1990s, a haunting tune with a certain tropical air to it. What made it difficult to identify was that whoever was singing made a point of quickly flowing his lyrics from one line another; only certain words were identifiable: “we were meant to be together” and something about a “palm tree.” But this sultry imagery combined with the breezy but faint sounds of crashing ocean waves did little to help me explain it to others, especially when young and naïve ears misinterpreted the line of the song – more so the title of the song – “Forbidden Love” as “The two that love.”
As an added insult was that by now I had misplaced the cassette – I was going on these lyrics by sheer memory – and naturally no sooner was the tape lost did I finally find an online forum dedicated to helping people identify lost songs. My attempts of explaining myself were all but successful - could I provide more lyrics? Have I tried a Peter Cetera lyric engine? No, my only real memory is the melody, something difficult for me to transcribe, and I again leave the mystery behind for another three or four years.
But when the cassette surfaced earlier this spring, I was surprised that the lyrics now were somewhat clearer and, more so, searchable. Finally I was able to put a name with a song: Bronx Style Bob and his minor hit, “Forbidden Love.” Bob Khaleel was the musician behind the song, a New York City native who had ties with Ice-T and House of Pain’s Everlast.
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Just forget about the hard times left behind, and think of where you really want to go....
There was, once upon a time, a Norwegian trio of musicians that called themselves One 2 Many, which does not leave much to the imagination except the question of whether or not they preferred themselves a duo. Having a common phrase as a band name, albeit spelled differently, probably led to some confusion with some listeners, mistaking the band name with some random words from the DJ.
I first heard bits and pieces of their lone, hit single, “Downtown,” around 1988 or so. Because I usually heard the song long after it had begun, I never heard, much less knew, whether or not the DJ said anything as to the name of the band. By dumb luck, the one time I do hear the beginning of the song was the time I was recording music off the radio to audiocassette. Somewhere in his talk, the DJ made mention that this was one too many “Downtown” – leading me to believe this was one more in a long line of songs that couldn’t think of a better title than “Downtown.” Petula Clark was the only other “Downtown” I knew of then, but since, Lloyd Cole and Neil Young have had their own “Downtown,” too.
While I had listened to the cassette over the years, it wasn’t until maybe fifteen years had passed before I decided to play detective and figure out if anything about the long-forgotten song had made it into the digital age. Thumbing through an online listing of Top 40 hits, I spotted the song title and stared stupidly at the band name: One 2 Many. The name of the band was out there, just not something I was able to grasp.
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Forbidden Love
(Bob Khalil)
Bronx Style Bob
From the album Gramma's Ghost
1992
Can you bring the light, my children?
Can you bring the light, my love?
Smile was like the night laughing in the water
The deeper inside is all the purecy of love
We'll have it like the past
And the grass is for the universe
To thinking we're born way to live down a dream
Refrain 1:
My love, I suppose this is well life a bonus
And when the marchingband players
Takes me away, you love
Refrain 2:
Forbidden love, but we were meant to be together
Forbidden passions over fridge above the palmtree
Forbidden love, but we were meant to be together
Forbidden passions over fridge above the palmtree
Above the clouds
Where my grandmother fought with the guns of life
Above the wings
Where the angels dance
Blessed by the roots of love I should know you
Promised by the god I shall exist for you
And I love you, I need you
I love you, I need you
Refrain 2
You know I love you, baby
Yeah (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
I shall love, I shall want you 'till the end of time
When you're goin' and you hide, you know it
That you're on my mind
Forbidden love, but we were meant to be together
Forbidden passions over fridge above the palmtree
Ah, aha
Yeah
Yeaheaheaheah
The days I think about you
But what seems an eternity
To keep your overconscience
I prophesize my own destiny
And when you go I'll be right there
Wait 'till the land's above the sky, you know
To build on the woods of love
Sees that love don't die
Refrain 2
Ahaha
Yeaheaheah
Refrain 1
