Sometime Around Midnight

There's an interesting story behind my introduction to this song.

I heard it on the local alternative radio station in the car ... probably a month or so ago. And I remember being instantly drawn to the song; the simplistic, yet effective, styling of the band and their delivery of the music. I remembered how much I enjoyed listening to the song ... but not what the song itself was titled.
I must have spent weeks desperately trying to remember any significant lyric of the song that I could possibly Google in order to discover the identity of the track; which had come to me on a shady weekday morning and then seemed to have disappeared from my radio station's play list. The only word I could remember was "midnight" ... and that was too vague to look up song lyrics.
Finally, one day, the string solo to my elusive track soared over the radio and, frantically excited, I turned around in the passenger seat and said excitedly to my sister, "This is my 'minutes to midnight' song!"
Why I adopted the title of Linkin Park's 2007 studio album as the unofficial title of this song, I'm not entirely sure. However, I soon learned that the lyric in which I got my "midnight" reference simply stated, "It starts sometime around midnight ..." - and the official title of the song was; well, you know.

Having finally tracked down and added the song to my vast collection of digital music, Sometime Around Midnight has been playing on my iPod nonstop. Each time I listen to the song, I find something new to appreciate about it; the unique vocals, the passionate lyrics, the simple - yet painful - story the song tells. There are no secret meanings behind this track - at least, none that I've come to find. To me, this song is simply about a man seeing an old "friend" at a bar - and all the bittersweet memories that brings back, all the unsatisfied desires of this lonely man.
And yet, that simplicity, that honesty ... is what makes this track so beautiful. In making this song "simple and sweet", the band has managed to create a track that is not only pleasant to listen to, but also easy to relate to - and that's a winning combination.

No matter how many times I listen to this song, though, I have to say my favorite part is the viola solo at the very beginning and very end; it seems to be what brings the entire track together. There's an emotion emitted from the strings that cannot be matched by any other instrument, and this track just wouldn't be complete without the element the viola brings.
Second on my list of favorite things about this song is probably the vocals. This band's lead singer has a unique, memorable, passionate voice that is impossible not to appreciate.

This is The Airborne Toxic Event with Sometime Around Midnight.

The Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight Official Music Video

Sometime Around Midnight
The Airborn Toxic Event

And it starts sometime around midnight;
Or at least that’s when you lose yourself for a minute or two.
As you stand under the bar lights;
And the band plays some song about forgetting yourself for a while.
And the piano’s this melancholy soundtrack to her smile.
And that white dress she’s wearing, you haven’t seen her for a while.

But you know that she’s watching,
She’s laughing, she’s turning, she’s holding her tonic like a cross.
The room’s suddenly spinning, she walks up and asks how you are.
So you can smell her perfume, you can see her lying naked in your arms.

And so there’s a change, in your emotions.
And all these memories come rushing like feral waves to your mind.
Of the curl of your bodies, like two perfect circles entwined.
And you feel hopeless and homeless and lost in the haze of the wine.

Then she leaves, with someone you don’t know.
But she makes sure you saw her; she looks right at you and bolts.
As she walks out the door; your blood boiling, your stomach in ropes.
Oh and when your friends say, “What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Then you walk, under the streetlights.
And you’re too drunk to notice that everyone is staring at you.
You just don’t care what you look like, the world is falling around you.

You just have to see her ...
You know that she’ll break you in two.