It’s funny how a song can completely change in your mind once you actually pay attention to its lyrics. One such example is the 1979 song “Escape” by Rupert Holmes. This song is mostly perceived as romantic, mainly because of its chorus:

If you like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain
If you’re not into yoga, if you have half a brain
If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape
I’m the love that you’ve looked for, write to me, and escape

I, for one, never payed much attention to the rest of the lyrics and therefore was just another person that associated this song with a romantic setting (as it is used in general in pop culture).

It was only once I got acquainted with the Jack Johnson’s version of the song for The Secret Life of Water Mitty‘s soundtrack (great OST by the way, fully recommended), that I started paying more attention to it (because it’s now part of one of my frequent Spotify playlists that I use for working).

It’s actually a story about a guy that wants to try hooking up with someone else because his current relationship has become routine. The song’s chorus is really the text of a personal ad in the newspaper that caught his attention and that ends up being the reason that he goes to meet the ad’s author at a bar, only to find that the woman is actually his current partner.

You can look at this through the eternal romantic’s eyes by saying: “oh, but in the end they found out that they really were made for each other!”. Sure, but they were willing to cheat on each other first.

So romantic, right?