The R&B genre is littered with "baby, i'm sorry, please take me back" songs and generally, these men seem pretty sorry for what they have done. Ruben, on the other hand is real slick, finding sly ways to play down the awful things that he's done.
The song begins with Ruben apologizing in the form of really bad metaphors - "It's like I missed a shot/It's like I dropped the ball/It's like I'm on stage/and I forget the words." I'm sure his lady then tells him, "that's ok Ruben, mistakes happen." Then he continues with the bad metaphors - "It's like building a new house/ with no roof and no doors," which is just plain dumb; "It's like trying to propose, and I ain't got the ring," letting her know that he's forgetful.
After dishing out a couple of apologies, he starts complaining about the number of times he's had to apologize - "But girl I've apologized a million times before/I'll apologize a million more/So here it comes again for all the wrong I've done/So get ready babe/Here's one million one." Yo Ruben, if you still have shit to apologize for, don't be complaining.
The golden nugget of this apology is the chorus, where Ruben tells his lady that this is his "sorry for 2004." He then tells her the months for which his apology applies to - "I'm sorry for May, and I'm sorry for June, I'm sorry for July, in case I don't tell you - August, September, October, November, till your December, I'm sorry, 2004." I like the way he adds 2004; it's like his apology has to stand up for that year, but come 2005, he's back to dropping the ball and missing the shot. I also like how January-April is simply unaccounted for.
As we continue into the second verse, it becomes a little unclear as to whether Ruben is apologizing for actual events or still speaking in metaphor. He's still singing, "It's like I..." which teases us, making us wonder what it was he ACTUALLY did. He continues, "It's like stayin' out at night, and way too much to drink," which I imagine means he's a drunk and not so good with the English language; "It's like you change your hair, and I don't say a thing," and I ask, is that what you did or is what you did equivalent to that?.
After suffering through the chorus, Ruben gets real serious about his apologies, so much that it requires some layered vocals and some background singers. He gets heartfelt - "I'm sorry for the way that I did you/ Sorry from the bottom of my heart for how I hurt you girl/Sorry on the weekend/sorry on the week days/Sorry for the things I did/sorry for the things I said." You know if he is apologizing for the weekdays and the weekends, he must be serious.
And, then, the details (finally!) - hidden behind one big "Oooooooooooooohhhhhhh!" and a "Wooooooooh!" is the truth - "All them strip clubs/all them hot tubs." Strip clubs and hot tubs, holy shit. But then he promises, "I'm gonna give them up because I don't want to lose your love." But it gets worse, as another "Oooooooooooooohhhhhhh!" and one more "Wooooooooh!" can't hide the truth - "All them three-ways/all my cheating days." But he swears, "They're all gone, gone, gone, gone."
Ok, so let's get this straight. Ruben is apologizing to his significant other, and swearing that 2004 is going to be a year of trust and honesty, at least May-December. He probably started off by saying, "Baby, I have done you wrong." And she said, "Ruben, what did you do baby?" And he said, "Well, baby, I'm not going to tell you what I did but I am going to tell you some things equivalent to what I did." And she said, "Um." And he said, "Well, it's like when you're on stage and you forget the words to the song you're singing." She then said, "Baby, I don't understand." And he said, "Damn it woman, why do you always make me apologize." And she said, "Ruben, its ok." And then he went "Oooooooooooooohhhhhhh!" and "Wooooooooh!" and then muttered, "Well, I participated in some three-ways in addition to cheating on you a lot. I also like to visit strip clubs and I invested our savings in hot tubs."
This is the worst apology I've ever heard. I can't imagine any woman taking him back after that. Now when he sings this song in concert, Ruben probably says, "This one is for the ladies." However, this is really a male anthem in disguise. It isn't really about some guy apologizing to his lady for mistakes he's made. This is actually a song about a guy bragging to his buddies about his three-ways and illicit acts in hot tubs. He's also making fun of his woman for being dumb enough to take him back each time. His buds are probably like, "Damn Ruben, you got the best of both worlds, how do you do it?" And he was like, "Bro, apologize in metaphors and do things like apologize for months, but not all the months, or apologize for weekends and weekdays, but not holidays. Buses got a different schedule on holidays, me too." And his bros are like, "ok cool."
3 comments:
Nicely deconstructed, but I find his song lyrics still so complex..what is he trying to say?
:)
Hilarous post! It's my new pretend favorite song now because of the light you shone on it.
A confession, I liked his first single.
Despite all of this song's laughable qualities, I still kinda like it.
It is so bad it's good. The video, on the other hand, is just plain corny. It is funny to see him say "all the strip clubs" and have his girlfriend smile and shed a tear.
I could write a thousand words on why it's awful, but you kind of said it all, and better than I could.
If I may add that anyone who does so much to say sorry for,and then follows up with 50 bouquets of roses, that's a little scary, like a major sign of an abusive partner. She should RUN!
Poor Reuben, I just don't buy him as a playa. What happened to the velvet teddy bear? It also sounds like a major rip of Confessions part whatever from Usher.
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