Serendipity means a "happy accident" or "pleasant surprise"; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful without looking for it. The word has been voted one of the ten English words hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company. However, due to its sociological use, the word has been exported into many other languages.Julius H. Comroe once described serendipity as : to look for a needle in a haystack and get out of it with the farmer's daughter.
The first noted use of "serendipity" in the English language was by Horace Walpole (1717–1797). In a letter to Horace Mann (dated 28 January 1754) he said he formed it from the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip, whose heroes "were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of". The name stems from Serendip, an old name for Sri Lanka (aka Ceylon), from Arabic Sarandib, from Tamil "Seren deevu" or from Sanskrit Suvarnadweepa or golden island (some trace the etymology to Simhaladvipa which literally translates to "Dwelling-Place-of-Lions Island"). Christophero Armeno had translated the Persian fairy tale into Italian, adapting Amir Khusrau's Hasht Bihisht of 1302.
Shawn Colvin (b. January 10, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter and musician.
Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota and spent her youth in London, Ontario and Carbondale, Illinois. She learned to play guitar at the age of 10 and grew listening to her father's collection of music, which included artists such as Peter Seeger and the Kingston Trio.
Colvin moved to Austin, Texas and joined a Western swing band called the Dixie Diesels. She then entered the the folk circuit in Illinois and San Francisco, California before forming the Shawn Colvin Band. She "strained her voice" singing rock songs took a sabbatical from singing at the age of 24.
Colvin later moved to New York City and with a renewed voice became involved in the Fast Folk cooperative of Greenwich Village. Over time she became progressively more popular on the new folk circuit and while appearing in the off-Broadway shows, Diamond Studs, Pump Boys and Dinettes, and Lie of the Mind. She was featured in Fast Folk magazine, and in 1987 sang backup vocals on the song Luka by Suzanne Vega.
Leon James "Lee" DeWyze, Jr. (born April 2, 1986) is an American singer-songwriter from Mount Prospect, Illinois, and the winner of the ninth season of American Idol. Prior to Idol, DeWyze had a solo career and formed the Lee DeWyze Band. He had also released two independent albums called So I'm Told in 2007 and Slumberland in 2010, both on WuLi Records. His post-Idol album Live It Up was released on November 16, 2010, through 19 Entertainment and RCA Records. WuLi Records, citing demand from DeWyze's fan base, plans to release a third album of pre-Idol recordings, What Once Was, on February 14, 2012.
DeWyze was born in Mount Prospect, Illinois, the eldest son of Kathleen (née Donahue) and Leon (Lee) DeWyze, Sr., who worked as a postal carrier in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. He has two older sisters, Shannon and Sarah, and a younger brother, Michael. His musical influences include Cat Stevens, Eric Clapton, Ben Harper, and Simon & Garfunkel.
DeWyze attended St. James Catholic Elementary School in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and Prospect High School in Mount Prospect, Illinois, up until his senior year, due to too many unserved detention hours. After leaving Prospect High, he attended Forest View Alternative School in Arlington Heights, having been inspired both by his teachers and his interest in music to return to his studies. While he never graduated from either high school, he eventually got his GED.
Corey Ford (April 29, 1902-July 27, 1969) was an American humorist, author, outdoorsman, and screenwriter. He was also friendly with several members of the Algonquin Round Table and occasionally ate lunch there.
Originally a member of the Class of 1923 at Columbia College of Columbia University, at which he wrote the Varsity Show "Half Moon Inn," he failed to graduate. Instead, he proceeded into a career as a freelance writer and humorist. In the 1930s he was noted for satirical sketches of books and authors penned under the name "John Riddell". Richard Wright's "Black Boy" was lampooned as "Hollywood Boy" contrasting the author's celebrity with the raw story portrayed in the book. Theodore Dreiser was shown adopting the guise of a common workman building his newest and biggest novel from bricks and mortar. A forgotten book, "Dead Lovers are Good Lovers," was reviewed as "Dead Novelists are Good Novelists." Ford's series of "Impossible Interviews" for Vanity Fair magazine featured ill-assorted celebrities: Stalin vs John D. Rockefeller, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes vs Al Capone, Sigmund Freud vs Jean Harlow, Sally Rand vs Martha Graham, Gertrude Stein vs Gracie Allen, Adolf Hitler vs Huey Long.
Gimme some lovin'
Gimme some lovin'
Gimme some o' that lovin'
I said right now
You better do that
Told you that I want to
Told you that I want to
Told you that I have to
I said right now
You better do that
If it's only rock and roll
How come music's in my soul?
Turn it on
Come on let's go
Yeah, right now, yeah...
If it's only rock and roll
How come music's in my soul?
Turn it on
Come on let's go
Yeah, right now
So long ago, on a summer day
I put my best shirt on
I took you to the matinee
With money from mowing lawns
Money from mowing lawns
You worked down at the Dairy Queen
We hit it off from the start
Now there's a blizzard in between
Frost inside a heart
If I had a good reason, I would share
It with you
Then the coldest season came
Making room for something new
Good for you
Good for me
Call it serendipity
Walking on coals, just trying to get through
But summers don't last that long
All that is left here is the truth
Everything else is gone
Gone without a good reason for me to share
With you
When the coldest season came
Making room for something new
Good for you
Good for me
Call it serendipity
If I could only hit my stride
I'll make it to the other side
I don't wanna be roadkill
When there's half a cup to fill
To fill
Good for you (Call it serendipity)
Good for me (Serendipity)
Call it serendipity
Call it serendipity
Call it serendipity
Walking on coals, just trying to get through
Now summers don't last so long
All that is left here is the truth
*whistle*
Your eyes across the room they did not smolder.
You looked so young and fine I shrugged my shoulders
I thought to myself, 'There's the door.'
I'm played out on l'amour
My nerve was up, my fear just made me bolder!
Your feet across the dance floor did not burn up
And once, for half an hour you did not turn up!
I thought to myself, 'Take your time,
Talk to him, it's not your dime.'
One word occurred to me before I spurned love
refrain (L & C):
Serendipity, is what you mean to me
Serendipity, the first warm day in spring
Serendipity, you'll be my lover for eternity
I will take one more dance
With a smile on the chance we will love.
HA-HA!
Jeffrey: HEY!
Indeed you caught my eye for you are handsome
You reminded me of Edith Piaf chansons
I thought to myself, 'He's so nice.'
Won't pretend I'm not surprised
Most men I"ve known are either beasts or burdens!
refrain
[I will take one more dance
RELEASE ME
PLEASE COME TO ME
OH SERENDIPITY
They always saw what I couldn't see
When they tried to take my dignity
But I'm tougher getting stronger growing hard to beat
Always searching for a better way to be me
I'm on a one-way street
My fall from grace complete
But I feel that there's a hazard hanging over me
But I take away the feeling that I can't see
And now you say to me
SERENDIPITY
THE TO SET US FREE
'CAUSE EVERY TIME I THINK IT OVER
IT COMES CLEAR TO ME
RELEASE ME
PLEASE COME TO ME
OH SERENDIPITY
Just as a dream being detained
My anxiety is what I blame
But I'm tougher, I am stronger and I'm hard to crack
It's a message, it's my destiny to come back
One fallen enemy
A fading entropy
It gets harder but releases like a heavy pain
It is fatal to believe or to detain pain
Oh please come to me
SERENDIPITY
THE TO SET US FREE
'CAUSE EVERY TIME I THINK IT OVER
IT COMES CLEAR TO ME
RELEASE ME
PLEASE COME TO ME
OH SERENDIPITY
As they try to hunt me down
I live my life by their command
I thought I've seen it all
What is the plan
I shouldn't have to fight alone
This is a fragile moment
Release me
SERENDIPITY
THE TO SET US FREE
'CAUSE EVERY TIME I THINK IT OVER
IT COMES CLEAR TO ME
RELEASE ME
PLEASE COME TO ME
serendipity
beautiful eyes
cant you see?!
each and everyday you always find a way to me
Serendipity
beautiful lies and deceit
when I hold you close
I always find myself in heat
You know its hard to be a playa
better hate the game
beautiful disaster
microphone master
tell me if you'll last hun
know I'll drive you fast hun
put you in a test hun
kissin and caressin'
know you'll never know
how you hurt me so
when you strike a pose
thing me love the most
never kiss and tell
dont you know me well?
send me straight to hell?
I finally learned and fell
I thought we'd run away together
in a place that we call forever
I and I will always stay this way
each and every single day
I thought I told you that this love was true all I
wanted was to be with you
I and I will never let you down
My mind is made, control the flow that fills the brainWhy
force myself to follow in the footsteps of the sane
When we all enjoyed the change
She's beside herself she claimed, she's beside herself
I close my eyes to stare inside this empty void
While all my thoughts, flow gently by, I watch them as
they go
And we all enjoyed the show
She's beside herself I know, she's beside herself
Drop your name down into my ear, wash out your fears
The moment's just begun
Set my stale seeds into the sand, watched where they
land
Just waiting for the sun
And when it comes, we'll celebrate it
And where it goes, it's hard to tell for sure
Take me back beyond the footsteps of this winding path
Or stay awhile, we'll greet the morning with a million
smiles
And we walked the shortest mile
She's beside herself the while, she's beside herself
Try my head gear and float along the atmosphere
The motion makes you hum
Take your time, stop, and smell the flowers going by
Whenever they may come
And it is clear, that summer's near