Taking Apart "One Thing Leads To Another"
This article is part of a series on my new collection of songs, Life Is Worth Living.
It's a song that centers around an edible arrangement.
I went back and forth several times on what role it would play in the song. Part of me wanted the line to be "Me and the boys just crushed an edible arrangement," which would set the tone as a sort of ironic bad boy song, like Everybody Get Dangerous by Weezer.
Ultimately I decided this would be a love song. Musically I'd categorize the finished product as a crooner song, or maybe British music hall. Kind of like Danke Schoen or Fixing a Hole.
Listen to One Thing Leads To Another here:
Now let's take it apart. A line about a leaking toilet opens this love song:
When you got a leak
Then you call up the plumber
When a guy breaks your heart
Well, you search for another
The lyrics generally follow an if/then theme:
If your car don’t move
It’s time to change that tire
Don’t call some shop,
‘Cause I’m right here for hire
More if/then:
On a summer’s day
You wear your sunglasses
And by the beach
We talk smooth as molasses
If there’s music playing
Then we’ll naturally move
If it’s a nice boogie woogie
Then we’ll surely groove
For some reason I just find this edible arrangement line so funny:
Yeah, it’s you, me, and an edible arrangement
Removing the pretense of any estrangement
We’ll meet the fam, we’ll play Bananagrams
And just as the spring flows into the summer,
One thing leads to another
Obligatory references to St. Anthony and New Jersey:
If you should lose your keys
You call St. Tony
If you bring the tea
Then I’ll bring the bologna
When in Rome
You do as the Romans
If your city don’t sleep
Then you smooch in Hoboken
Obligatory reference to HGTV's first family:
When you need a house
Call Chip and Joanna
If you’d like a tune
Then I’ll play the piana
I know that I’m a sort of a fixer upper
and I’m no chef but I’ll still fix supper
After the second chorus, we get this not-so-subtle reference to Lady and the Tramp:
There’s a movie ‘bout a couple of dogs
Who clearly never learned how to use utensils
Any other details, I seem to forgetti
I know it had something to do with spaghetti
Add in a reference to fast food, another board game, and you have yourself a song:
That’s you, me
and an edible arrangement
Removing the pretense of any estrangement
We’ll meet the fam, we’ll play Bananagrams
See a ballet,
Then play Scrabble
Say hip hip hooray
And go to Chick Fil A
And just as the spring flows into the summer,
One thing leads to another
Just like bread and butter
One thing leads to another
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