'oh, you've got green eyes / oh, you've got blue eyes / oh, you've got grey eyes' ♪ (Temptation - New Order)

What do you mean where does the music come from? Where does the music ever come from? The guy says to the girl Something is on my mind and the girl says Really? What is it? and somebody in the orchestra hits a note and they sing. That's where the music comes from.

- Morrie Ryskind on the set of a Marx Brothers movie
('citação de abertura' do livro Adverbs de Daniel Handler)


Em obviously, o segundo capítulo de Adverbs, o narrador conta:

«Tonight I saw Lila walk through the doors, singing alone with the headphones, one of those gloomy tracks she loves with the British singer not making any sense. "You've got green eyes, you've got blue eyes, you've got grey eyes", he says to her, some guy dreaming with his band [...]»

O narrador de obviously (um dos 17 capítulos do livro) é um adolescente que um dia perceberá o sentido, ou a não existência deste, de uns olhos que parecem mudar de cor. Como o leitor de Adverbs acaba por perceber que mesmo que não haja um sentido unificador da história, que faça do livro um romance e não um conjunto de contos dispersos sobre o amor, haverá certamente algo pelo qual se possa esperar.

«Surely somebody will arrive, in a taxi perhaps, attractively, artfully, aggressively, or any other way it is done»

Temptation - New Order

Heaven, a gateway, a hope
Just like a feeling I need, it's no joke
And though it hurts me to see you this way
Betrayed by words, I'd never heard, too hard to say
Up, down, turn around
Please don't let me hit the ground
Tonight I think I'll walk alone
I'll find my soul as I go home

Each way I turn, I know I'll always try
To break this circle that's been placed around me
From time to time, I find I've lost some need
That was urgent to myself, I do believe
Oh, you've got green eyes
Oh, you've got blue eyes
Oh, you've got grey eyes
And I've never seen anyone quite like you before
No, I've never met anyone quite like you before
Bolts from above hurt the people down below
People in this world, we have no place to go
Oh, it's the last time
Oh, I've never met anyone quite like you before
Oh no, I've never met anyone quite like you before