Wednesday, May 28, 2008

An attempt to redeem myself

Kevin has pointed out to me that my "themes" might suggest a disturbed personality - or at least a very repressed one. He wonders why I have not had a year of romance? Hmmmm.

My themes have never been conscious choices. I just figure them out. The year Kevin and I got back together did have a theme of time travel and second chances. There, that's not so bleak.

I must admit, however, that while I have enjoyed some romantic movies- I have never been a reader of romantic fiction. Well, at least not popular romance. I've read Jane Austen, for example. I DO like a love story. Particularly love stories about friends. It was the love between friends in "Il Postino" and more recently "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" that most touched me.

But though I would present myself as an optimistic and happy person, I do have a very deep blue streak. Cobalt, maybe. In both those movies those loving friends part. Even more extreme, my favorite love songs are pretty damn sad. This thought emerges as I listen to my newly acquired CD of one of my favorite albums: "So Many Partings" by Silly Wizard. I heard it first from the window of the record store above Bernie's Bagels on High Street when I was a student at OSU. (I recognize that this is not the record you'd first pick as a favorite of a 19 year old in 1980- especially one for whom a good week involved the disco at Susie's Lounge both Wednesday and Friday nights.) I don't know what it is. It reached right into my heart. Here's an example- though it is from "Kiss the Tears Away". (The video. What can I say? It was all I could find.)



Golden, Golden

Slowly, slowly, walk the path,
And you might never stumble or fall.
Slowly, slowly, walk the path,
And you might never fall in love at all.

CHORUS:

Golden, golden, is her hair,
Like the morning sun over fields of corn.
Golden, golden, is her love,
So sweet and clear and warm.

Lonely, lonely, is the heart
That ne'er another can call its own.
Lonely, lonely, lies the part
That has to live all alone.

Wildly, wildly, beats the heart
With a rush of love like a mountain stream.
Wildly, wildly, play your part
As free as a wild bird's dream

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