2/12/2006 - Secret Garden
Song: Secret Garden
Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Why this song is the current jam: OK, now I dont wanna hear any shit. I know that this song was on the Jerry Macguire soundtrack. I know that on some level it sounds a bit like a retread of the starkly beautiful, Streets of Philadelphia. And yes, I know, this is El Boss we are talking about here, the guy who sang "Born in the USA." But look here, I dont give a shit. I think this is a beautiful song about the nature of a woman's love, and the lyrics are really haunting to me.
Maybe it is just the music, but they sound true to me. And not in a truthiness sort of way. There seems to me something to the idea of there being a place inside of a woman that is her own, a sanctuary that maybe no one can get to. I am still young and naive in a lot of ways, so I could be horribly wrong, but I can feel on my part this urge to get all the way inside of whoever I am with in a relationship. Like I want to be in every part of them. But so far, I haven't really made it all the way there, I dont think. But was I worthy of that? I used to think that probably that only came with time and a proven true love. And I havent really gotten there I guess, so it is only fair to not get the key to the garden. But when I listen to what he says in this song, I wonder. Maybe there is somewhere you can never go, in a woman, or maybe just in another person. It can be sad to think of actually. The idea of that miniscule and insurmountable distance between people.
It makes me think of one of the most powerful short stories I have ever read. It is called "The Dead" by James Joyce and it is from his collection of stories called "Dubliners." There is an image near the end of the story (and dont you DARE skip to it without reading it if you are interested) that I feel like is a glimpse into the secret garden that Bruce talks about. It reminds me too of the beginning of Zora Neale Hurston's book, "Their Eyes Were Watching God."
"Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.
Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly."
There is something true here, about the nature of women, and men. Something about what we can give to eachother and what we want from eachother, what we are to eachother. I can't explain it, it would only come out wrong. I dont even think I really understand it. But I can sense it, and something in this song comes close to the truth. The same with the images from the books. They all point to a truth that cant really be articulated with words, because it means too many different words at the same time.
Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Why this song is the current jam: OK, now I dont wanna hear any shit. I know that this song was on the Jerry Macguire soundtrack. I know that on some level it sounds a bit like a retread of the starkly beautiful, Streets of Philadelphia. And yes, I know, this is El Boss we are talking about here, the guy who sang "Born in the USA." But look here, I dont give a shit. I think this is a beautiful song about the nature of a woman's love, and the lyrics are really haunting to me.
Maybe it is just the music, but they sound true to me. And not in a truthiness sort of way. There seems to me something to the idea of there being a place inside of a woman that is her own, a sanctuary that maybe no one can get to. I am still young and naive in a lot of ways, so I could be horribly wrong, but I can feel on my part this urge to get all the way inside of whoever I am with in a relationship. Like I want to be in every part of them. But so far, I haven't really made it all the way there, I dont think. But was I worthy of that? I used to think that probably that only came with time and a proven true love. And I havent really gotten there I guess, so it is only fair to not get the key to the garden. But when I listen to what he says in this song, I wonder. Maybe there is somewhere you can never go, in a woman, or maybe just in another person. It can be sad to think of actually. The idea of that miniscule and insurmountable distance between people.
It makes me think of one of the most powerful short stories I have ever read. It is called "The Dead" by James Joyce and it is from his collection of stories called "Dubliners." There is an image near the end of the story (and dont you DARE skip to it without reading it if you are interested) that I feel like is a glimpse into the secret garden that Bruce talks about. It reminds me too of the beginning of Zora Neale Hurston's book, "Their Eyes Were Watching God."
"Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.
Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly."
There is something true here, about the nature of women, and men. Something about what we can give to eachother and what we want from eachother, what we are to eachother. I can't explain it, it would only come out wrong. I dont even think I really understand it. But I can sense it, and something in this song comes close to the truth. The same with the images from the books. They all point to a truth that cant really be articulated with words, because it means too many different words at the same time.
posted by Peetski at 2:26 AM
1 Comments:
Wow.
What you said really resonates with me. I've often wondered how deep you can really go wtih someone, or how far they will let you in. I have always wanted to be fully "let in" in relationships, but I'm not sure if I could ever completely reciprocate or not. Feeling safe is a big factor.
Also, I LOVE that story. I'm not the biggest fan of Joyce in general, but I love that story....and what really brought it home for me, was seeing a staged production of it. One great part of the production I saw was the addition of traditional folk music and dance- the Irish nationalism really hit home. It's been years, but I can still go back there and feel the chills the end gave me. The ending scenes, as she was dying, it was so amazing the way it was portrayed on stage, I can't find words.
"Their eyes were watching God" is another book that really stuck with me when I read it. It amazed me, especially considering the context and time period in which it was written. Reading your post, I pulled it off the shelf and started flipping through, and finding all my fav. underlined passages. It makes me miss taking english classes, with those great group discussions.
Anyway, I guess I'm just saying thank you for reminding me of all this stuff. I enjoy reading your blog because it always takes me out of my day to day hustle and brings me to a place I rarely have time to go; where I can get back in touch with all the amazing art in this world, and let myself stew in it for a while.
I know it's kind of weird, because you basically don't know me (minus meeting you at a workshop once, and since you meet 5 billlion people...), and I keep posting random comments, but I figure you'll get over it.
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