I love love love to dissect songs, searching for meanings that apply to me or words that paint pictures that resonate with me.
Today, while driving waaaaaaay too fast yet again between Asheville and Hendersonville, I was singing in my car as always (is that why no one wants to ride shotgun?) and a lyric seized my attention, yes, it seized me though I’d heard it before…”If you think holding hands is all in the fingers, grab hold of the soul where the memory lingers.” Dig that! Sing-songy, wordy, but dead on! White Stripes, bravo, bravo.
Over the years, I’ve also doodled countless lyrics in the edges of notebooks, doodled in meetings when I was supposed to be paying attention. “Memories fade but the scars still linger”–hey another lyric with the word “linger” in it! That was Tears for Fears. Oooo “Throw me to the wolves because there’s order in the pack, throw me to the sky because I know I’m coming back,” Red Hot Chili Peppers. “And watching lovers part, I feel you smiling–what glass splinters lie so deep in your mind?” Duran Duran, of course. “You know what, Stuart? I like you. You’re not like the other people here in the trailer park, ” Dead Milkmen.
Oh yes, I could go on for days. But for today, we’re focusing on “if you think holding hands is all in the fingers…” Meditate on that, and get back to me.