Here's looking at you, kid

The Gaslight Anthem is a band that is hard to describe. They are one of the brightest spots in rock and roll in the past 15 years. I can't describe their first two albums in any other terms but "genius" and "perfect." They are that good. I remember seeing them in Columbus, Ohio. As I recall, the audience was a good mix of young and old, which is always a good thing. It shows a band has an appeal beyond a certain demographic. It was a good show, even though we were in the balcony. The Gaslight Anthem is fronted by Brain Fallon, and they are originally from New Jersey. An odd fact about the album this song is from (The '59 Sound) is Dicky Barrett (of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones) sings backup on one of the tracks. 

Right from the start, The Gaslight Anthem was compared to some of the best rock acts of all time. Bruce Springsteen was an obvious comparison, but the band borrows so widely, I think that's almost an unfair comparison. They were too good too soon, it seems, as they've expressed difficulty dealing with the sudden fame and are defunct as I write this.

Here's Looking at You, Kid is near the end of The '59 Sound (2008). Whereas the rest of the album is full-speed, this song is slower and more contemplative. It's a bit melancholy, like a lot of lost-love songs. 

The song is a list of coulda-beens. Maybe some shoulda-beens. Girls he lost. I think every man can write a song like this, though probably not nearly as well as Brian Fallon. 

The lines that stand out to me are: "But boys will be boys, and girls have those eyes that will cut you to ribbons sometimes. And all you can do is just wait by the moon and bleed if it's what she says you oughta do." 

So many songs, poems, and stories echo this sentiment. Another song that comes to mind is Waylon Jennings' You Ask Me To (1973). There is a helplessness in love that is hard to describe. You wait for her because you have no other way to be. You bleed for her if she tells you to. You do the desperate thing over and over again with the same dismal result, but you wouldn't have it any other way. You're powerless when you're in love. It's a force that removes you from the driver's seat and puts you in the backseat. You just watch from there, unable to change your destination. Riding on waves of chemicals that flow through your brain, you need not sleep or eat or even think of anything else. A man in love with a woman is a pitiful, helpless creature. I should know. 

The track's title (Here's Looking at You, Kid) is from the movie Casablanca (1942) and is an odd way of a man telling a woman he enjoys her. It says enough but not too much. Clearly, I am not capable of summoning such a succinct way of expressing my enjoyment of a woman. I have filled pages here with my thoughts of her. I believe that life is short, and if one wants to say something, then one should say it. So, yes, I love that girl. I am deeply in love with her, though I have no hope of ever being with her. 

She never told me to wait by the moon. She never told me to bleed. But I do those things anyway.