my careless contagion

Go walking down there by Chris Isaak is a song about losing the one you love. But it's more than that. It's an angry punch at society, or at least an idea of society. It's an anger about losing the one you love and seeing those perfect people (whoever they are) having the time of their lives.  After the heartbreak of infidelity brought me to my knees, I looked with jealousy at those I thought had done things right and who had perfect lives. Anger boiled up in me. The video, using an exaggerated (and perhaps maniacal) 1960s beach movie motif, hammers this idea home. Like so many of Isaak's videos, there are pretty girls and plenty of flesh. Sometimes I wonder who is prettier, the girls or Isaak. It's hard to imagine Isaak as a pugilist, but he was indeed. Imagine his pretty face getting beaten up and nose broken seven times. It reminds me of another rocker — Social Distortion's Mike Ness — who insists on punching his way through life.  Regardless of the...

"I see my future in your eyes." Those were the words I wanted to say to you all those years ago in my parents' basement. Oh, my dear, if only I had. How would our lives be different today?  It's one thing to love a woman. It is an incontestable fact I love you. It's another thing to miss a woman. That is another incontestable fact of how I feel, I'm afraid. But sadly, I believe I have missed you most of my life. Not only that, but I missed out on you.  If someone asked me what I love about you, I could answer at length. But the question I cannot answer is WHY I love you. Why do I miss you? Why do I love you? The answer is buried in my DNA, perhaps. It rides on my synapses and gathers in the corners of my mind, building upon itself until it overwhelms me. You make sense to me. I want you near me always, as I thought you would be.  It was a cruel day I realized you would never be mine. To experience that day twice in a lifetime was heretofore unthinkab...