Belonging
Day before yesterday I awakened at the usual early hour. I finished getting dressed before going upstairs. A knock came at the bathroom door. My wife stood in the dim pre-dawn hallway to ask if she could come in. Opening the door, as we passed she said to me, — “We have always loved one another,” and gave me a quick hug.
I continued to my station here at Starbucks for my writing exercise. Upon reflection, the brief early morning encounter and the words, I understand how important, how profound those simple words were. I am still thinking about the point made, the multitude of links those words imply.
Pat Benatar had a hit tune in 1984, an explosive success. The anthem lyrics were written by Dan Navarro and Eric Lowen. The tale goes that the two best friends suffered a painful parting of ways. They decided to “bury the hatchet” and get together to write one more song. Dan Navarro said of the arc of the story-line of the song:
“There are things that are bigger than both of us, and we belong together.” I started with that final line and built everything almost backwards. Then I thought, “Wouldn’t it be fun for us to belong to all of this stuff: the light, the thunder …” So it came from there.
Yes, something like that was implied by the words that I heard at the beginning of my day.
Here is Pat Benatar rendering her magisterial song. Having seen Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo perform several years ago, my respect for her grew with understanding how long Benatar and Giraldo’s marriage and professional relationship has endured.
Enjoy! Lyrics follow the youtube video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRsjPstSF58
We Belong
By Pat Benatar
Many times I’ve tried to tell you
Many times I’ve cried alone
Always I’m surprised how well you
Cut my feelings to the bone
Don’t wanna leave you really
I’ve invested too much time
To give you up that easy
To the doubts that complicate your mind
We belong to the light
We belong to the thunder
We belong to the sound of the words
We’ve both fallen under
Whatever we deny or embrace
For worse or for better
We belong, we belong
We belong together
Maybe it’s a sign of weakness
When I don’t know what to say
Maybe I just wouldn’t know
What to do with my strength anyway
Have we become a habit?
Do we distort the facts?
Now, there’s no looking forward
Now, there’s no turning back
When you say
We belong to the light
We belong to the thunder
We belong to the sound of the words
We’ve both fallen under
Whatever we deny or embrace
For worse or for better
We belong, we belong
We belong together
Close your eyes and try to sleep now
Close your eyes and try to dream
Clear your mind and do your best
To try and wash the palette clean
We can’t begin to know it
How much we really care
I hear your voice inside me
I see your face everywhere
Still you say
We belong to the light
We belong to the thunder
We belong to the sound of the words
We’ve both fallen under
Whatever we deny or embrace
For worse or for better
We belong, we belong
We belong together
We belong to the light
We belong to the thunder
We belong to the sound of the words
We’ve both fallen under
Whatever we deny or embrace
For worse or for better
We belong, we belong
We belong together
We belong to the light
We belong to the thunder
Written by Dan Navarro and Eric Lowen
2 thoughts on “Belonging”
I recall, during a brush with existential angst quite some time ago, that since Lou Reed there was really nothing, nothing at all coming over the radio waves; then one fine morning I put on a New York station and I couldn’t believe what I heard at all, and my life was changed, once again, by rock and roll and Jane’s
Addiction.
Vonnegut, in a collection of short stories titled “Foma, Gezenstacks and Granfallons, proposed in one of his fine speculations that all people should at birth, become a member of an ‘extended family’ of a common name popping up in nature, such as the ‘Rose’ family or the ‘Geode’ family. One would never be alone or be a stranger. Are you a ‘Tulip’ coming to a strange town? Just call up another Tulip. Very tidy. Blessings, Al
Indeed! I’ve caught the ‘lifeline’ of rock and roll more times that I can count.
We are not alone, rendered different, flawed, sub standard….. We are easily seduced by our manner of speaking to separate ourselves from our fellows and from Nature as well.
Oh, give me the beat boys, and free my soul
I want to get lost in your rock and roll and drift away
And when my mind is free
You know a melody can move me