Plague Journal, Social Analysis By Love Song

March 18, 2021 Jerry King Comments 0 Comment

The time has come, push the pile of chips forward, to the middle of the table. Time to go “all in,” risking everything to gain a point.

I like this song by Huey Lewis for several reasons. I have been fortunate to see Huey Lewis perform live. He is a prolific song writer. His style of music is an expression of robust positivity. I need that. Lewis’ music is therapy. I like this song in particular, because of one line. “We are bound by all the rest.” This line is the summation of the overview of a relationship. As with any relationship that has endured for a while, there are pluses and minuses. You know, the little mannerisms that rub you the wrong way, or attitudes surfacing occasionally that you wish were otherwise… Yet, for those discomforts, and more too, — that is, the ill advised things he/she said or perhaps has done, that you find a way to forgive… A clear eyed analysis of the pros and cons of the relationship notwithstanding, both parties reach the conclusion that each is happy to remain with the other. A manner of expression, laced with irony, “I’m happy to be stuck with you…cause I can see, you are happy to be stuck with me.”

Likewise when one considers our society, taking an overview of the dissonance between conservative minded Americans, and those with a progressive bent; our halting fight to staunch the spread of the pandemic; the damage done to commerce; the injury to the education of our children, — still I am happy to be here, to cast my lot as an American citizen, and as a human being in this place. I am satisfied to “be stuck” as an American.

Every state of affairs, describe any complex, characterize any topography that you will, — what we have is a complicated, interesting many-layered relationship. The society in which I live, America, can be understood as a more complex version of a love relationship between two people. Why am I happy to remain? I’ve found my home here for quite a while, and this is who I am. My children and my friends live here. (all the same friends, and the same addresses) I am accustomed to the way-of-life, the expectations, the mores, I have been shaped by this place, and it just makes sense to be “all in,” to be satisfied to be “stuck” as an American. (Another way of saying, “sunk costs”) Other options!? I’ll not take the bait. Time to “go all in” and make living-here-better, for all of us.

Huey Lewis says it better, and with more beauty. The video is extraordinary.

Stuck With You

By Huey Lewis and the News

We’ve had some fun, and yes we’ve had our ups and downs
Been down that rocky road, but here we are, still around
We thought about someone else, but neither one took the bait
We thought about breaking up, but now we know it’s much too late
We are bound by all the rest
Like the same phone number
All the same friends
And the same address

We’ve had our doubts, we never took them seriously
And we’ve had our ins and outs, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be
We thought about giving up, but we could never stay away
Thought about breaking up, but now we know it’s much too late
And it’s no great mystery
If we change our minds
Eventually, it’s back to you and me

We are bound by all the rest
Like the same phone number
All the same friends
And the same address

Yes, it’s true, (yes it’s true) I am happy to be stuck with you
Yes, it’s true, (yes it’s true) I’m so happy to be stuck with you
‘Cause I can see, (I can see) that you’re happy to be stuck with me
(yes it’s true) I’m so happy to be stuck with you
I’m happy to be stuck with you
Happy to be stuck with you.

Lyrics written by Anthony Cregg Hugh, Christopher John Hayes

The backstory to the video:

The music video for “Stuck with You” was filmed in The Bahamas in July, 1986 and features Keely Shaye Smith. The island that Lewis and Smith wind up on is a small island about ten miles from Paradise Island in Nassau. The video was filmed on land, on water, underwater and from the air. The band, the crew and all the extras used in the island barbecue scene had to stay on a barge moored off the island so that they wouldn’t be seen.

‘