Pale Blue Eyes - The Velvet Underground
The Perfect Shuffle
"Sometimes I feel so happy.
Sometimes I feel so sad.
Sometimes I feel so happy
But mostly you just make me mad.
Baby, you just make me mad.
Linger on your pale blue eyes.
Linger on your pale blue eyes.
Thought of you as my mountaintop
Thought of you as my peak
Thought of you as everything
I've had but couldn’t keep
I've had but couldn’t keep
Linger on your pale blue eyes.
Linger on your pale blue eyes
If I could make the world as pure
And strange as what I see
I'd put you in the mirror
I put in front of me
I put in front of me.
Linger on your pale blue eyes.
Linger on your pale blue eyes.
Skip a life completely.
Stuff it in a cup.
She said money is like us in time
It lies but can't stand up.
Down for you is up.
Linger on your pale blue eyes.
Linger on your pale blue eyes.
It was good what we did yesterday.
And I'd do it once again.
The fact that you are married
Only proves your my best friend
But its truly, truly a sin.
Linger on your pale blue eyes.
Linger on your pale blue eyes."
I quote the whole song here because of its complete usefulness. "Linger on" acts as a revised thesis for this mix, as it seems to be what I've decided to do, rather than "Let Go." The term "Linger" is appropriately loose, unlike "mine" or "you've got her in your pocket," so it achieves what I want it to. I came across this song, having heard it only a few times before, while listening to my iPod on shuffle. This was the second song it picked, and as I was walking to class, I was paying particular attention to the lyrics. They are incredibly applicable, you'll find :
The first verse is absolutely where I am. I feel happy, sad, angry, and everywhere in between. I might be bipolar, or OCD or something that makes me bounce between emotions.
The key line of the second verse is "Thought of you as everything I've had but couldn’t keep," which seems to be precisely the problem with Bridget. Because I can't "keep" her (quotations used to de-emphasize the idea of possession), we're being apart until something changes. This puts undue emphasis on my role in this separation, but we are honestly separate for both of our sakes; the benefits I aim to gain from this separation are more obvious than hers, perhaps, but her decision to remain steadfast in the separation indicates that she is aware, on some level, of something she can gain from this time apart.
The third verse is typical cryptic Lou Reed stuff, but there's an idea in it I'm going to try to pass off as fact: "I'd put you in the mirror I put in front of me" calls up a strange idea of unity in my mind; if someone is in the mirror that is in front of me, then isn't that person me? Obviously, the words themselves demarkate the two people, but the fact that one's reflection is the other shows that they are, somehow, united. I like this, because I'm constantly looking for more satisfying forms of unity than sex.
The fourth verse has the line "She said money is like us in time. It lies but can't stand up." This returns to the point made in verse two, that we can't succeed as a couple in the present. We lie, but can't stand up over time. Too often, our relationship turned to sex when we were having problems being emotionally satisfying. We can't just "lie," though, because there is more to a relationship than that. We are learning to stand up, on our own.
The last verse is a dirty little fantasy of mine. I treat this entire verse like a prophesy of something romantic happening between the two of us in the near future. I feel like, if such a thing did happen, it would be good ("what we did yesterday") and I would do it all again, given the chance. But all we will do, if anything happens, is "lie" together. Being that we cannot, at present, stand up, means we must inevitably return to the state of things as they are now; "The fact that you are married only proves that your my best friend." But, I'll still get the satisfaction of knowing that what we shared was beyond her relationship with Dij, who she would have to cheat on for the prophesy to come true ("truly, truly a sin.")
"Sometimes I feel so happy.
Sometimes I feel so sad.
Sometimes I feel so happy
But mostly you just make me mad.
Baby, you just make me mad.
Linger on your pale blue eyes.
Linger on your pale blue eyes.
Thought of you as my mountaintop
Thought of you as my peak
Thought of you as everything
I've had but couldn’t keep
I've had but couldn’t keep
Linger on your pale blue eyes.
Linger on your pale blue eyes
If I could make the world as pure
And strange as what I see
I'd put you in the mirror
I put in front of me
I put in front of me.
Linger on your pale blue eyes.
Linger on your pale blue eyes.
Skip a life completely.
Stuff it in a cup.
She said money is like us in time
It lies but can't stand up.
Down for you is up.
Linger on your pale blue eyes.
Linger on your pale blue eyes.
It was good what we did yesterday.
And I'd do it once again.
The fact that you are married
Only proves your my best friend
But its truly, truly a sin.
Linger on your pale blue eyes.
Linger on your pale blue eyes."
I quote the whole song here because of its complete usefulness. "Linger on" acts as a revised thesis for this mix, as it seems to be what I've decided to do, rather than "Let Go." The term "Linger" is appropriately loose, unlike "mine" or "you've got her in your pocket," so it achieves what I want it to. I came across this song, having heard it only a few times before, while listening to my iPod on shuffle. This was the second song it picked, and as I was walking to class, I was paying particular attention to the lyrics. They are incredibly applicable, you'll find :
The first verse is absolutely where I am. I feel happy, sad, angry, and everywhere in between. I might be bipolar, or OCD or something that makes me bounce between emotions.
The key line of the second verse is "Thought of you as everything I've had but couldn’t keep," which seems to be precisely the problem with Bridget. Because I can't "keep" her (quotations used to de-emphasize the idea of possession), we're being apart until something changes. This puts undue emphasis on my role in this separation, but we are honestly separate for both of our sakes; the benefits I aim to gain from this separation are more obvious than hers, perhaps, but her decision to remain steadfast in the separation indicates that she is aware, on some level, of something she can gain from this time apart.
The third verse is typical cryptic Lou Reed stuff, but there's an idea in it I'm going to try to pass off as fact: "I'd put you in the mirror I put in front of me" calls up a strange idea of unity in my mind; if someone is in the mirror that is in front of me, then isn't that person me? Obviously, the words themselves demarkate the two people, but the fact that one's reflection is the other shows that they are, somehow, united. I like this, because I'm constantly looking for more satisfying forms of unity than sex.
The fourth verse has the line "She said money is like us in time. It lies but can't stand up." This returns to the point made in verse two, that we can't succeed as a couple in the present. We lie, but can't stand up over time. Too often, our relationship turned to sex when we were having problems being emotionally satisfying. We can't just "lie," though, because there is more to a relationship than that. We are learning to stand up, on our own.
The last verse is a dirty little fantasy of mine. I treat this entire verse like a prophesy of something romantic happening between the two of us in the near future. I feel like, if such a thing did happen, it would be good ("what we did yesterday") and I would do it all again, given the chance. But all we will do, if anything happens, is "lie" together. Being that we cannot, at present, stand up, means we must inevitably return to the state of things as they are now; "The fact that you are married only proves that your my best friend." But, I'll still get the satisfaction of knowing that what we shared was beyond her relationship with Dij, who she would have to cheat on for the prophesy to come true ("truly, truly a sin.")
posted by Alan Orlanski at 12:00 AM
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