A love song from just outside the dominion of linear time. Continue reading below the lyrics for a few notes about the poetry.
As with many poems, the ultimate meaning is elusive and complex. We see shades of love and affirmation, as if the singer is seen as having been lost to the hearer.
Trade in my memories of heaven
Reminiscent of a near-death experience, in which the sufferer glimpsed eternity (a fairly well known tale). But the one who has witnessed the light in that way and then regained consciousness is seen to have lost something in the here and now.
Remember your face
A nod to those with prosopagnosia, perhaps.
Be in this place
Stay here just one day
A couple more polite references to an altered consciousness.
They say everything’s bigger in Texas
It’s true. They really do say this. Ever been to the Big Texan?
Forgot my age
a) rhymes with sage. b) fits with the theme.
I was bigger too
Hard times have a way of growing, teaching, and cultivating a greater empathy within us.
What is love but a list of offenses
That you’ve chosen to never write down
A counterpoint to ‘love is a battlefield.’
Took all my money
Money is an analogy for love, here and in another song of mine. Love is the purest currency of all, but it’s meant to be given, not spent; wasted, not saved.
You wonder if I’m coming back
I’m right here, take my hand, be with me
This line works like a chorus; it’s the refrain that reframes. Sometimes it’s the ones who are ‘whole’ that need to be made well. The Man from Nazareth made a reference like this, turning perspective on its head. Sometimes it’s good to look at things differently.
“I’m not as gone as I look!”
Like a Road 