Metric ~ The Police and the Private

Get straight and wait here while I try to find the exit sign
When will you stop asking strangers, no one wants what we want
Keep one eye on the door, keep one eye on the bag
Never expect to be sure

You're working for the police and the private, the pirates and the pilots
Fingerprinted waiting for the train
The doctor, the writer, the hairdresser,
Felt up and fingerprinted waiting for the train

I've been in a Metric state of mind this week... I've been in a Metric state of mind all spring, in fact. Not necessarily their new songs, but this good ol' stuff!

I love it when music speaks to a feeling we're just trying to figure out. We may never be able to capture that feeling as well as the song, but we'll try, with words, gestures, choices, etc. This is why I get into certain states of musical minds sometimes.

It's more than just the connection to that feeling in the song that allows you to sink right into it. The song will grab your rubber arm, carry you on, and lead you into a better place. And sometimes that's all we really need to get through it.

Lord lord mother we are all losing love
Lord listen lover we are all missing mama
Lord lord mother we are all losing love
Lord listen lover we are all missing something I don't got

There's a place that ends here I know
When they close the gates I'll cry
So tired of never sleeping
The whole world wants what we're on

At some point, in our life we wake up and realize that the dream they fed us about getting everything we were supposed to want - as long as we just kept working hard to get to it - was nothing more than a dream. Instead of pushing us to work harder, they should have taught us to be happier. We can be happy in any situation, we just have to chose that emotion. (Even if you fake it 'til you make it.)

Didn't make this up I learned, I learned it from a friend
My friend is coming clean, she told me
Keep one eye on the door, keep one eye on the bed
Never expect to be sure who you're working for

There's a discussion on this YouTube page re:the meaning of this song. It's art, it means something different for every listener. Even if the artist meant something completely different from what you get out of it. It's speaking to a higher truth that we're all aiming for. If more of us get a sense of one message from it, that's good, and illustrates the cultural interpretation of that artwork for that time period. Some pieces are universal, and will always speak to that same message...or culture learns that this universal piece of work means one thing: it's hard to be clear on that. I know what this song means to me, and it holds more value in itself because of that interpretation. Will you get the same one? Maybe...

You're working for the police and the private, the pirates and the pilots
Fingerprinted waiting for the train
The doctor, the writer, the garbage collector
Felt up and fingerprinted waiting for the train

We wake up - perhaps some other time - and realize that the person across from us is not the person we thought they were. Sometimes this fills us with great joy as we know have the opportunity to dig deeper through their onion of a personality. Most times, though, this scares us, and offends us, and makes us feel foolish for having shown our layers of onion to them too quickly. This feeling of violation fades after awhile. Like all difficult times, this too shall pass...

Lord lord mother we are all losing love
Lord listen lover we are all missing mama
Lord lord mother we are all losing love
Lord listen lover we are all missing mama
Lord lord mother we are all losing love
Lord listen lover we are all missing mama
Lord lord mother were all losing love
Lord listen lover we are all missing love
Got to get out
Got to get to you, the orphanage is closing in an hour

...and when it does, we'll be stronger. We may have lost one person in our lives, but we have gained a deeper understanding of ourselves. It could be, as the saying goes, that "When you lose, you shouldn't lose the lesson." But I prefer not to think of it as yourself losing it. In the end, there you are, knowing more about yourself, a situation you've been faced with, and an understanding of how to bring certain emotions to your psyche. We can hide from those emotions, or we can ride them out, like some new sick drug we've just been given a free sample of. Will we allow ourselves to go back for another hit or was the experiment/experience of one enough for us?

And that's how I feel about this song...