Life is long when you're lonely

The Queen is Dead tells a story to me of a character who wears his heart on a sleeve, living life on a dramatic stage which might be his own creation. Imagine yelling obscenities and commentaries down the street in "The Queen is Dead"... the church wants your money, the pub wrecks your body, and there are certain things that kill me: love, law, poverty, and of course the rain (who wants a bad hair day)? Then, he quits his job to make it in the movies, and laments about how his life is over (he is literally dying in "I Know it's Over") and how he's never had anyone ever (for exactly 20 years, 7 months, and 27 days). The first side closes out with an amusing story of hanging out in the graveyard, quoting your famous poets.

Side two starts with a classic example of being too brash (I said I'd like to smash up your teeth before, sorry about that ... it was only a joke) and a painful song about how no one believes that he is in love -- how can they hear me say those words and still they don't believe me??. "Vicar in a Tutu" is about a priest who wears women's clothes, and it seems pretty liberating. "There is a Light that Never Goes Out" wishes that a bus would smash into his car so at least he could die happy with his companion, while the last song asks if you could send him the pillow ... the one that you dream on ... and he'll send you his.

This is a fairly literal reading of the lyrics and I don't mean to offend anyone if I'm off the mark here. But nonetheless, this is one of my favorite records especially because of the little stories it tells, about a person who has lows that are really low and highs that are pretty bittersweet. You know: sometimes, you have to get some of these feelings out before you explode -- the idea that I would rather die than have to go home without you, or that I think my job sucks and my boss can shove it, and I can already feel them pouring the dirt over my grave because I'm dead, dead, dead ... and so on. Some of these feelings are very real, but some of them are the kinds of emotions that you have where you just want somebody to say "It's okay" and you can move on. So, call me crazy but The Queen is Dead gives me hope. It says, these things you're feeling are alright -- they're just a part of the life you are living. And thank God for living life!