Shine It On Quaint Soul

by Lisa Zaran

Picture of Beck

Dear Beck,

It is morning again and the sun is shining. I am completely and without a shadow of doubt going to listen to Guero as I drive ten miles per hour in a 65 mile per hour zone through 38 miles of rush hour traffic on my way to a job I hate.

The light in Arizona is flamboyant and aggressive. Not only does it land like a giant slap on your windshield, it penetrates through the glass to mess with the bare skin of your face. This is skin cancer country sweetheart.

So, I bought Guero the day it became available on iTunes. Is it premature to say I love you?

Suddenly I find myself digging through stolen milk crates in my garage for everything of yours I own. What chorus have I missed? Who in God’s name are you?

If I weren’t married, I might become your groupie. I saw you on Saturday Night Live. I saw you on Jay Leno. I have so many hours to leisure in. I wonder, do your shoulders sag under the weight of adoration that surrounds you?

Let me not make a fool of myself. While I drive, windows open, stop and go, Black Tambourine begins. If I weren’t in traffic I’d take my shirt off. Oh oh oh wo. Neighboring drivers notice. It’s almost like I’m your other half, here in Phoenix, music is my courage.

Late last night I was listening to you say-sing phrases like “what gives you comfort now might be the end of you then” and “kindness will find you when darkness has fallen” and I thought, well, I don’t have your number, I can’t call you, so I’ll write you instead.

Sometimes music is all we’ve got. Words and music. When the two come together like bedspreads and tangled limbs, we’re not likely to forget.

There is a chapter in the Bible. I don’t know whether or not you read the Bible but it can be found in the Book of Corinthians. It says that there are three things that will last as long as eternity. Those things are: faith, hope, and love.

Life doesn’t mean anything without them. Fortunately I have found all three in the spirit of Guero. That is how music is. It brings sight to the blind. Light to the hopeless. Maybe you didn’t mean to do it, but you know how a voice echoes through a canyon? Your music, I believe, is going to echo through the future. It’s got tenacity.

We live in times where so many words have lost their meaning. Birds may sing but for the most part people close the window. Television drowns nature again and again. People exist but in deadness not in life.

Perhaps I’m going off on some deep, philosophical tangent when what I meant to say all along is, I like your mouth. I think you have great lips and a sobbing heart. When you say things, I want to listen.

I want to remember. I want to answer. I want to hear your sawdust songs as I drive down the highway in my sunny one-room car. I want to discover you, quaint soul, one triumphant lyric at a time.

Maybe I’m a lost cause.

Love and consequence, lisa.

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~ This piece was posted on Monday, May 23rd, 2005 and was filed under Blog, Featured. You can make comments on it below. ~