Love and Politics (or, a short break from 41,000 words)

I can be very dense sometimes when it comes to literature; I can listen to a wonderful song for years and never realize what it really means until one glorious moment of epiphany. A recent example of this has been The Couch by Alanis Morissette, which I was listening to on the way home from the shrink this past week. (Duh!)

I've been discovering Vienna Teng, a beautiful singer whose songs reach into me and rearrange my insides so that they feel much more comfortable and joyful. Some of my favorites have been Cannonball, Daughter and City Hall.

I had listened to City Hall several times before recognizing that it was about marriage, and then several more times before I realized that it was about a specific sort of marriage whose legality has been fiercely contested lately. It makes no direct references to gender, not even a single pronoun: only the joy of being finally allowed to marry.

You can listen to City Hall here: http://www.myspace.com/viennateng
The lyrics are at the bottom of this entry.

It reminds me of a time many months ago when same-sex marriage became legal in certain places, and one news source made the derisive observation that there was a huge jump in the rate of marriage among gays, followed by a drop - concluding that gay marriage was really a fad, only popular because it was new.

But of course there would be a jump followed by a drop! The marriages which occurred directly after they became legal included those many couples that had been "married" in every way but legally for years or even decades. Literally, generations of catching up had to be done. The infernal stupidity of the media is the biggest reason that I seldom watch or read the news. That, and the commercials usually offend what little morality I have.

But before I drive my blood pressure further into the danger zone, here are the lyrics to City Hall by Vienna Teng:


me and my baby on a february holiday
'cause we got the news
yeah, we got the news
500 miles and we're gonna make it all the way
we've got nothing to lose
we've got nothing to lose

it's been 10 years waiting
but it's better late than the never
we've been told before
we can't wait one minute more

oh, me and my baby driving down
to a hilly seaside town in the rainfall
oh, me and my baby stand in line
you've never seen a sight so fine
as the love that's gonna shine
at city hall

me and my baby've been through
a lot of good and bad
learned to kiss the sky
made our mamas cry
I've seen a lot of friends
after giving it all they had
lay down and die
lay down and die

10 years into it
here's our window
at the Vegas drive-thru chapel
it ain't too much
for 'em all to handle

oh, me and my baby driving down
to a hilly seaside town in the rainfall
oh, me and my baby stand in line
you've never seen a sight so fine
as the love that's gonna shine
at city hall

outside, they're handing out
donuts and pizza pies
for the folks in pairs in the folding chairs
my baby's lookin' so damned pretty
with those anxious eyes
rain-speckled hair
and my ring to wear

10 years waiting for this moment of fate
when we say the words and sign our names
if they take it away again someday
this beautiful thing won't change

oh, me and my baby driving down
to a hilly seaside town in the rainfall
oh, me and my baby stand in line
you've never seen a sight so fine
as the love that's gonna shine
at city hall