“I Chat Her Up Inside My Head Again”

I’ve written several romantic songs. This line is from one called Be Still (My Beating Heart) which is available in my Fee Comes Fourth series. It’s about a young fella in love, where all the action happens inside his head. And that’s how it all begins of course. And that's a link of sorts...

Last night I watched a film called Amour which is reviewed at Rotten Tomatoes by those who can describe the cinematic experience far better than I can. But basically this film travels all the way down the line to the end of the romantic journey. In a very stark, bleak, but amazingly touching and thought provoking way, it captures the end of it all for a couple who have been together for a long time. There is nothing obviously romantic about this story. It’s a very difficult watch. The action is sparse but totally engrossing, as the wife gets a stroke, which very gradually and painfully takes her to the end. We watch her unravelling and the effect it has on her relationships, primarily the one with her husband. It doesn’t provide any answers whatsoever. But it does draw out questions that we might not want to ask, but will all have to face at some point.

There was a time when this story would have depressed me beyond help. I don’t recommend it to everyone, but if you happen to think it is important to confront the difficult questions about death and dying and the way it will affect us all at some point in the future, then watch it. And afterwards don’t despair. Think about how our lives are all about giving and receiving, about getting and losing, about holding and letting go. There is simply a time when we all have to let go of others, and finally of ourselves, for the last time. We all share this future.

It’s a sad thing, but it’s not necessarily morbid. And I’ve been inspired to think more about the practical side of that final letting go, and how to let other people be part of it, as far as we are able to control any of these things. So that’s a good result out of a difficult experience. I’ve been getting very tired of the Hollywood world view for quite a long time now so this film was, in a perverse way, also a very refreshing experience for me.

By the way. I don’t charge anything for being here to cheer you up.