I was listening to "I'll Be There" by the Jackson 5 in the cafe just now. I know the song, of course, but something about it always seemed strange to me - and I think I just figured it out.

Let's take a look at line 2:

We must bring salvation back

Now, as I understand it, the Jacksons were Jehovah's witnesses. According to their believes, wasn't salvation a power vested only in Jesus? In saying that salvation must be brought back, are they implying that Jesus has been stripped of this power? Towards the end of the song, a strong clue emerges, as Michael says

Just look over your shoulders, honey!.

Now, in the Jacksons: An American Dream mini-series, this line was presented as a studio flub on Michael's part which MoTown honcho Barry Gordy insisted should stay in the song. But could Michael REALLY be implying that the girl can look over both of her shoulders at once? You know what this means: The girl is capable of spinning her head 360 degrees around her neck!.

Make no mistake - when Michael tells the girl that they must make a pact in the first line, he doesn't mean a pact with each other. He's reffering to making a pact with Satan.

This explains what went wrong with the Invincible album pretty neatly.

So I was just wandering through the grocery store and singing along with "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles. It's a catchy song, I like the vocals. But the lyrics really disturb me nowadays. Let's deconstruct 'em, shall we?

Close your eyes, give me your hand, darling
Do you feel my heart beating
Do you understand
Do you feel the same
Am I only dreaming
Is this burning an eternal flame?

It's a bit corny and all that. I just hope to goodness for whoever she's singing to's sake that he DOES feel the same, or this is some pretty serious pressure, especially considering that nothing about this song makes me feel like they've been a couple very long. This is jumping the gun. What if he closes his eyes, gives her his hand, and says something snotty, like "no, I don't feel your heart beating. Do you think maybe I'd have better look if I put my hand on your left boob instead of your hand?"

I believe it's meant to be, darling
I watch you when you are sleeping
You belong with me

Do you feel the same
Am I only dreaming
Is this burning an eternal flame?



That's either really sweet or more than a little bit freaky. Not quite as frightening as that "love you forever" book, but sort of on those same grounds. Does she mean "when you sleep in my bed, I enjoy watching you sleep when you fall asleep before I do," or "I watch you when you are sleeping using some high powered binoculars and a carefully arranged system of mirrors?"




Say my name...

my favorite line, though I wish she'd added something like "bitch" at the end :) There's space for it in the meter


sun shines through the rain
A whole life so lonely
And then you come and ease the pain
I don't want to lose this feeling

Well, here's where the trouble really comes in. Much as I like the way she sings "a whole life - so lonely" (for reasons unexplained), here we have the singer staking her whole mental well-being on a guy who apparently came around fairly recently. She was lonely without him her whole life - what's going to happen when she finds that she's still lonely WITH him after a while? Because it's going to happen sooner or later. The pain, some of it, at least, will be back. She's leaving herself vulnerable by repeatedly asking "is this burning an eternal flame," practically daring him to say "no, probably not."

Funnily enough, it's just now that it occured to me that she might be saying "is this burning, the one I feel inside me, emnating from an eternal flame, not just lust?" I'd always imagined it as "is this, what we have between us, setting an eternal flame alight?" I suppose my original thoughts came fromt he fact that the song was a hit when I was a kid. Plenty of songs about sex went right over my head. Now, I'm conflicted as to the meaning. Certainly she's got the burning within, or she wouldn't be watching him sleep. Then again, she's quite intent on the notion that he's totally reciprocating, so perhaps she DOES mean that they're burning a flame together - though I guess she would have saigh "lighting" rather than "burning" if that were the case.