Teasing and Receiving

["Stuart M. Castergine" <scasterg@cd.columbus.oh.us>]

Here's something for discussion. Listen closely to Houdini.

The official lyrics say "With your spit still on my lips."

But when I listen to it, I always get the impression that she is saying
"With your spirit still on my lips". The 'r' sound seems greatly slurred
and rushed, but there.

It seems there is a certain poetic beauty to spirit instead of spit. The
word used for spirit in Greek translations of the Bible was derived from
the word for wind or breath, and there are passages in the Bible that
equate the spirit with the breath. 

Since the song is about her searching for his spirit, I think it is neat
to imagine one of his last breaths as he withdraws from the kiss, and her
feeling it lingering on her lips and imagining his very spirit there. 
Then when he dies (as in the song, not real life), the body they pull 
from the water has no spirit -- no breath -- left. The last of it she 
felt was what he left behind with that last kiss. You can even go 
further, since this is Houdini we're talking about, and say that the great 
magician tricked death through the ruse of leaving his spirit on her 
lips, not taking it into the water with him -- with a kiss, she passed 
the key that would allow him to escape eternity "Not even eternity can 
hold Houdini." I know that's pushing it, but I like the thought. :-)

Sigh. But I am probably mishearing it -- all my recent listening has been 
done with an old cassette copy on a cheap tape player. My cd player and 
turntable (remember those?) are in storage while I build a new house.

What's everyone else think?

scasterg@cd.columbus.oh.us == Stuart M. Castergine   |              ---
All young gentle dreams drowning                     | "Mmm, yes."   |/
In life's grief                                      |               |\
Can you hang on to me? --Kate Bush, _Big Stripey Lie_|