Theme

Theme [from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind] by Jon Brion



That sound that you may be hearing? That's my heart being ripped out with those first bass notes. But let's start at the beginning...

My search for this song began years ago while listening to This American Life. Every once in a while during the show, between parts in one of the many stories they tell, they would sometimes use this song. And I loved it. And a search began to find this song... Google was used, websites looked at... but nothing.

And then, two months ago, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind found it's way to the top of my Netflix queue, I brought it with me to Florida over Memorial Day, I popped the DVD in and... there were those bass notes, followed by that haunting instrument, I'm not even sure what it is, but that sort of whistling/swirling sound... and then the piano begins. And I had found that sound that I had been searching for for months.

Then I watched the movie... at first I was lukewarm, but as I look back, it has moved it's way into the top ten movies I've ever seen. Why? Because I'm still thinking about it two months later.

[Spoiler Alert]
I liked the idea and how the movie explored the whole "is there only one person in the world for everyone" subject. Even after Joel and Clementine's memories are erased, they end up meeting each other and begin to fall for each other all over again.

I love that thought. Even after they have tried to wipe the other from their mind, Joel and Clementine have too much chemistry, too much attraction, too much likeness. As the Great Spaniard Enrique Iglesias once sang: They can run, they can hide, but they can't escape their love.

I like the thought that there is only one person for me and I'm going to be that one person for someone. I guess that's egotistical, but that's better than just 'falling' into someone at different points in ones life. I like this idea more than thought that love occurs when it's convent and socially acceptable. That the person you meet, when you're single and 25 isn't the person you love and end up with because you're single and 25, but because that IS the person you're supposed to be with.

But the flip side of all this, of course, is the break up. If you love someone, and then you break up, whatever the reason... that love doesn't go away over night or over a week or even over a few months. Love dies slowly—if ever at all. So why is it that when we break up with someone we love that we try and pretend that we didn't? Or why do we do whatever we can to forget about that person? Why don't we just embrace our love and try and make things work? Why don't we surrender to our own love? Is the pain too great? Is loving someone that painful? We have to realize that we can't escape our love.

So I say embrace our love for one another, live with that love, and let it decide everything. The pain hurts, the rejection of love is truly tragic. But as time passes, that love for the girl (or guy) will abate. I'll meet new people, I'll fall in love. The person I fall in love with will be the one I was meant to be with. Love will win the day.

It just may take a few days...

As the movie played on, and Joel ran from his memories, my relationship with the Girl was the only thing I could think about.

And that's why, the song, ever so slowly rips out my heart. Each bass note slowly pulls a string that rips my heart out of my chest, little by little, bit by bit, over 2 minutes and 24 seconds.