There is A Light That Never Goes Out

There is A Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths




One of my five favorite novels is Irving Welsh's "Trainspotting" (the movie also cracks the top five). The book is a bit of a bitch* to read... but once in a while Welsh breaks away from the Scottish dialect and writes in what is totally normal English. And one of those times, Welsh is writing in the third person and discussing Spud, who has met a girl that he likes, and all he can think while walking with this girl are the lines to this song. I forget if it's the chorus or one of the verses (and I don't have the book in front of me to check) but anyway:
And if a double-decker bus
Crashes into us
To die by your side
Is such a heavenly way to die
And if a ten-ton truck
Kills the both of us
To die by your side
Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine

Yep, the normally dark lyrics of the Smiths are on display here. But it's actually not that dark. Really what Morrissey is saying is "hey, if we die, I wouldn't mind because I'm with you." That's a nice thought. I've never really had a thought like that, but I sort of understand where he's coming from.

Last spring, as I was having my first real conversation with The Girl, I looked above and there was this huge window AC unit looking as if it could fall at any moment... and these lines came to my mind.

"You know the song "There is A Light That Never Goes Out?"

"No," she smiled.

"Oh, well this AC unit has me thinking about it... there's this line about dying and I just sort of thought about it," and I sort of sang, "and if a double decker bus, crashes into us, to die by yourside..." and I let the words trail off. The Girl just sort of nodded. "I kind of want to move," I thought out loud and then changed the subject.

The rest of the night I'd look above and see that AC unit and sort of half pray that it wouldn't fall on us.

Later that night after I left the bar, The Girl called me. To this day I'm not sure why and she never gave me a good reason as to why she called me. But that's how it all began.



*Not to sound like a feminist, but why is it that when something is a pain in the ass, we call it a bitch? Obviously, what we're saying when we say that is that women are pains. This is true... of everyone. Men and women. So why limit pain's in the asses to only women? Why not say "Trainspotting is a bastard to read"? Women have it tough.