Our skilled raconteur spins the tale of –I could choose many things—I’ll grab Galatea. In the story from Roman mythology, she is often named as the statue of Pygmalion that was brought to life by Venus. Pygmalion was the king of an island called Cyprus. He was not only a wise ruler, but a gifted sculptor. He once sculpted a maiden. He eventually fell in love with the statue. Praying to Venus that the ivory of the statue would turn to flesh, Pygmalion's wish was granted.
In this story, Galatea is missing—Venus took her back? And the man in the tale wonders if she will just leave him wondering about her. She apparently wasn’t around long enough to discover more about him and decided he couldn’t be the one she’s looking for. If she doesn’t return, he hopes she’ll die soon—certain he would see her then. “If this time must wear a velvet glove” is hard to interpret—that’s what makes lyrics so intriguing—but surely lies are not the true friend of love. Mixing “kindness” with “lies” is perplexing.
He wonders if she’s there. I love how this is expressed. Makes me think of “We jazz June” from Gwendolyn Brooks’s “We Real Cool”.
The man of the tale feels bad because the lady says “he could never be the one.” It’s a Venus game—predicting the outcome is difficult.
Our skilled raconteur spins the tale of –I could choose many things—I’ll grab Galatea. In the story from Roman mythology, she is often named as the statue of Pygmalion that was brought to life by Venus. Pygmalion was the king of an island called Cyprus. He was not only a wise ruler, but a gifted sculptor. He once sculpted a maiden. He eventually fell in love with the statue. Praying to Venus that the ivory of the statue would turn to flesh, Pygmalion's wish was granted. In this story, Galatea is missing—Venus took her back? And the man in the tale wonders if she will just leave him wondering about her. She apparently wasn’t around long enough to discover more about him and decided he couldn’t be the one she’s looking for. If she doesn’t return, he hopes she’ll die soon—certain he would see her then. “If this time must wear a velvet glove” is hard to interpret—that’s what makes lyrics so intriguing—but surely lies are not the true friend of love. Mixing “kindness” with “lies” is perplexing.
He wonders if she’s there. I love how this is expressed. Makes me think of “We jazz June” from Gwendolyn Brooks’s “We Real Cool”.
The man of the tale feels bad because the lady says “he could never be the one.” It’s a Venus game—predicting the outcome is difficult.