As I've gotten older, though, one specific spin on this scene makes me kind of sad. Bear with me here. The narrator and his dance partner have not (ever) had sex yet. They've been close to that line, possibly for some time now, but haven't crossed it. And they both want to, very much. So much so that when he touches her, she doesn't say anything, she just trembles inside. She might as well just say "Take me right now damn it!", but decorum prevents her.
He knows (that she knows that he knows...) that they are going to cross that line tonight. And it will be very good indeed. Life-changing. (Quite possibly literally life-changing. Picture this song being sung in a place and time where birth control is not well understood or well used, like, oh, catholic Ireland maybe.) You gotta really want to do it before you do it. And these two want to, so much, even knowing the consequences.
OK. So the part that makes me sort of sad is, I'm too old and jaded to ever feel that way again.
Alas.
Now having gone through all that, I want an explanation. Just what does "Trying to please to the calling..." actually mean? Is that some common Irish usage or metaphor that I just don't get, or is it a brand-new phrase?
Lovely, wonderful song. I can't get enough of it.
As I've gotten older, though, one specific spin on this scene makes me kind of sad. Bear with me here. The narrator and his dance partner have not (ever) had sex yet. They've been close to that line, possibly for some time now, but haven't crossed it. And they both want to, very much. So much so that when he touches her, she doesn't say anything, she just trembles inside. She might as well just say "Take me right now damn it!", but decorum prevents her.
He knows (that she knows that he knows...) that they are going to cross that line tonight. And it will be very good indeed. Life-changing. (Quite possibly literally life-changing. Picture this song being sung in a place and time where birth control is not well understood or well used, like, oh, catholic Ireland maybe.) You gotta really want to do it before you do it. And these two want to, so much, even knowing the consequences.
OK. So the part that makes me sort of sad is, I'm too old and jaded to ever feel that way again.
Alas.
Now having gone through all that, I want an explanation. Just what does "Trying to please to the calling..." actually mean? Is that some common Irish usage or metaphor that I just don't get, or is it a brand-new phrase?