For me, the first verse is about the first kiss I ever received. Got. Gave. Made. Or, on a grander scale, the first love I ever made. It was a long-held dream come true. It finally 'came', arrived.
How does that make you 'insane'? It surely made me insane. Suddenly my whole life was turned upside down. I loved a girl and adjusted all I ever was, all I ever had, all I ever planned to do, to her love. I discovered the power of love, what it can do, what it can create, and what it can hurt or destroy. Beautiful smoke rings that are blown away by the same wind that, according to Paul Simon, blows through the 'window in your heart' and that anyone else can see blowing painfully.
In the second and third verse, the relationship is over. She never got to know 'me', the song's protagonist. She could have gotten to know me, to see right through me, but she did not. She could have known both of my 'sides': the visible side, and the 'other side', the vulnerable side which I keep to myself, although it is 'just the same' but nevertheless private property.
In the making of that love and the untangling of it, I tried to - and had to - reflect on myself. I tried to see myself 'as you knew me'. The visible side that you experienced; the side that you apparently fell for, the side I offered you. Then the 'change came' and I finally had the guts to allow you a deeper look into my being, into who I really am - an emotionally naked guy, a guy who is deeply in love with you. I guess you can, and want you to 'see that now', you can 'see me now' how I am completely - both halves.
So, what a change we made. Two people, unknowing of each other, and for a fragment in time in love, making our lives dependent of each other. In a whisk of time; we rush ahead. We want to have, create, consume this love now, here. No time wasted. We want this to be IT.
But we should not rush. We should not want to be IT. There's no guessing about forever-and-ever. All that counts is what we feel. That we feel. As long as we feel. Even in spite of what lies ahead.
I like Neil Young songs that make us think. There are many of them.
For me, the first verse is about the first kiss I ever received. Got. Gave. Made. Or, on a grander scale, the first love I ever made. It was a long-held dream come true. It finally 'came', arrived.
How does that make you 'insane'? It surely made me insane. Suddenly my whole life was turned upside down. I loved a girl and adjusted all I ever was, all I ever had, all I ever planned to do, to her love. I discovered the power of love, what it can do, what it can create, and what it can hurt or destroy. Beautiful smoke rings that are blown away by the same wind that, according to Paul Simon, blows through the 'window in your heart' and that anyone else can see blowing painfully.
In the second and third verse, the relationship is over. She never got to know 'me', the song's protagonist. She could have gotten to know me, to see right through me, but she did not. She could have known both of my 'sides': the visible side, and the 'other side', the vulnerable side which I keep to myself, although it is 'just the same' but nevertheless private property.
In the making of that love and the untangling of it, I tried to - and had to - reflect on myself. I tried to see myself 'as you knew me'. The visible side that you experienced; the side that you apparently fell for, the side I offered you. Then the 'change came' and I finally had the guts to allow you a deeper look into my being, into who I really am - an emotionally naked guy, a guy who is deeply in love with you. I guess you can, and want you to 'see that now', you can 'see me now' how I am completely - both halves.
So, what a change we made. Two people, unknowing of each other, and for a fragment in time in love, making our lives dependent of each other. In a whisk of time; we rush ahead. We want to have, create, consume this love now, here. No time wasted. We want this to be IT.
But we should not rush. We should not want to be IT. There's no guessing about forever-and-ever. All that counts is what we feel. That we feel. As long as we feel. Even in spite of what lies ahead.
I like Neil Young songs that make us think. There are many of them.