BOC: Burnin' For You...

[Douglas A Mitchell]

Here's another piece of text that arose out of thematic
discussion on the interpretations of "Burnin' For You"...

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>How do you interpret the lyrics to Burnin' For You?

Here's my angled dream...

>One way is that it's about life on the road for a rock star.  He has
>no true home, and time means nothing because it's just one city
>after another.  He's burnin' for his lover back at home.  "Time to
>play B sides" fits this theory pretty well.

"Home isn't my way, home I'll never be..."  Don't think so...

>Another version, the sinister one that I like the best, is that the
>character in the song has sold his soul for the love of his life.  Being
>eternally damned one would definitely have no home and time would
>become completely meaningless.  This would explain "I've see suns
>that were freezing and lives that were through" and the giving the
>devil his due line.

And it makes the most sense, too.  Home is everywhere, in the valley,
the city, the darkness, "home isn't my way".  So, home is realistically
nowhere.  A sense of not belonging anywhere.  "Givin' the devil his due"
could have a darker meaning, but likely just refers to the temptations of
'life on the road', and the daily struggles to maintain some semblance
of self-control.  "I can't see no reason to put up a fight" shows us that
at this point, that he's given up trying resist, though.  Living a lifestyle
guaranteed to send him to the Ninth Circle of Hell, he's "Burnin'"...

"Time is the essence, time is the season, time ain't no reason, got
no time to slow, time everlasting, time to play B-sides, time ain't on
my side, time I'll never know..."

This passage seems to refer to the varying perceptions of time at
different points of reference in a life.  "Time is the essence" - when
everything is going the way you'd hoped.  "Time is the season" - a
contemplative moment.  "Time ain't no reason" - a surge of impe-
tuous youth.  "Got no time to slow" - feeling like you've got to get
it all done, before...  "Time everlasting" - considering the larger
picture, and the insignificance of a single moment in the cosmos.
"Time to play 'B' sides" - those odd times between 'things', a
certain sense of limbo.  "Time ain't on my side" - when you feel
like life's leaving you behind.  "Time I'll never know" - a realization
that it will all continue, after you're gone...

"Burn out the day, burn out the night, I'm not the one to tell you
what's wrong and what's right."

Moving on through the life that's been chosen.  Accepting life
for what it is, and reminding people not to measure life through
him...

"I've seen suns that were freezing, and lives that were through..."

Hot land, and desert sand.  Or a cold desert sunset.  A single
frame in time.  And the human wreckage strewn about him as
he moves on through his life...

Someone trying to come to grips with the path taken.
That's my overly psychoanalytical look at it...

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Sandy got a hold of a copy of this, and said she'd ask Richard
Meltzer what he REALLY had in mind.  I'll post the response...

"The Snowman"           _?_     Tuned in to life's essentials...
Douglas A. Mitchell        I         Skiing, Backpacking, & the
                                                mighty Blue Oyster Cult!
Home:  dwnthemtn at aol.com
Office:  dmitch at microscan.com         WE UNDERSTAND...

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"They're OK the last days of May, but I'll be breathin' dry air,
I'm leaving soon, the others are already there...Wouldn't be
interested in coming along, instead of staying here?  It said
the West is nice this time of year, that's what they say."
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                                       --- Donald 'Buck Dharma' Roeser