Original of the Species

My birthday is coming up (thanks to a scot for reminding me no less) and I'm going to be getting older. My friends and I were talking about how a parent feels differently or the same about their child once they are adults. C asked La if she could imagine her son as an adult and becoming estranged from him the way so many adult children do from their parents. She couldn't, yet it happens every day.

You know, I've loved U2's music a great deal because of the shared birthmark I have with Bono and Larry - the loss of a mother at adolesence. And for me, this is that time of year. It was around now 22 years ago that we had a lot of hope that things were looking better and had no idea the rug was about to be pulled out.

While I always loved the expression of a child's grief, there's a beauty and comfort to the music that Bono writes as a parent.. I value and to some extent live vicariously through those lyrics to what it will be like to be a parentless child raising childen of your own. I guess in some ways, the lyrics are feelings for your own child but perhaps, a verbalization of what you hear in your heart from your own absent parents who have moved on and what their hopes and dreams would be for you.

"Original Of The Species"
Baby slow down
The end is not as fun as the start
Please stay a child somewhere in your heart

I’ll give you everything you want
Except the thing you want
You are the first one of your kind

And you feel like no one before
You steal right under my door
And I kneel ‘cos I want you some more
I want the lot of what you got
And I want nothing you’re not

Everywhere you go you shout it
You don’t have to be shy about it

Some things you shouldn’t get too good at
Like smiling, crying and celebrity
Some people got way too much confidence baby

I’ll give you everything you want
Except the thing you want
You are the first one of your kind

And you feel like no one before
You steal right under my door
And I kneel ‘cos I want you some more
I want the lot of what you got
And I want nothing you’re not

Everywhere you go you shout it
You don’t have to be shy about it, no

And you’ll never be alone
Come on now, show your soul
You’ve been keeping your love under control

Everywhere you go you shout it
You don’t have to be shy about it, no
Everywhere you go you shout it
Oh my my

And you feel like no one before
You steal right under my door
I kneel ‘cos I want you some more
I want you some more
I want you some more