(Don't Fear) The Boxer

Everybody puts things in boxes in their minds. It's habit, it's nature, it's a survual mechanism, it's what keeps us sane. It makes things easier to cope with. It allows us to dismiss what we don't like and accept what we do. It is wrong, it is right, it is neither, it is both. Even the most open minded among us put things in boxes.

And so do I. As the list of Archetypes grows...

One of my favorite songs is (Don't Fear) The Reaper. The first time I recall hearing it was at the end of The Frighteners. I fell in love with it almost at once. Bought the soundtrack for it, in fact. Later, I learned where the song had originated and that I had heard it once before, in a no-name slasher flick. As of this writing, I own three albums with versions of this song and there's a good chance I might pick up more. There is something about the song that reaches me.

While goofing off one day, I stumbled across the Wikipedia entry for the song, which I have linked above. I was surprised to find that there are those who believe (Don't Fear) The Reaper was about murder-suicide. They point to the reference to Romeo and Juliet as evidence.

The song writer, Buck Dharma says this isn't so. The particular box he wants the song to be in is "eternal love." Which makes far more sense to me. As I recall it, Romeo and Juliet weren't murder-suicide, and besides the lyrics really don't fit that particular conclusion.

However, I have my own interpretation of the song, which I think meshes far better with what Dharma states the song is about.

Let's look at towards the end of the song a moment:

Then the door was open and the wind appeared

The candles blew then disappeared

The curtains flew then he appeared

which is followed by:

And she ran to him...then they started to fly

They looked backward and said goodbye

(she had become like they are)

She had taken his hand

(she had become like they are)

Now I am a man with a certain type of bent. I tend to see things in a certain, shall we say, Fantastic light. And that first portion I quoted I've seen countless times in a specific type of movies.

See, it sounds very much like a vampire who has come for his lover, offering his kiss and the gift it brings. The lover accepts and together they leave the living.

Eternal Romance.

No doubt this is not what Dharma intended.

No doubt this is something only I can see.

And I can accept that. And, for what it's worth, I can accept that I am way, way wrong.

For, see, it can be fun to put literature, art, and song into a box, see if it fits, to learn why it does or does not. For no matter the folding, bending or mutilation, the work survives. It still speaks it's message or lack there of.

In fact, in some cases boxing reflects more on the person with the boxes than the art itself...

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Small note: I lifted the lyrics from this site, and made a few tweaks here and there. No doubt between the two of us, (Don't Fear) The Reaper has been misrepresented, and I apologize for that fact.