When I’m feeling really sick, and when the only thing I can do is to lie in bed, I sometimes try to imagine that I’m an island in a river.
And then I imagine that the water flowing past me in the river is a bit warm (or cold, if that’s the temperature that would make me feel better).
And then, lying down, I try to imagine the spot on my head where the water meets the island before splitting into separate streams to flow around it.
And then if I imagine hard enough, I can almost feel the water flowing around Me Island from head to toe.
And then if I imagine even harder, I can feel that instead of the water flowing around me, I am the one moving through the water.
And then, if I’m still sick, I do it again the next day.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The way it fades in, the way a river’s flow becomes audible as you approach it.
2. The way it shifts at the two-minute mark; the bridge brings a new chord progression, a new instrument (the piano) and a sense that things are changing. It’s like that moment in the middle of a flu that you thought you might just have to live with forever, when suddenly something lifts and you start to feel better.
3. The lyrics sound like they may have been written by someone holed up in bed recovering from an illness: never slept in a bed so cold / can you hear me crying out / I’m aching and all alone.
Recommended listening activity:
Pretending the damp cloth on your forehead is a beach.