Finding the Story in the Music

So, I mentioned on Twitter that I was eating breakfast this last Saturday and the song "Crash into me" came on in the diner, and it seemed to fit the relationship and feel for Sentinel's Run so completely. The following day I was still singing it as I was getting ready for church and the husband asked, "Do you need a different song stuck in your head?" I said, "Are you kidding... I love this song. There are worse songs to have stuck in your head." He laughed. "Yeah, but at church? That's a dirty song... the line just before "show your world to me?" I had to think about it and listen to it again to figure out what he was talking about.

So, this morning, I finally looked up the words to this song on lyrics freak and then I went to song meanings to see what other people thought of the words. (I find that site fascinating, btw... even when I think they're all crazy for what they think.)

I don't know if other people do this, but when I listen to a song... a storyboard plays in my head like the old videos from the early nineties where there was a story behind all songs. (If you don't believe me, check out Meatloaf's I Would do Anything for Love but Taylor Swift's Love Story is a classic for storytelling in a video in my opinion.) (On the other hand, anything by Lady Gaga just makes her songs make less sense. LOL.)

So, I've been thinking about the storyboard that plays in my head to Crash Into Me... and it's not the least bit dirty (though, I'll admit it depends on your definition of dirty--and I could see where my husband was going with that.) So, for fun, I thought I'd narrate the storyboard in my head for the song Crash Into Me by Dave Matthews Band. It looks nothing like the song's actual video which you can see here. I swiped the lyrics from lyrics freak and, of course, they're not mine at all... just the pictures in my head.

You've got your ball. You've got your chain--tied to me tight--tie me up again.

A man is coming home from a long day working. He is walking up the front walkway and he sees a light coming from the side of his house where they've got a big willow planted. With a smile, he goes around the side and stands underneath the willow and sees his wife is getting ready for bed after having waited up for him. They've been married a long time... but she still makes him hot.

Who's got their claws in you my friend into your heart I'll beat again.

His wife turns and sees him through the picture window of their bedroom. He's been coming home later and later because his job is demanding. His wife smiles... and instead of motioning him in... she gets closer to the window.

Sweet like candy to my soul. Sweet you rock and sweet you roll. Lost for you. I'm so lost for you.

His wife presses her hand against the window and tips her head and then she leans forward and kisses the window.... he smiles and then laughs outright when she does a big, nasty blowfish on the window.

You come crash into me and I come into you. I come into you. In a boy's dream. In a boy's dream.

He thinks back to the first time he saw her... he was only a boy compared to what the world has made him now. He was a teenager and he thought he knew of passion and happiness. She was a comet that smacked into him and turned everything upside down. He fell in love as a boy and that stayed with him as he became a man. Sometimes, the boy inside... well, he still loves the way she laughs... and the way she teases. Over a decade later... the man inside thinks they still feel like liquid heat when they make love.

Touch your lips just so I know. In your eyes, love, it glows so I'm bare-boned and crazy for you.

He can see in her eyes that she's remembering too. She touches her lips, kisses them, and presses her fingers against the glass. In some ways, he misses the days when their love was simpler, but it's grown and gotten into him, so not having her in his life makes him feel crazy. He should tell her that... he should, but it terrifies him at the same time. She has so much power over him. Even while he's at work, he's thinking of how things will affect her. If you stripped him down to the essence... down to the bones... she'd be there. Even when she makes him crazy and mad... she's his and he's hers.

When you come crash into me, baby. And I come into you. In a boy's dream. In a boy's dream.

She smiles slyly and undoes the first few buttons on her shirt. Matching her daring, he takes off his... shoes... which makes her laugh. Suddenly, they both feel like teenagers again, swept up in the rush of hormones and heat... and it's crazy... and giddy.

If I've gone overboard then I'm begging you to forgive me in my haste. When I'm holding you so, girl, close to me.

He has laugh lines now... perhaps they're also from frowning--he's been doing his fair share of that too. Once upon a time they only laughed together, and now they fight. They fight over money--over the fact that she wants him home more. He yells that he's trying to give her the world--like he always promised her he would. Somehow, he hopes that the times he's holding her make up for the times when he's trying to prove something that she already knows--that he's a man--that he can be what he thinks she wants. Of course... all she wants is him.

Oh and you come crash into me, baby. And I come into you.

One of her buttons gets stuck. She scowls at it for a moment and then just pulls harder. The button pings off the window in between them a moment later.

Hike up your skirt a little more and show your world to me. Hike up your skirt a little more and show your world to me--in a boy's dream--in a boy's dream.

Their bodies have both changed with marriage but the way he feels about her--hasn't. She still makes him crazy with want. He loves how female she is... that she sometimes puts on skirts at home when she gets home... just before sitting on the couch with him and a bowl of popcorn and late-night TV. He's pretty sure she does it just to tease him, but he likes that too. He likes it a lot. It makes him feel like a hot teenager again, making out on the couch. She's wearing a skirt now... and now she isn't.

Oh I watch you there through the window and I stare at you. You wear nothing but you wear it so well.

She finishes undressing, pretending he isn't there, and even turns off the light in their room before lying down in the white sheets on their bed. Normally... she wears one of his over-sized t-shirts to bed and steals a pair of his boxer shorts maybe. Tonight, she doesn't bother... she knows he'll be in soon.

Tied up and twisted the way I'd like to be--for you--for me....

She turns in the sheets and the white sheets twist around her as she does, twining around her body as she stares through the window into his eyes. She crooks her finger for him. With a smile she's always loved, he grabs his shoes and runs to the back door... tripping in his haste... She hears the back door slam and she grins at the ceiling. Their bedroom door opens--and he's managed to toss off most of his clothes throughout the house... and she sees the boy smile within the man she loves. They crash into each other in a mix of hungry mouths and arms and legs... and love.

Come crash into me.

So, what do you think? Is it dirty? Maybe, a little. Is my story anything like yours? Probably not. Maybe you don't even do that. I won't pretend that there aren't a few double entendres thrown into there. "Come into me" could be quite dirty... which I sort of like.

The story I just made around the lyrics actually has nothing, but nothing to do with the story surrounding Sentinel's Run--if anything--it's more like my own relationship with my husband (and, yes, we have a willow tree shielding our bedroom window from the world, but I promise this scenario has never played out.) But the idea of two people crashing into each other's lives with an explosion does have a lot to do with Sentinel's Run. I was venting on Twitter that I can't seem to stop my characters in Sentinel's Run from kissing--even though there are a lot of reasons they shouldn't be kissing... it doesn't matter... my characters keep kissing. That's why the song reminds me of them--that fiery hot explosion of emotions between people that seems to be obvious in young love.

Anyway, this is probably one of those posts that maybe I write just for myself and perhaps I've ruined this song for some of you. *Wendy sticks her tongue out* Yesterday was the kids' last day of school. I'm hoping to get some writing down today, but I might not... but I might... who knows. I'm making good progress, but I'm tired and my allergies are acting up. (I know... I talk about the sexiest things. Pollen is technically the reproductive matter of trees, so there's that.) Annnnnd now I've ruined pollen for you too. ; ) You're welcome.