Song Lyric Sunday – January 9th, 2021 -A Fistful of Love

We watched too much TV during self-isolation, there was nothing else we could do. The Coronavirus comes with a heavy dose of fatigue, and we did not even try to fight it. We started watching “Saving Grace” with Holly Hunter, who we both happen to like, but soon my husband got tired of the never-ending sex scenes.

He was right. There were too many -at least in the first season. Not just that, they were too long and sometimes also too vulgar. The last chance of an actress to show off a perfect body before aging will take it all? Not sure, but it almost seemed that way.

My husband tuned out, and I watched the remaining episodes when he was asleep. Earl had gotten my attention. If there are angels out there, may they all be like Earl, please? And, most importantly, can I have an Earl watching over me?

The idea of the show is brilliant at a time where so many seem to be obsessed with religion. A female police detective -while good at her job- is a mess in real life. She sleeps around, has an affair with a married colleague. She drinks, she uses drugs, and she does pretty much everything wrong a human being can do wrong. She loves as intense as she lives. She does everything and then some, for the people she loves -and she loves deep.

That’s why she is worth saving. That’s why God sends an angel to her, to save her. Earl, the last change angel, played by Leon Rippy is perfect. Sweet, teddy-bear like, kind but also feisty. His wings -yes, that’s how wings should look like if I would have to imagine them.

Episode six, in season two, starts with a song I never heard. It doesn’t play through -which drove me bonkers- but it plays enough to be curious. The singer is hard to understand. I tried to write down some of the lyrics -nothing came up when I searched for it. I listened to it some more -the same song is played at the end of the episode- still nothing. I could not get anything that made sense.

The song wasn’t mentioned at the closing credits either, they quickly streamed forward to the next episode and cut out all credits. Finally, after listening to it over and over, I had a lightbulb moment and I turned on the subtitles on Hulu, and voila, now I had enough to find the song.

A Fistful of Love – by Antony and the Johnsons

I was lying in my bed last night
Staring at a ceiling full of stars
When it suddenly hit me
I just have to let you know how I feel

We live together in a photograph of time
I look into your eyes
And the seas open up to me

I tell you I love you
And I always will
And I know you can’t tell me

I know that you can’t tell me

So I’m left to pick up
The hints, the little symbols of your devotion
So I’m left to pick up
The hints, the little symbols of your devotion

And I feel your fist
And I know it’s out of love
And I feel the whip
And I know it’s out of love
And I feel your burning eyes, oh, burning holes
Straight through my heart

It’s out of love
It’s out of loveAnd I accept and I collect upon my body
The memories of your devotion

And I accept and I collect upon my body
The memories of your devotion

And I feel your fist
And I know it’s out of love
And I feel the whip
And I know it’s out of love
And I feel your burning eyes burning holes
Straight through my heart

It’s out of love
It’s out of love

Give me a little fistful of love
Give me a little fistful of love
Fistful of loveFistful, fist, fist, fistful of love

You’re giving me a little fist
Giving me a little fistful of love

Giving me, giving me
A little fistful of love
Give me a little, little, little, givin’ little
Givin’ me a fistful of love
Give a little bit, give a little bit
Givin’ me a fistful of love
Oh baby
Givin’ me just a little fistful of love

Give me just a little bit
Give me just a little bit

Songwriters: Antony Hegarty

I didn’t expect that!

As many of you know, I spent my early years with my alcoholic parents, who were violent drunks. I do remember some of the beatings. Not the pain, but the questions in my head so many years later. Did they love me even a bit? Was there anger toward the little girl, somehow based on a sick kind of love?

Here it is my first contribution -with a pingback I hope- to Sunday Song Lyrics.

Perhaps the song is about a woman, thinking back about her childhood and her abusive father. Or perhaps it’s about a woman, who finally left her abusive partner. Either way, it got my attention.

“Saving Grace” certainly not everybody’s cup of tea!