Day 27: Dead Men are Heavier than Broken Hearts
To me, he was just my landlord–a large, friendly Tico with a mop of curly black hair who loved talking to his birds and sang along loudly to Beatles songs and just happened to have lots of random people coming by his house at all hours of the night.
But apparently they’d made it work (sort of) for 8 or more years, and got along swimmingly unless Oliver was on a drunken bender, which happened about once a week.
During those times she would come seek me out in my hammock, hands wringing, saying with a sad look in her eye “Have you seen Oliver?”
I’d look up from whatever book I was reading at the time and admit I hadn’t. “I’m sorry,” I’d say. “I’ll let you know if I do…”
This was the time before Kindles, and as I have always bordered on “hermit reading level” I spent hours swinging away, devouring any worn-and-weathered book I could find in town. Red Hot Chili Peppers biopics, NYT best sellers, teen vampire books–nothing was beyond my literary appetite.
At one point in the story, the grizzly detective Phillip Marlowe is scrutinizing a crime scene and this vignette takes place:
“I knelt down and squinted along the nap of the rug to the front door. I thought I could see two parallel grooves pointing that way, as though heels had dragged. Whoever had done it had meant business. Dead men are heavier than broken hearts.”
I love this song. I had to re-learn it for this blog post because I hadn’t played it in forever, but it will always have a special place in my heart.
I love the story of a woman finally deciding “Enough” and taking the man in her relationship hostage (literally) so that he’ll pay attention to her.
And you never know: there’s still time for whiskey and the ropes.
P.S The record track of this song is another one with insanely talented musicians. Check it out HERE!
Dead Men are Heavier than Broken Hearts
I saw you once before
saw you when your lips were talking
You had stopped outside my door
I guess I thought your feet were through with walking
And I felt a smile pull on my mouth
and I felt hope for the first time
and I knew you’d be mine
So I went so far from home
to start a new one with you
But you soon began to roam,
saying “Sugar, it’s just no one can love a woman like I do”
And when people asked “How can you be wife and man?”
I told them we were in love and that that was enough
But oh, my darling, we would get along
if you’d just stay, stay, stay
Oh, my lover, I won’t do you wrong
if you just say you won’t be gone
‘Cause when I awake and I don’t see your face
I try to count my blessings in the times we’ve kissed
But all those nights when you’re not by my side
I tell myself “there’s got to be something better than this”
So I soon devised a plan
so your cheating heart wouldn’t stray
With the sleeping pills in hand I spiked your whiskey
and I waited for the darkness at the end of the day
And when you fell into a deep sleep
to your bedside I did creep
and let my anger out with ropes, strong and true
and when you woke I sang to you
I said “Oh, my darling, I can see you want to leave
why don’t you try? Try, try!
Oh, my lover, it used to be so easy to flee
but you know I am done being the fool, you see
And these chains that bind will link your heart to mine
and you will learn to finish what you did start
You can say I’m crazy, but you know I did believe
When you swore to God in heaven to love me
death ’till us part
Oh, my darling, we will get along
now that you’ll stay–you have to stay
And oh my lover I won’t do you wrong
now that I know you can’t be gone
And when you awake and you see my face
you better count your blessings in the times we kiss
and all those nights now that you are by my side
you better tell me there couldn’t be anything better than this
I’m not sayin’ that it’s right,
but you’re here with me tonight
and that’s where I think a good husband should be
Darling, don’t you agree?
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