Verses which stick to me.

So the song "Zurich Is Stained" by Pavement has been stuck in my head pretty firmly for a little while now. I have no idea why. Of course the song is catchy, and I do love the way the music sounds, but usually the songs that get stuck in my head don't have lyrics that stand out from the music.

just the first couple of lines like to keep repeating in my head. And I haven't gotten tired of it. It just feels like a statement of purpose.

You can look up the lyrics if you'd like but the lines that just stare out at me are these

"I can't sing is strong enough, cause that kind of strength I just don't have."

"You think it's easy but you're wrong, I am not one half of the problem,
Zurich is stained and it's not my fault, Just hold me back or let me run"

They just sort of get stuck in my head.

I don't really know why. but they sure feel right.


Of course this happens to me sometimes. some verse will seem particularly potent and I will be struck by it. It will infest my head, and I won't be able to get it out for a while. The relationship I have with other people's words is pretty intimate.

another verse that's been sticking to me lately is the first line of Howl by Alan Ginsberg. The whole damn poem sticks to me, but it's hard to remember more than a few verses without some concerted effort.

"I saw the best minds of my Generation destroyed by madness
Starving, Hysterical, Naked
Dragging themselves through the Negro streets at dawn, looking for an angry fix"

I know a bit more than that, but the first line just hits me.

It's something to note, the way that we interact with the words around us. Why does one verse have more meaning for me than another. I know why the beginning of Howl sticks out to me, it's that whole madness thing.

I'd like to know which verses people love. I feel like if I knew that I might know more about them than if I just tried to figure it out with questions. Even knowing if they have a favourite verse would be telling.

Of course I'm still puzzled by some of the verses that have fascinated me. I don't know what drove me to memorise the final soliloquy to a midsummer night's dream.

"if we shadows have offended
think but this and all is mended
that you have but slumber'd here
while these visions did appear
and this weak and idle theme,
no more yielding, but a dream"

there's more but I don't need to put it down.
I just don't know why I was so into it. I don't know why certain things stick out to me
When I read books sometimes I end up underlining lines that just rush off the page. That happens all to frequently.

I would like to know why. What in me makes these things stick out, and how much does this interaction between myself and the words of others define me?

it's a question I have to leave un answered, but I do wish I knew.