Spiritualized - I Think I'm In Love

Spiritualized - I Think I'm In Love

I have a friend who does not ride for Spiritualized. More offensively, he even refused when asked at point blank to ride even just for this song. This is egregious enough that I will not embarrass him by mentioning that his name is Jonathan Forgang. 

You can't make someone like a song by explaining it to them. It's like trying to make a joke funny by explaining it. I will leave my unnamed friend to his opinion, because I don't need to make other people agree with me in order to feel good about my own point of view. I already feel very good about it. I feel very good, specifically, about "I Think I'm in Love." 

It is one of the best sunny-day walking songs ever, a gorgeous steam-powered whirlwind of smooth-groove gospel-tinged psychedelic rock. Above all, the lyrics perfectly nail the at-times devastating energy of possibly being in love. That's the de-stablizing, disorienting, freak-you-out part, because, as J. Spaceman sings, you could be totally wrong. That's the sheer force of maybe being in love, because it's de-coupled from all kinds of knowledge or certainty. You have to just ride the wave. After beatlessly singing about lying in a room on heroin, J. goes on to say:

I think I'm in love 
Probably just hungry 
I think I'm your friend 
Probably just lonely 
I think you got me in a spin now 
Probably just turning 
I think I'm a fool for you babe 
Probably just yearning 
I think I can rock and rool 
Probably just twisting 
I think I wanna tell the world 
Probably ain't listening 
Come on 

I think I can fly 
Probably just falling 
I think I'm the life and soul 
Probably just snorting 
I think I can hit the mark 
Probably just aiming 
I think my name is on your lips 
Probably complaining 
I think I have caught it bad 
Probably contagious 
I think I'm a winner baby 
Probably Las vegas 
Come on 

I think I'm alive 
Probably just breathing 
I think you stole my heart now baby 
Probably just thieving 
I think I'm on fire 
Probably just smoking 
I think that you're my dream girl 
Probably just dreaming 
I think I'm the best babe 
Probably like all the rest 
I think that I could be your man 
Probably just think you can 
Come on 

I think I'm in love 

J. Spaceman knows enough about drugs (including love) not to blindly trust the insight they offer. All the beauty and danger of ecstatic feeling lies in the absence of suture between how you feel when you're high, high on anything, dancing, shopping, creating, screwing, drinking, and the condition of the world after you come down again. That's why some addicts end up revolutionaries, some become messiahs, some melancholic and alienated. 

I'm a Rausch-er, take it from me.