"But Saviors Don't Last Long ..."

Twenty-five years ago tonight, I came back from studying, to my apartment on campus, where my roommates were watching "Monday Night Football." And, they told me.

This is the song that's been in my head all day -

Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup,
They slither while they pass, they slip away Across the Universe.
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind,
Possessing and caressing me.

Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes,
They call me on and on Across the Universe.
Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box,
They tumble blindly as they make their way Across the Universe

Sounds of laughter, shades of earth are ringing
Through my open ears inciting and inviting me.
Limitless, undying love, which shines around me like a million suns,
And calls me on and on Across the Universe

Jai Guru Deva Om
Nothing's gonna change my world

I always thought "classic" recorded version was too too over-wrought, but the words still came through, and that’s why I think it stands out among the Beatles' songs.

Today, a lot of people are reflecting about something and someone lost - but what can you do? I don't think endless re-playings of "Imagine" are as applicable today, at least if you listen to the lyrics. For each of us, in different ways, people live on. Knowing that, our job is to figure out what to do with ourselves.

What's with the title of this post, you ask? It's from a song I heard performed for the first time just two weeks ago, at the last Springsteen solo show (oh, come on, it's okay to mention him in this post). It's an old lyric, last performed decades ago, that I previously knew only in written form. I thought of it today, also, in reflecting about how much, of ourselves, we invest in our performers -

The lost souls search for saviors
But saviours don't last long
Those aimless, questionless renegade brats
Who live their lives in songs
They run the length of a candle
In a goodnight whisper and a puff they're gone

We can let a performer (or any person) inspire us, but we can't let them be a replacement for us. If we just sit around remembering someone, who once sang "War is over, if you want it", and do nothing else, we're really not keeping him alive, are we?