Song Reflections: The Jelly Jam “Stay Together”

All relationships come to either one of two possible ends: either stay together (till one dies?) or come apart.  And this song is the dread and desperation one feels about the latter end, and not wanting to accept that.  It’s a familiar feeling to me, that sense of wanting to hang on but your hands are slipping, you can’t hold on.

Relationships are fragile.  I have a number of long-lasting ones and I’d like to think that I take good care of people close to me — but I also am keenly aware that any of them could be completely destroyed at any time.  It only takes a single devastating act to obliterate whatever trust you built.  Not that I live in a constant fear that I could screw things up so badly any moment, I don’t — but I strive to remain diligent.  For example, that cliché about telling people that you love them — well, I do.  I hug and tell them that I love them, if something were to happen to one of us, I am hopeful that my loved ones know that I do love them.

I am grateful that for the most part, I don’t have to experience this feeling in my real life.  But I’ve felt it, and I carry with it, and it’s good to be able to feel it in the safe confines of a song.  It’s like being able to express my private feelings to a trusted friend.  I am grateful.