please put down your hand/because i see you

So I went on a wee road trip today. Just a little escape.

And as the house quiets my legs are folded together, and my eyes are starting to wind down from all they took in today. When everyone else went to sleep, and the electric lights succumbed to the night one by one, it became clear I needed a sensory cleansing after a whole day of being immersed in people and places and life.

The aural backdrop for this all encompassing, bone deep release ended up being a cover song by Clem Snide. On their 2004 (now defunct) spinART Records EP, Beautiful, the Boston trio chose one of my favorite Velvet Underground songs to apply their disarmingly close and accessible sound to.

"I'll Be Your Mirror" has some of the most embarrassingly affecting lyrics for me. Now I claim to be a logical woman, but something in me just shivers and melts when I hear:

I find it hard to believe you don't know

The beauty that you are

But if you don't let me be your eyes

A hand in your darkness, so you won't be afraid

Lou Reed and Nico owned that song for me, with their charming storybook British accents and dreamy tambourine. But when Clem Snide's hushed, cello laced version started, I felt the words sink into my stretched surface and bring me back. It was a new song for me, and it met me where I am. It felt like an old friend with new things to tell me. So I sank into it, and it sank into me, and the navy blue night didn't seem a thing to be distanced. Instead it transformed into a waking dreamworld to let my imagination create beautiful things while being encouraged by the unabashed and unafraid message of this song.

I'll Be Your Mirror (Velvet Underground)- Clem Snide

Clem Snide released a new album in February, The Meat of Life, and it's an intimate, up front record that continues to catch me in its wry wit and gentle observance. Give it a shot.