Well, I was going to do things this afternoon, like read maybe, or sleep, but I just keep listening to this one song over and over. It's "Lisa" by The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers. It was written as part of a compilation CD for Esopus Magazine about imaginary friends. They got the stories for the songs from real and relatively famous people. This particular song is from a story by Alan Sparhawk of Low about an imaginary friend he had when he was little. I found this quote from him about it:
"As a boy, from perhaps age 4 to 7, my dear imaginary friend was a small girl named Lisa. She lived in a small hole in the wall next to my bed. I always imagined her as a year or two older than me. She always seemed to have heavier, older-person things on her mind, so her demeanor was quite sober and even troubled, but never enough to keep her from finding time for me. She took care of me, gave me advice, and was great to have around when I couldn't sleep. I suppose she stayed with the house when we moved when I was 8. She probably has a family now."
Prayers and Tears have done something amazing with this story, evoking the idea of childhood love as well as imaginary friends. In a way this turns the story around and makes the imaginary friend the one who's imagining . . . but this sounds confusing.
Listen to it: Lisa
Posted by linnea at January 1, 2006 9:36 PM