The quest for economic security leads us all in strange directions. The question soon becomes, “How much of yourself are you willing to give away for that security?”
When Mat Hutt sat down and wrote this week’s featured tune, he would dig a bit deeper into his own experience, as he would do with all his songs from this period, and delve into issues that were gnawing at him in a way that he’d not previously done.
The subject of this song is not conveyed in the title, it’s about a girl who we all knew. A victim of the false quest.
Beautiful, poised, excellently coutured, and always perfect. A bit too perfect, as it turned out, for she was acting the whole time. She was leading a double life.
Her quest had been fulfilled — she had all the glitter, gold, and diamonds she wanted. But, they were empty baubles and trinkets. They were in no way any way a substitute for what she now knew she really wanted. Once you’ve given away your most precious possession – you – the accumulation of wealth and lies becomes an impossible-to-escape vortex.
When the truth came out, it was too late, the vortex would never let her go. The pearls and earrings were now shackles.
We all knew her, and we all felt the deep twinge one gets when remembering an absent and well-loved friend.
She hadn’t died. Her two lives had merely converged for a moment, only to wend away in opposing directions, leaving us wondering what might have been a better life for her.
A life with real love, real people, and nowhere in sight – the vain lure of —
Native 