‘It’s been such a long, long time since we loved each other and our hearts were true’Īnd in similar vein the penultimate verse ends: Most importantly perhaps is the language used to express regret at the beginning and end of the song because it suggests that what goes on in time is also timeless, or eternal. It’s notable that various ideas and images are repeated as the song develops. Although on one level the song ends without the reunion of the divine and human sides of Christ, and so without the world yet having been redeemed, on another both that unity and the redemption are presented as eternal and so, in a sense, complete. Whilst the divine Christ is expressing his regret, it seems that the human Christ is in the desert presumably trying to come to terms with his divine role. He regrets the human race’s moral demise – ‘they may be dead by now’ – and urges his human part to take the action required to save it. ‘Maybe it’s the same for you as it is for me’ He begins by lamenting the split between the divine and human sides of his nature (the Father and the Son)and suggesting that the feeling of loss is experienced by them both: The narrator, then, seems to be Christ in his divine role. Accordingly something which applies to one of them is likely to apply to at least one of the others and, as it turns out, to the human race generally. It’s never made explicit who the various parties represent, and as the song develops it becomes clear that none of the three can be completely differentiated from the other two. The narrator and the woman, would appear to represent respectively the divine part of Christ (God himself), and Christ the man. The idea is explored through three individual characters – the narrator, the woman who’s being addressed, and the ‘enemy’. However, various indications suggest that on a deeper level the song concerns the incarnation of Christ and the means of achieving salvation. At first glance the song is about a marriage which has failed and one of the partners’ attempts to mend it. The tune not only got extensive airplay on radio stations of all sizes, but also garnered a lot of jukebox play, a rarity.
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