‘A Song is a City’

from A Song is a City by Eskimo Joe


See him walking in the park
With a few things on his mind
He’s been talking with the ones
With the ones that he loves

Tell me who is gonna pay
I’m so anxious I don’t know
You can see it on their face
As it takes its toll

And he takes its time
Yeah he takes his time
No one ever, ever gonna mind
I don’t care what the future holds
All I know is that I’m getting old

I think I’ve had an affair
At least that’s what they call it these days
And it wasn’t very fair
To the ones that I love
Well I just pushed her away
There was nothing I could say
Now I hang myself each night
With the noose that I built

And he takes his time yeah he takes his time
No one ever, ever gonna mind
I don’t care what the future holds
All I know is that I’m getting old


This restlessness and sorrow in this song made me think of King David’s affair with Bathsheba, and its consequences (2 Samuel 11 and 12). It led to David arranging for Bathsheba’s husband to be killed, and later led to David’s public humiliation and the death of his and Bathsheba’s son.
The scary thing, for me, is that it all started off from what we might see as a relatively ‘small’ sin. David was walking around late at night, on the roof of the palace. From the roof he was able watch Bathsheba having a bath.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t the first time he went up there late at night to perve on chicks. It seems kind of like the ancient Palestinian version of channel-surfing late at night, hoping for a sex scene.
The thing is, the ‘little’ sin led to David having an extramarital affair, arranging a murder, experiencing the embarrassment of Nathan the prophet pointing out what he’d done, and then the misery of his baby son’s sickness and death.