Song Of The Day 1/24/2016: Jackie Leven – “The Sexual Loneliness of Jesus Christ”

This was introduced to me last week by Mare, the co-protagonist of what's arguably the most atypical post ever featured on this blog, not to mention our official Labyrinth tattoo spokesmodel. (So stop sending those 8x10 glossies, Miley.) Jackie Leven (1950-2011), unknown to me until last week, was in the first division of Scottish new wave bands via his work in Doll By Doll, whose catalog I'll have to engulf at a later time. His post-DBD work, under both his own name and the business-necessitated pseudonym Sir Vincent Lone, proved him very prolific. Vocally he bears a filtered resemblance to Bryan Ferry, especially in the fluttering vibrato department.

I suppose the title of this track is going to upset some folks right off the bean, but there's a lot going on here. The set-up isn't that new; Nikos Kazantzakis (and then Martin Scorsese) lightly tread upon a fantasy of what certain people's Savior might have experienced as a product of neurosis in The Last Temptation of Christ. The Christ in this song is a lot like that one, channeling remembrances of boyhood and witnessing the after-effects of spiritual forlornness, and relating all too well to them as a human. However, he's in the unusual position of being the only person on Earth with all the answers.

Leven takes the very bold step of linking this need to "sexual loneliness" in the title only -- none of the baser aspects of sexuality ever come into focus in the song. By inference of the title, I'm guessing Leven was thinking only of sexuality at its idealized, perfect form: the most heightened connection possible between two humans. Fascinating choice of words. And who's singing "And I miss my baby/I miss him all through the night/Gonna kill my baby/And stars are shining bright"? Is that God? I don't see how it could be anyone other than God. Which throws everything else into an uproar.

Dammit, I was just going to have a nice, simple afternoon watching football.

Thanks, Mare!