lover's spit

a song that makes you think of kissing

kissing is like drinking salted water: you drink and your thirst increases                               - Chinese Proverb

There are many types of kisses.

There are the gentle kisses given lightly on the tiny feet, fingers, and foreheads of newborns. There's the quick, first kisses given on the playground or in the closet adjoining a classroom. There are the on the cheek greeting kisses given in many cultures and between friends and family. There are fumbled farewell kisses distributed in closure. There are kisses on hand, pecks on the cheek, and Eskimo kisses. There are tucking 'em in kisses. And there are lifeless kisses given anywhere but the lips that indicate the evening is going nowhere.

This is not about any of those.

Think of those that you have kissed - the good memories and the bad, the ones whose names and faces are just a blur. A kiss can be an indication of many things, whether it was the state of relationship or your feelings toward them, all invoked by the way of your mouths interacting.

Drink You Pretty by Placebo

Opening with a vacant cymbal crash that introduces a lonely snare roll and followed by a deep, repetitive guitar line, "Drink You Pretty" is the introductory kissing song. It feels like the moments of hesitation before approaching someone whose lips are calling out to you, whose movements on the dance floor, unheard words spoken or general aura beckon you in their direction.

Down by the Water by PJ Harvey

Then again there are also the passionate, lustful, uninhibited kisses full of groping and tongue that the French would call soul kisses. It's these moments of complete abandon that these songs evoke for me.

"Down by the Water" opens up intensely from the start with Polly Jean's assured, harshly beautiful voice and an invasive rumbling guitar, like an impassioned grip on the back of the neck that brings you into breathing distance of your beloved. Harvey's voice is echoed in tones reminiscent of something out of a seventies demonic possession horror film, suggesting a loss of control and an out of body experience type feeling such as only the finest lip locks allow.