THE FORKIE PHILOSOPHER

In 1985 I was 12 years old, and this song didn’t really make much of an impact on me. I wasn’t really into music and only watched ABCs “Countdown” because that was one of the shows my older sister had chosen as a must watch. The house had to share the one television back then.

It was/is a catchy tune, and Tina Cross was gorgeous. I honestly cannot recall seeing the video, although when I stumbled on it a few years ago, I insistently recognised it. Kind of like “I know I’ve seen this before, but I cannot remember” moments. The tune, the chorus and Tina Cross instantly hit my nostalgia buttons.

As I have re-listened to it over the years I have fallen in love with one particular line. The song itself tells a pretty straightforward narrative. A young woman hooking up with an older man. It’s all new and exciting for her, but he wants commitments and control. She likes the guy and is enjoying their time together. However, she can also see that his feelings are more intense than hers and things are getting a little too serious.

She is literally telling him she does not want to make promises she cannot keep. We never find out how things ended up. It can be intriguing to imagine how this seemingly possessive lover handled being rejected by the object of his obsession…

She is trying to explain the divergence of their feelings for one another and let him down easy. She shows great insight into his and her own motivations. However, the line I will refer too is sublime wisdom!

“Changes of seasons I haven’t been through.”

What an awesome line! Regardless of how paradoxical it is for one so young to comprehend such a concept: I fucking adore it!

At 12 years old, I would’ve been lucky to grasp even a basic understanding of the lyrics. Rehearing them over thirty years later was a brand-new experience. Same song interacting with a more mature mind. With a person who had been through many changes of seasons himself. Corny but very true. At twenty-two, or even thirty-two it wouldn’t have hit the same.

“Seasons”, the plural make the world of difference. Each new era changes your perspective on life and your place in the world. The exact same song or film can resonate completely differently with the same person at different phases of their life; and here’s the twist on the line I am currently praising: you can only fully appreciate it looking back.

Tina Ross was 26 at the time of the songs release and her character in the song was maybe a little younger. The chances that a person in their early 20s would be contemplating such notions as the changing seasons of life would be very rare; them comprehending it beyond an interesting idea is almost impossible.

Perhaps such a contradiction becomes understandable when you discover the song was written by a 39-year-old male. Leon Berger was possibly the age of the male character in the song, and this might lead to the presumption that the song was about his relationship with Tina Ross; though I have no evidence of that.

Maybe he did have a similar painful love affair with another young lady all the same. So, we have an older man writing a song told through the eyes of an exuberant young woman trying to break up with a man who has lived through a few more changes of seasons than her.

Leon Berger may have placed his own life experience into the psyche of his female protagonist. Intentionally or not, he produced a great line that always makes me smile. Just a few words slapped together in the context of a pop song, and it hits an existential nerve (with me at least).

Of course, a more mundane thesis could be put across. Maybe she read or heard that line somewhere and never had any use for it until the time she was trying to dump some older dude who was getting too clingy; trying her best to prevent herself from acquiring a stalker.

I like my interpretation better.