Picture

I recently read an intriguing article in The New Yorker about Kid Rock, an artist to whom I had never really given much thought or credit. But as presented in the article, here is a man who struggled with his identity, who wanted very much to be part of the movements that appealed to him (namely hip hop), but in the end realized that he could only really truly be himself. Sounds a lot like the rest of us, doesn't it?

One of the songs they mentioned was Picture, a beautiful, twangy duet with Sheryl Crow -- a decidedly un-hip-hop kind of tune:

[Kid Rock]
Livin' my life in a slow hell
Different girl every night at the hotel
I ain't seen the sun shine in 3 damn days
Been fuelin' up on cocaine and whisky
Wish I had a good girl to miss me
Lord I wonder if I'll ever change my ways
I put your picture away
Sat down and cried today
I can't look at you while I'm lyin' next to her
I put your picture away, sat down and cried today
I can't look at you, while I'm lyin next to her

[Sherly Crow]
I called you last night in the hotel
Everyone knows but they wont tell
But their half hearted smiles tell me
Somethin' just ain't right
I been waitin' on you for a long time
Fuelin' up on heartaches and cheap wine
I ain't heard from you in 3 damn nights
I put your picture away
I wonder where you been
I can't look at you while I'm lyin' next to him
I put your picture away
I wonder where you been
I can't look at you while I'm lyin' next to him
I saw ya yesterday with an old friend

[Kid Rock]
It was the same ole same "how have you been"

[Both]
Since you been gone my worlds been dark & grey

[Kid Rock]
You reminded me of brighter days

[Sheryl Crow]
I hoped you were comin' home to stay
I was headed to church

[Kid Rock]
I was off to drink you away

[Both]
I thought about you for a long time
Can't seem to get you off my mind
I can't understand why we're living life this way
I found your picture today
I swear I'll change my ways
I just called to say I want you to come back home
I found your picture today
I swear I'll change my ways
I just called to say I want you to come back home
I just called to say, I love you come back home

And ever since I looked it up on youtube the other night with my boyfriend, it has been floating in and out of my consciousness. It makes me think about a couple of things. One, that the picture that we have of another person is our picture -- it may or may not match up to the picture that person has of himself or herself. Perhaps even more profound is the thought that the picture that people have of themselves sometimes doesn't always match what's really on the inside.

For these reasons, I'm finding it important, like Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow, to do my best to put the picture away. To really, truly, to the best of my ability, see what is really there, both deep inside myself and deep inside the people I love, and from that place, rather than either of our pictures, come together in love...