I want to ask Jim a question. I haven’t really had a question to ask him for ages. I used to be asking him things all the time – over exuberant with enthusiasm, wanting to learn, soak up and absorb all things SM as much as possible. And if I had a question, well who better to ask than Jim himself. Charlie doesn’t really ‘do’ social media anyway and mostly my enquiries would be lyrics based or be something that Jim would be more inclined to answer.
In the past I’d have absolutely NO hesitation in going to the Simple Minds Official Facebook page and posing the question on the visitor wall. Back then when I liked the FB page and started following them, Jim would engage a lot. Reply to people on the visitor wall if they shared something interesting, etc. It very rarely happens now, and the wall is all but lifeless.
And well, I have promised Maris Piper (surprised he didn’t call himself King Edward, or “Charlotte”, or Desiree) that I won’t be posting to the wall any more – and a promise is a promise! And well, if I couldn’t even have a bit of flippant fun and ask Jim if he would collect me from the airport with a doughnut without it being deleted – who knows whether a genuine question would even be allowed these days?
I’m not gonna chance it!
I just heard Brian Eno’s Baby’s On Fire recently playing on the radio and the thought just entered my head instantly of Jim’s altering of the lyrics in I Travel and I was suddenly curious as to whether he liked the song. So…that would have been the question…does he actually like the song Baby’s On Fire? Was it what prompted the lyric change…that he liked it? Or did he feel it was a little more cryptic to have that as the lyric rather than simply saying “Brian Eno”?
Like other questions I have posed to him in the recent past (SEMI-MONDE, ANYONE?!), an answer will never be forthcoming – unless I remember to ask at the meet and greet in Bordeaux. Pfffft! This I doubt. It isn’t even that important anyway. I’ll live without ever knowing…
But I miss being curious, quizzing him, and on the odd occasion getting a wonderful response.
Oh, halcyon days!
“Nothing lasts forever” – J Kerr.
Image sourced here
