Stone’s Throw: Bromances vs. Blood Brothers
Before there were light-hearted Hollywood ‘bromances’ there was the much more serious bond of ‘blood brothers.’ A blood brother wasn’t your actual sibling, but a close friend… so close that the two of you may have cut your palms open and intermingled your blood in a primitive ritual to claim your bond (then again maybe that’s only in the movies too). The point is there’s something psychically powerful about relationships forged in your formative years… and if they go wrong, unlike real siblings you don’t have archetypal stories like Cain and Abel to spell out who is ‘good’ or ‘evil.’
Stone’s Throw, the B-side of my Statik 3 single released in 1993 continues the personal alt-folk narrative of side A with another kind of loss – of a close friendship. Rather than the clarity of Cain or the cliche of a Hollywood ‘bromance’ where one bro steals the other’s girlfriend, car, or business deal, this story was written to be told from either side…
My blood brother and I had become profoundly judgmental of each other in ways that I’ve only witnessed between real family members (it’s funny how that works). We initially gained a kind of solidarity knowing that our friendship was on the opposite side of that electrified fence. But the end of your college years coagulates a blood bond’s original fluidity; personalities begin to stiffen into who we ‘are’ today. It doesn’t matter who threw the first stone: Between blood brothers one has the intimate knowledge to ‘mock’ the other’s ‘only visions’ in a war with no winners.
Unlike your real sibling, the bond between blood brother (or blood sister for that matter) is not given and assumed. It’s one that’s constructed together, one brick at a time. And the higher you build, the more painful and destructive the fall…
stone’s throw
did you know? my sleep is blind
six years have mocked my only visions.
i will keep your wounded voices with me
instead of keeping your beliefs
like a thousand lies.
i can’t believe that you love this blood
i will keep your blindness here with me
visions come to fill the room until i sleep
now you know: it’s only a stone’s throw
for a blood brother who’s gone blind…
did you weep?
when your mother kept you away,
instead of smashing your beliefs
with a single kiss
so will you keep her always blind?
silver gift for you to lose.
carry this vessel and love this blood
so will you keep her always blind?
instead of smashing your beliefs
with a single word
now you know: it’s only a stone’s throw
for a blood brother who’s gone blind.
[ stone’s throw is available on bandcamp » ]