Don't Wait Too Long

"Baby you and I got a lot to learn,
don't wanna waste another day...
Maybe you gotta lose it all,
before you find your way..." -Madeleine Peyroux

The divine, sublime Ms. Peyroux seems to speak for a generation of waiting, non-committing twenty-(and thirty and forty)-somethings in her song "Don't Wait Too Long".

Liz Phair stated it a little more bluntly over a decade ago in "Fuck and Run":

"What happened to a boyfriend,
the kind of guy who tries to win you over and
Whatever happened to a boyfriend,
the kind of guy who makes love 'cause he's in it?"

It seems that our biological imperatives have been short-circuited, whether by design or happenstance, the level of commitment among the young seems to have been steadily eroding, or is it just a phase that all generations go through- just prolonged by an extended adolescence?

Again from Ms. Phair:

"I can feel it in my bones,
I'm gonna spend my whole life alone-
fuck and run, fuck and run,
even when I was seventeen-
fuck and run, fuck and run,
even when I was twelve..."

Regardless of cause, to a lot of people, this is THE PROBLEM of modern existence. Of course it is nothing new. What is new is the postponement of further emotional development. The phrase "leading lives of quiet desperation" isn't a new one either, but is more appropo than ever. Going back to Ms. Peyroux:

"Take a chance, play your part...
Make romance, it might break your heart...
But if you think that time will change your ways-
Don't wait too long..."



...oh, by the way, Liz Phair is now a mother and presumably happily married. I guess time can change your ways.