Hold on - if love is the answer ....

For my birthday, I received Daft Punks new album, Random Access Memories.

The heart of the album is a track called Touch, and this title is taken from the lyrics of this track. There are two somewhat surreal tracks on the album - this one and Contact, the final track. They are, in my view, also the two most exceptional tracks.

Overall, the album is exceptionally good, fantastic to listen to. Does it live up to the hype? No, because nothing could live up to some of the hype, but it does live up to the expected quality from Daft Punk. If anything, it is even better than Discovery, their previous blockbusting work of genius. RAM does have the same sort of feel-good sense of Discovery too.

Anyhow - Touch and this lyric. The thing is, the lyrics are not entirely clear, and this line may end with "... you want", or "... you're wrong", or "...you're home". In fact, it could even start with "Oh no..." This sense of lyrics almost but not quite heard is just one of those things that makes it more odd and surreal. So what does it mean.

But what does it mean? Of course, that is a big question. As with any work of creativity, the original meaning that the creator had in their mind is only part of the answer, and what that is we do not know anyway. There is also the interpretation from the recipient, there is the way that I interpret and understand it, what it says to me, and that is what I want to explore.

The core part of this lyric is "if love is the answer" - something that resonates well with the Christian idea, which argues that Love IS the answer. The context of the song appears to be that of a being or a robot or a person who has died, and who is receiving life for the first or second time. It is about the essence of what life is about.

Love is the answer - and love is shown by touch - the communication and connection that is made by the touch, the feel, the sense of another person. But what of the parts around this central comment? The fact that the implications of love being the answer are rather vague are what this is about. Maybe love - shown in the engagement with other people - is what you want, in which case, maybe you are home. Or maybe the touch is not enough, maybe the love shown is not the be all and end all of life.

What do I understand by this lyric? I think I understand that the touch of other people - not necessary or solely the physical - is the core of love, the core of "the answer". If love is the answer, then love is found in the ministrations of others, and it can be found in all sorts of places. If love is the answer, you are already home, wherever you are, wherever there are other people to engage with. That is my take on it, that is what I get from it, and this is a positive message, a message of hope and encouragement that love is to be found in other people.

Hold on. Love is the answer. So you are home.