Quick quiz: who wrote “Intimacy is when we’re in the same place at the same time. Dealing honestly with how we feel, and who we really are. That’s what grown-ups do; that is mature thinking” ?
A: noted relationship philosopher Elizabeth Fraser sang this in the exquisite “Half-Gifts”! (full lyrics). Read The Guardian piece “Elizabeth Fraser: the Cocteau Twins and me“: the Cocteau Twins made their most nakedly beautiful music after Ms. Fraser was broken down by tensions and her failed relationship with band member Robin Guthrie.
I had grasped some of the lyrics, thought I thought she was saying “I have no friends” at the end. Her journey to partial intelligibility from the ineffable mystery of the songs on Blue Bell Knoll and earlier is interesting; there’s a good collection of her comments on it. The mystery lies in the incoherence, so you should only read fans’ guesses at the lyrics of a song after listening to it over and over.
As I’ve said before, Prince mentioned he listened to the Cocteau Twins and that’s all it took for me.
