Bargain

Been reading a lot these past couple of weeks about swamis, yogis, rishis and rajas, and in all this research I’ve started to notice synchronisms, for lack of a better term. Little things seemingly unrelated to the new knowledge I am acquiring, on first glance, but on further reflection, quite significant.

For example, take the song “Bargain” by The Who.

When I was a sophomore in high school, about a hundred years ago, I went through a huge Who phase. Thanks to an uncle and a stash of forgotten 8-track cassettes (wow, that’s a sentence that really makes one feel old …) I listened to most of their late-60s-to-mid-70s output while working out in my grandparent’s basement. One of my favorite albums was Who’s Next, the first album by the group, it has been said, where they actually rehearsed before hitting the recording studio.

Here are the lyrics to the second song on the album, “Bargain”:

I’d gladly lose me to find you
I’d gladly give up all I had
To find you I’d suffer anything and be glad

I’d pay any price just to get you
I’d work all my life and I will
To win you I’d stand naked, stoned and stabbed

I’d call that a bargain
The best I ever had
The best I ever had

I’d gladly lose me to find you
I’d gladly give up all I got
To catch you I’m gonna run and never stop

I’d pay any price just to win you
Surrender my good life for bad
To find you I’m gonna drown an unsung man

I’d call that a bargain
The best I ever had
The best I ever had

I sit looking ’round
I look at my face in the mirror
I know I’m worth nothing without you
And like one and one don’t make two
One and one make one
And I’m for that free ride to me
I’m looking for you

I’d gladly lose me to find you
I’d gladly give up all I got
To catch you I’m gonna run and never stop

I’d pay any price just to win you
Surrender my good life for bad
To find you I’m gonna drown an unsung man

I’d call that a bargain
The best I ever had
The best I ever had

Now, for thirty years I gave no thought to the meaning of the lyrics. In fact, I’ve hardly thought about the song at all, maybe once or twice a year should I hear it while, channel surfing on the radio. So it was kind of odd that I just came across this little tidbit just the other day, in light of all this reading I’ve been doing about Vedas and Upanishads and Gitas and whatnot.

The song “Bargain” is not about the lengths some dude will go to get some chick.

The song is about the quest for God.

Whoa.

That struck me quite significant. A small significance, mind you, but I love anything that makes me see something in a different light, see new meanings in old things, new wine in old wineskins type stuff, things that give me little bumps all up and down my arms, no matter how big or small.

Here’s the youtube clip of the song: