Desperado

I always enjoy listening to The Eagles. Desperado is a favourite… A ‘desperado’ – someone who is in a desperate that whose drives him to reckless – often criminal actions. It often refers to nineteenth-century bandits in the U.S…

Desperado
Why don’t you come to your senses?
You’ve been out ridin’ fences for so long now
Oh, you’re a hard one
I know that you got your reasons
These things that are pleasin’ you
Can hurt you somehow

Don’t you draw the queen of diamonds, boy
She’ll beat you if she’s able
You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet
Now it seems to me some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can’t get.

When I first heard ‘Desperado’ I thought it was about some wild west cowboy coming to his senses, but I realised that it’s deeper. He’s the lone gambler… betting high stakes, taking calculated risks. The queen of diamonds is attractive, superficially valuable… the queen of hearts requires love and loyalty – and risks rejection. Desperado chooses safety over vulnerability, isolation over commitment.

Desperado
Oh, you ain’t gettin’ no younger
Your pain and your hunger
They’re drivin’ you home
Freedom, oh freedom
Well, that’s just some people talkin’
Your prison is walkin’ through this world all alone

Don’t your feet get cold in the wintertime?
The sky won’t snow and the sun won’t shine
It’s hard to tell the nighttime from the day
You’re losing all your highs and lows
Ain’t it funny how the feeling goes away?

I identify with Desperado… It’s easy to think that the queen of diamonds holds the key… but she brings only pain and hunger. Instead of freedom she brings loneliness. Sometimes it’s more comfortable to protect myself and keep people at a distance. I’m used to being self-sufficient, able to cope, strong through tough times; I know that brings wintertime emotional numbness.

I’m reminded that time is passing. I’m challenged to play my queen of hearts – form deep relationships that may be risky, costly, emotionally painful…

Desperado
Why don’t you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences
Open the gate
It may be rainin’
But there’s a rainbow above you
You better let somebody love you
You better let somebody love you
Before it’s too late.

Hearing this with my ears of Christian faith I’m challenged to come down from my fences where I observe life, don’t get involved, and don’t commit to anyone. I’m challenged to play my queen of hearts – to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, to love my neighbour as myself, to give generously, selflessly…

But ‘let somebody love you’? Loving God and my neighbour I retain some control. I’m doing the loving. If I let somebody love me, I risk everything, I hand over that control. If I let God love me…

So my prayer today is that I will ‘let somebody love me’ – before it’s too late.