MUSIC: The best I ever had

I love the Who. I think Who's Next is not only the best rock album of all time, it's quite likely the best anything ever. So I've listened to that album, as you can imagine, an obscene number of times. Which means I've heard the song "Bargain" -- I can't imagine an exact number, let's just say a lot.

It's a pretty intense declaration of love. "I'd gladly lose me to find you/I'd gladly give up all I got." Etc. So I've always thought it was odd that during the bridge, when Pete Townshend briefly takes over the vocals from Roger Daltrey, Pete would sing this negative, cynical line: "In life, one and one don't make two/One and one make one." Man, that's a cold view, I thought. Even when you're with someone, he's saying, even when you're part of a couple, you're still alone.

For some reason, when I heard this song today, I suddenly realized that I had it exactly backward. It's actually a positive, hopeful line. He's actually saying that when two people join together, they're no longer separate entities; they combine to form a single unit greater than its individual parts.

I don't know why I never saw that before. Clearly, I'm the negative, cynical one.

I still don't get the part about drowning an unsung man, though.