Shuffle Synchronicities: Volume 1 - #33
"Sometimes a Fantasy" by Billy Joel - 02/04/21
"Sometimes a Fantasy" by Billy Joel
This song starts with a phone dialing, and it quickly becomes clear that it’s about phone sex!
So we will do another preface by saying:
Sexuality, because it’s a significant part of much music and my and most people’s lives, is a theme of this Substack.
And this post is somewhat NSFW (though is anyone at W?)
Oh, I didn't want to do it, but I got too lonely
Mmm, I had to call you up in the middle of the night
I know it's awful hard to try to make love long distance (ah, ah, ah)
But I really needed stimulation
Though it was only my imagination
While this Billy Joel song from the 80s talks about the rise of phone sex at that time, by the 2000s, sending nude selfies, of course, has become commonplace.
It's just a fantasy (oh-oh-oh-oh)
It's not the real thing (oh-oh-oh-oh)
It's just a fantasy (oh-oh-oh-oh)
It's not the real thing (oh-oh-oh-oh)
Sometimes a fantasy (oh-oh-oh-oh)
Is all you need, oh
And yet it wasn’t until the year of the pandemic, 2020, that I first sent or received my first nudes!
When am I gonna take control, get ahold of my emotions?
Why does it only seem to hit me in the middle of the night?
You told me there's a number I can always dial for assistance (ah, ah, ah)
I don't want to deal with outside action
Only you can give me satisfaction
I was not alone in this. The New York Times even published in April 2020 a highly read piece about the rise of nude selfies during the pandemic calling it “an act of resilience in isolation, a way to seduce without touch.”
It's just a fantasy (oh-oh-oh-oh)
It's not the real thing (oh-oh-oh-oh)
It's just a fantasy (oh-oh-oh-oh)
It's not the real thing (oh-oh-oh-oh)
Sometimes a fantasy (oh, oh, oh, oh)
Is all you need, oh
These nudes came from a friend who wasn’t just sending them to me.
As Matthew, an artist in Providence, R.I., is quoted saying in the article, “I keep getting explicit photos from people I thought were just my friends.” He added, “It’s nice to know they’re thinking of me.”
Oh, sure it would be better if I had you here to hold me
Be better baby, but believe me, it's the next best thing
I'm sure there's many times you've wanted me to hear your secrets
Don't be afraid to say the words that'll move me
Anytime you want to tell them to me
At the time, I was feeling particularly manic/awakened after performing my long sentence book live on a Zoom, reading all 111,111 words in one day, and one thing that happens to me when I’m manic/awakened is that I have less desire for sex.
It's just a fantasy (oh-oh-oh-oh)
It's not the real thing (oh-oh-oh-oh)
It's just a fantasy (oh-oh-oh-oh)
It's not the real thing (oh-oh-oh-oh)
Sometimes a fantasy (oh, oh, oh, oh)
Is all you need
Some of my priestliness comes out, which is a bit contrary to most bipolar people, where when they are “manic” they have much more of a sex drive, sometimes to the point of risky behavior.
It's just a fantasy (it's just a fantasy)
It's not the real thing (it's not the real thing)
It's just a fantasy (it's just a fantasy)
It's not the real thing (it's not the real thing)
So I hadn’t been partaking in any kind of sexuality either in person due to the pandemic or even digitally.
It's just a fantasy (it's just a fantasy)
It's not the real thing (it's not the real thing)
It's just a fantasy (it's just a fantasy)
It's not the real thing (it's not the real thing)
But when I started receiving these wonderful nudes from this friend, it worked well with that priestly sexuality because it felt like a wholesome relationship.
It's just a fantasy (it's just a fantasy)
It's not the real thing (it's not the real thing)
It's just a fantasy (it's just a fantasy)
It's not the real thing
And for a few weeks, perhaps even months (time was and is still weird during the pandemic) those were my only satisfaction ;)
Thanks to that friend!
Additional note: In the single version, which is not this version, this is the album version, at the end, Billy shouts out “I’ve got blisters on my blisters!” which is a reference to Ringo and The Beatles’ joke about over-playing their music, but in this case, well, you know…
Okay, that’s the thirty-third Shuffle Synchronicities.