> There's another reference to "electricity" in Come in From The Cold > > And so with just a touch of our fingers > I could make our circuitry explode > > I don't think too much analysis needs to be done here, it speaks for itself. > sexual congress, attraction
Actually I think most of Joni's use of the electricity metaphor refers to sexual energy more than anything else. I agree that the song 'Electricity' is about a failed romantic relationship but the 'electricity' is in reference to the sexual attraction which is only one part of it. In the case of this relationship it is so strong that it obscures everything else. All reason is cast aside when the heat gets turned up with these two people. It's so good that it's become difficult to give it up even though, overall, it's a bad relationship. For awhile the sex was good enough to make it seem like the real thing but eventually the couple's problems connecting on other levels were just complicated even more by the physical chemistry. I know when I was younger it was very easy for me to think I must be in love with somebody just because there was incredible physical chemistry between us. Too often for my poor foolish heart it just wasn't so or it was one-sided and I'm sure you can guess who the dumpee was more often than not. Rose pointed out the line from 'Come in From the Cold' about the teenage Joni forced to stay a foot away from the boys when she danced with them and how one touch could set off explosions of newly born adolescent sexual energy. In the other line from this song 'is this just vulgar electricity/is this the edifying fire?' she wonders if it's the same sensation when her lover's leg touches hers under the table or if it's something loftier, somehow purifying and soulful. I think she means something purely physical when she talks about electricity in this song and in the song from For The Roses. Mark E in Seattle
