Stumbled onto a song I haven’t heard in ages- “Elusive butterlfy” by Bob Lind. If you’ve been bad, you might deserve to have this stuck in your head for a few hours.

Anyway, it struck me, that though this was sappy and annoying in the 60’s, today it’s sappy, annoying and illegal.

Consider:

You might wake up some morning
to the sound of something
moving past your window in the wind
and if you’re quick enough to rise
you’ll catch the fleeting glimpse
of someone’s fading shadow

Ah, a peeping tom. Nice. Just what you need, to wake up and notice some freak has been watching you sleep.

He goes on to say:

and if the sleep has left your ears
you might hear footsteps
running through an open meadow

Sweet. Your stalker is so used to comeing by your house he can run through your neighborhood in the twilight hours. Makes you feel all warm inside.

And then the chorus, so you can really feel creepy:

Don’t be concerned, it will not harm you
it’s only me pursuing something I’m not sure of
across my dreams with nets of wonder
I chase the bright elusive butterfly of love

So he’s not sure- of what? whether he should take pictures of you sleeping, or maybe murder you so you never get soiled by contact with someone else? And the net- Sonds like he’s the one that needs to be netted.

Here’s a gem of a verse:

You might have seen me running
through the long abandoned
ruins of the dreams you left behind
if you remember something there that glided
past you followed close by heavy breathing

Yeah, you need this guy running through your dreams, breathing heavily.

I’m planting Prickly Pear and Multiflora rose outside my daughter’s bedroom windows this very spring.