New miserable experience

Lonely in your quest for a place in the academy? Wondering whether anyone will invite you back to campus? Whether anyone will ever want to hire you?



As Bill Clinton was wont to say, "I feel your pain." Or perhaps you prefer Goethe's formulation: "Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt, weiß was ich leide." To ease your new miserable experience, I offer a little musical interlude:



Gin Blossoms, Pieces of the Night (1992)

Is it any wonder that the stars just don't rush by

When you're only doing 60 through this oh-so-vacant night

But it's lacking something big this time

What the hell did you expect to find

Aphrodite on a barstool by your side



Twelfth night we go

After something everyone should know

Somewhere in the distance out of sight . . . .

Then I saw: gin mill rainfall

What do you remember if at all

Only pieces of the night . . . .



And is it any wonder in the middle of the crowd

If you let your feet get trampled on

When the music is that loud

But you wanted to be where you are

But it looked much better from afar

A hillside in shadow

Between the people and the stars



Twelfth night we go

After something everyone should know

Somewhere in the distance out of sight . . . .

Then I saw: gin mill rainfall

What do you remember if at all

Only pieces of the night . . . .



It seems so distant

But still only half the night away

Where notions between your questions come too

Is it any wonder where

The pieces of the night have been . . . .