Carl and the rest of the wedding party are waiting at the front, by the altar. Then a pipe organ begins to play Mendelssohn’sWedding March.
J has never heard this piece played at a wedding before, and if it weren’t for the setting, he might think it’s a joke. It sounds like a Transylvanian circus processional, delivered with perfect solemnity. V would absolutely love it, for its garish audacity. But V is not around to appreciate it, and when J looks around to see if there’s anyone else he can share a smile with, he sees only the choir members, who have clearly been trained to match their expressions to that of the priest.
The ceremony continues along these somber tones, with Imogen walked down the aisle by her father and conveyed to the space next to Carl. Bach is evoked far more often than love. The priest speaks of Imogen and Carl’s holy union, but he seems more interested in the holy part than the union. It feels to J as if they’ve all been sucked into a much earlier century, and that the marriage has been arranged to shore up a lineage or acquire a dowry. There’s no mention of how Imogen and Carl met, or indeed why they’ve chosen to be married. It’s all very by-the-book, and there’s no question which book it is.
J figured he’d be the grand finale, but now he realizes he’s meant to be the afterthought, the outro, not even the first song after the movie ends, but the second one, playing as the names of the prop handlers and finance executives are listed. For a moment, after Imogen and Carl exchange their vows and are pronounced man and wife, J thinks the priest has forgotten him entirely. When Imogen and Carl kiss, a cheer rings out from a few people and is quickly swallowed by the silence of the rest. It’s only as they turn to leave the church that the priest shoots his steely glance J’s way. There will be no introduction here. J is meant to simply step out of the shadows. Which is exactly what he does.
In a cave in Lascaux
Before Lascaux was called Lascaux
Scribbled on the cold cave wall
“We were in love”
Shades of hematite
Manganese oxide
Memories lost forever
Captured in a drop of amber
We were here at the same time
And what a time to be alive
We were here at the same time
It was a time to be alive
It is such a peculiar feeling, to sing in a cathedral. As he sings, it is as if he’s also following his words as they travel into the air, as if he can feel the heights they reach and the emptiness they move through.
In a men’s room stall
Scribbled on the bathroom wall
For a good time call
Imogen and Carl
Longtime listener, first-time call
A trucker with a southern drawl
Breathing hard over the line
Said I can’t believe that we are
On Earth at the same time
And what a time to be alive
We are here at the same time
What a time to be alive
J closes his eyes and keeps singing. He can sense everyone else moving away from him, the space they leave behind. His voice echoes back to him, reverberates through the eaves.
