semiotics of love

Backstory
When I was in graduate school studying cartography, I worked for an incredibly brilliant guy who wrote a book called “How Maps Work” that outlined a cognitive-semiotic approach to the study of “geographic visualization”. The idea was that if you could understand how humans could turn squiggley lines on a piece of paper or a computer screen into knowledge about the world, you could leverage that understanding to make better maps and construct better knowledge.

This song takes a cognitive-semiotic approach to understanding relationships (for the same reason). :p

Lyrics
Make of me a word
With a flourish of your mind
Reach across the distance
Leave me, leave me
Leave me not behind

I don’t want to be alone
My meaningful existence
Begins and, begins and
Ends with what you know

I just want to be part of your lexicon

I’m like a simile for you
A bridge to understanding
I can take on any meaning
Any meaning, any meaning
That you need me to

I’m like a shadow in the night
Make of me what you will
Mold me, mold me
Into what will make things right

I just want to be part of your lexicon
A conception that you can depend upon

What do I need to say to send you a sign
Help you construct the meaning I want in your mind
What games did you play, my senses perceived
Created a pattern that made me believe
You are a part of me

You are a metaphor I made
A rock on which I stand
You have come to embody
Embody, embody
All my hopes and my plans

If the distortions not too great
The resemblance should be clear
The unexpected, unexpected
Is the worst of my fears

You’ve become a core part of my lexicon
I believe that without you I can’t go on

Hey Charlie
Help me out Mr. Pearce
The ground don’t match my interpretant
And things can only get worse
I need some kind of model
Maybe a sign from above
Something to help me make sense of it all
…a semiotics of love

What do I need to say to send you a sign
Help you construct the meaning I want in your mind
What games did you play, my senses perceived
Created a pattern that made me believe

What do I need to say to send you a sign
What do I need to say to send you a sign
You are a part of me