Intoxicated – Eric Wilbanks

In October of 1983, I was just starting my sophomore year in high school and Huey Lewis had just released his Sports album. Heart and Soul, The Heart of Rock & Roll, If This Is It, and I Want a New Drug were all hits. At that time, I was more of a metal head, so I missed these songs the first time around. In fact, I didn’t even realize I liked Huey Lewis until many years later. But how can you not like a song with lyrics like this:

I want a new drug …One that won’t make me nervousWondering what to doOne that makes me feel like I feel when I’m with youWhen I’m alone with you

You know what he’s talking about. A lot of folks associate this with romance and infatuation. But those who’ve experienced true, deep, abiding love that spans decades know something that romance can’t even come close to touching: this “feeling” is unstoppable. In the words of Westley from The Princess Bride: “Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.”

In a 2000 LA Times article, Kathleen Kelleher wrote the following:

Call it a natural high, but like drugs, the feeling can become addictive. [When in love], the brain is awash in drug-like chemicals. Michael Liebowitz, a psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, theorizes that there is a substance in the brain called phenylethylamine, or PEA, which quickens the flow of information between nerve cells. PEA is the body’s natural speed: It jolts lovers’ brains with feelings of euphoria, elation and exhilaration.

Of course, Huey Lewis didn’t invent this idea. It’s been around a while. Consider Proverbs 5:

My child, be attentive to my wisdom, pay close attention to my understanding.Drink water from your own cistern and running water from your own well.May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife you married in your youth – a loving doe, a graceful deer … may you be captivated by her love always.

That word “captivated” is a Hebrew verb (shagah) which means “to swerve; to meander; to reel” as in drunkenness. In other words, Solomon is calling on his son to be always intoxicated with his wife’s love.

This year, Phyllis and I celebrate 21 years of marriage. They say the legal drinking age in the US is 21, but I can tell you for certain that I’ve been drunk on her love now for over two decades. I suppose now it’s legal. And I’m looking forward to drinking deeply for many more decades to come.