"If We Were Vampires" (things would be different...)

Kudos to The Reverend Morgan Allan for selecting the above ballad for the introduction to his lecture today comparing the horrors of the Marsten House in Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot to the beheading of John the Baptist as portrayed in the Gospel of Mark.  [The video at the lecture link is muted during the first minute during the playing of the ballad, perhaps to avert copyright infringement]; here are the relevant lyrics in the hinge refrain, which can be heard in the embed:

It's knowing that this can't go on forever

Likely one of us will have to spend some days alone

Maybe we'll get forty years together

But one day I'll be gone

Or one day you'll be gone.

If we were vampires and death was a joke

We'd go out on the sidewalk and smoke

And laugh at all the lovers and their plans

I wouldn't feel the need to hold your hand

Maybe time running out is a gift

I'll work hard 'til the end of my shift

And give you every second I can find

And hope it isn't me who's left behind...

The ballad by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit is from his 2017 studio album "The Nashville Sound."  The Reverend Morgan Allan's presentation (the second link above) is 45 minutes in length and contains several insights into Stephen King's writing that I think some readers here will appreciate.  This is part of an ongoing series of lectures; the presentation last week focused on The Shining.  Coming up: Cujo, The Dead Zone, Firestarter, Pet Sematary, and Thinner - all in the context of the Gospel of Mark.