Cecilia will put song in your heart

Next week, many Catholics will mark the Feast Day of St. Cecilia. I know this because — as a non-Catholic observer — Cecilia has always been a favorite of mine. In one book of saints, she's listed as a "the patron of composers, musicians, vocalists and organ builders."

In other words, if you're a composer who needs a melody, talk to Cecilia. She'll put a song in your heart.

In fact, I think that's what is really happening in the popular Paul Simon song called "Cecilia."

Simon was on the Stephen Colbert show awhile back, and Colbert was grilling him about the meaning of the goofy imagery in that song. Simon joked and tap-danced around, but he never gave a real answer.

The real answer, I think, is that "Cecilia" may sound like a love song, but it's really a religious song. It's about a songwriter asking St. Cecilia to give him a tune. It's there in the words "I'm down on my knees, I'm begging you please" and in the word "jubilation" — a tried-and-true Catholic term.

The funny thing about the song is the action takes place in a bedroom, where Cecilia is supposedly acting kind of frisky. The truth is Cecilia is most famous for avoiding that situation altogether. On her wedding night, the story goes, Cecilia tells her new husband Valerian that she can't sleep with him because she has given herself to God. Then she tells him if tries to touch her, she has a guardian angel who will come down and let him have it. Wisely, the husband steers clear of her and even asks if he can be baptized. That's when the guardian angel descends and crowns the couple with lilies and roses.

Later, the husband is killed by the Romans for becoming a Christian. The Romans also try to suffocate Cecilia in steam from her own bath, but it doesn't work. So they send a soldier to whack her three times in the neck with a sword. That doesn't do the trick, either. So they just leave her there. Three days later, after meeting with all kinds of people, she finally gives up ghost while soaking in the tub. (That may be the inspiration for the line "I got up to wash my face" in the Simon song).

As for my fascination with Cecilia, I believe it comes from my own experience as a struggling songwriter. When you compose a song, there's often a sense that it is not coming from inside of you, but from somewhere else through you. I'm sure many songwriters more skilled than I am have felt that way. And it would be an easy leap to believe gentle Cecilia was up there beaming down the notes.

I half suspect Paul Simon has felt that way often — even when he was cobbling together that song in praise of Cecilia.

e-mail: jerjohn@desnews.com