Mack/Misophist says: "I don't know a lot about lyrics but I do know a little about history. In the days when most people died at home, the 'last kiss' was a common ritual in the English speaking world; very common in the 1800's, before that, I'm not sure. At any rate, it would be an obvious thing to add to a song."

In the story "Odour of Chrysanthemums" by D. H. Lawrence (1911, and probably true to life), the body of a miner, suffocated in a cave-in, is delivered to his house. His widow, after removing his clothes but before washing him, "laid her hand on him, in claim. He was still warm, for the mine was hot where he had died.... Elizabeth embraced the body of her husband, with cheek and lips."

--- Joe Fineman    joe_f@verizon.net

||: Clowns, not clones. :||