What if we don't want to get balm all over our spirit? Can't we be particular about what we want to get sticky?

Richard Brautigan wrote similar thoughts with less balm in his short story Pacific Radio Fire:

We were listening to rock and roll on his transistor radio and somberly drinking port. We were both in despair. I didn't know what he was going to do with the rest of his life either.

I took another sip of port. The Beach Boys were singing a song about California girls on the radio. They liked them.