I Think I May Want to Remember Today

Song Meaning

This song captures the immediate, almost overwhelming feeling of a significant encounter, framed by two women documenting their experience. The initial lines, "Starting love / Starting now," set a tone of new beginnings, but it's Woman 2's pragmatic, almost academic approach – "write all this down in my book" – that grounds the fantastical rush of emotion. This contrast highlights how even profound moments are filtered through individual perception and memory-keeping. The central tension arises from the shared, yet distinct, reactions to a man named Albert. Woman 1 is clearly smitten, describing him with vivid, almost exaggerated physical details like shoulders "Broad as the masthead on ships." Woman 2, while also impressed, frames her observations more clinically, noting his physique as if cataloging it. This duality creates a fascinating dynamic: the raw, immediate infatuation versus a more detached, analytical appreciation of the same subject. The most striking craft element is the way the lyrics build from simple statements to a shared, almost incantatory refrain. The repetition of "I think I may want to remember today" transforms from a personal reflection into a collective declaration. The shift from describing Albert's present form to recalling him as a child – "When we met as children / He was skin and bone" – adds a layer of history and emphasizes the dramatic transformation that has occurred, mirroring the emotional transformation happening in the present. Ultimately, the effectiveness lies in its portrayal of how significant moments imprint themselves on us, prompting a desire to preserve them. The lyrics suggest that even a seemingly simple meeting can feel monumental, sparking both poetic adoration and a need for concrete record-keeping. The shared exclamations of "Albert, Albert" and the specific date, "this tenth of October," solidify the feeling that this is not just another day, but a marker in time that demands to be remembered.