“The Nearness of You”
My Policeman“The Nearness of You” is one of the songs in Patrick’s recollection of his weekly Wednesday evenings with Michael. Within a carefully prepared domestic ritual, Sarah Vaughan’s performance accompanies their hours of dancing and stands among the gestures through which they make their time together intimate and distinct from ordinary life.
Place in the Wednesday Ritual
The song followed Caruso in a sequence of music Patrick arranged for Michael, who loved what Patrick describes as sentimental magic. The evening had its own preparations: a fire laid, dinner made to Michael’s taste, claret, fresh sheets and a towel, and a newly pressed suit. Music was not incidental background but part of the evening Patrick had made ready for them.
Intimacy and Retrospective Distance
As Sarah Vaughan sang, Patrick and Michael clung to each other for hours, shuffling around the rug with Michael’s cheek against Patrick’s. The dancing belonged to a weekly indulgence, sustained by food, music, and physical closeness. Once the records had played and the candles had burned down, Patrick would undress Michael and they would dance naked in silence, with only their breathing audible. The recollection ends by placing this intimacy firmly in the past: it had been a long time ago.
