I’ve been thinking about The Kiss, like we think about The One. All week long, It’s In His Kiss (The Shoop Shoop Song, a 1964 hit single by Betty Everett) has been going through my head. Others have recorded it since then, Aretha Franklin comes to mind, but I’m humming Betty. Okay. Sometimes, I’m actually belting it out. Sorry, sweetie. We all know I’m tuneless.
“If you wanna know, if he loves you so,…” One look at these couples and you think, oh yeah, it’s definitely in the kiss — from the sweet caress, to the playful buss, to the smooch, to the full clinch, tongue-dueling lip-lock that’ll set off sparklers in your brain like the 4th of July.
In the movie, French Kiss, to distract Kate (Meg Ryan) from her fear of flying, Luc (Kevin Kline) starts a dialog with Kate about the first time. For Luc, this was at age 12 with Magda, a putain or prostitute. He said, “To kiss a prostitute, it costs more. It has always been.” Kate nods. “…You could probably disconnect from everything else, but a kiss…All I mean is a kiss is where the romance is.” Evidently, Luc thought so, too, because he told Kate that the next day he stole 50 francs from his brother, “…and I went back and I kissed Magda for half an hour.”
Faith Hill, in her 1998 hit single, calls it “unstoppable,” “unsinkable,” This Kiss.
We’ve all read heroes who can deliver on the kiss. Boy, have we ever! The Morelli Kiss flashes through my brain. You know, the one in Hot Six where Stephanie’s “undies floated to the floor.” (Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, http://www.evanovich.com). I know. All you Plum fans are thinking, “Wait! What about the Ranger Kiss?” Sorry. So many kisses, so little column.
How about you? Have you got a favorite story hero who delivers on the kiss? And, is the romance really in the kiss?
Elen
Elen Grey 
Yummm, kisses. I miss kissing more than anything else. Being single has perks but the lack of kissing…yeah, that’s the worst. A kiss conveys so much more than words or any other body language. There’s so much trust in kissing. You exchange body fluids, your noses touch so scent is engaged and eye contact. Even if it’s that split second before eyelids flutter closed. Kissing is good. Very good.
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Hey Sheryl – Thanks for stopping by to comment. I’m with you on the kissing thing. This makes me wonder why in the “dating bases” it’s considered lst base. Remember those dating bases? I always love it when a writer gets that first kiss just right.
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ohhh! All those lovely songs about kissing, and Stephanie Plum, too. I am not sure if I find Morelli or Ranger a better match for her. Ranger might have an edge as he is, ummmm, edgier? he he he! I always think of Pretty Woman, the scene where Julia Roberts tells Richard Gere that she never kisses a client. And also the scene where she tells her best friend she’d kissed him, that told her more than anything how she felt.
I vaguely remember those long kissing sessions when my sweetie and I were dating. Hmmm, maybe have to remind him when he gets home tonight!
Great subject 🙂
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Hey Sherry – Glad you wandered over. It’s interesting that you brought up Pretty Woman. I remember those scenes vividly. It’s that whole disconnect thing again. Your sweetie is a lucky man!
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Great topic, kisses. A passionate, proper kiss says it all when it comes to fictional and real-life romance.
Add some chocolate with the kiss and it’s quite magicalicious 🙂
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I’m with you, Shawna. I’m a sucker for the hand kiss, especially if it’s delivered to the palm. Love that word – magicalicious.
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