Dan Croll does a little gazing and his day is shot. His night could go that way as well. It's hard to tell how deep he's going to get himself in when he looks into a certain pair of eyes. He will be mesmerized - he knows that. It's just that there's no way of telling when the spell will wear off and then there's a question of whether or not he'd like it to wear off. You get the sense that he doesn't, even if he's been thrown into some paralyzing, emotional stagnancy. It really could just be exactly what he was hoping for - just watching all of those minutes and hours swirl down the drain in a big, pipe-clogging lump. He wants to be there - aching in that good way. He LOVES those eyes and the person that they belong to, infuriating temptress and all.
Croll's songwriting is uplifting in its misery. His characters deal with indecisions and distance between hearts in ways that are mostly healthy, but there's nothing that leads us to believe that anyone's getting out of these quagmires anytime soon. These lovers will continue to ask the same question to the ones that they love, barely getting an utterance. They rarely know where they stand. Even when they might have a feeling, they're unwilling to put up with what they're hearing from someone who obviously doesn't know a good thing when they see one. They're just confused because, what more could they want then the promise of devotion that's being offered. It's always what makes these unrequited love songs, doesn't it? It's that impossible to digest feeling that the longer feels toward the object of his or her affection of, "What is wrong with you that makes you unable to see how true and good I will be to you if you'd just give me a chance?"
Croll writes these men who, while still being explorers, maybe casting a few nets, have determined that they can be that ONE love for someone else, but they're "just wondering if you're my special thing." They feel like they know, but they need a few more signs. They'd like some confirmation and some reciprocation, and not getting it - the looks, the touches, the words, the kisses - is traumatic. They refuse to give up though, as he sings, "I'll hold you safe til it's light/Hold you safe til the summer's right." It could be that it will take longer than that, or the summer will never be right.