Goo Goo Dolls was my favorite ’90s band because their Dizzy Up the Girl album was something I played from start to finish. No skipping. Just like Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill.

My favorite song in that album is Black Balloon and not Iris. 😂

But I gotta hand it to John Rzeznik; 30 years after, Iris is still well loved and has remained timeless.

I was able to watch City of Angels when it came out (was it 1997???) and it was Iris that stuck with me and not the movie. City of Angels was just so-so…I was more annoyed that Meg Ryan’s character died right after Nick Cage’s angel gave up forever to touch her. A college friend, however, was so enamoured with the movie that I could almost forgive the movie makers. I tried to understand it through my friend’s eyes to appreciate it.

And later, I learned why City of Angels and Iris resonated with him:  my friend had this unrequited love at that time, which remained unreturned to this very day.

Tragic, I know.

So now that I am 46 years old and have suffered slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, I now somehow appreciate Iris and what my college friend was feeling at that time.

And I’ll give up forever to touch you…

In essence, the song is about feeling. Just to be able to feel something. The longing for something that was impossible to reach. To feel something after a lifetime of being numb, of being hollow. Giving up everything you have in exchange for something fleeting is folly but you know deep in your heart that it was worth it because you realized that this was the meaning of your existence.

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
And sooner or later, it’s over
I just don’t wanna miss you tonight

It’s like the sakura… Its beauty lies in the knowledge that its existence is fleeting. It’s like a beautiful sunset; for 30 minutes, you bask in this glorious riot of colors until the sun sinks into the horizon. You capture it in that moment because you know it will be gone too soon.

And you can’t fight the tears that ain’t coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything feels like the movies
Yeah, you bleed just to know you’re alive