March 17, 2003 | 11:08 PM

As a birthday present Sean gave me his new CD�over 20 of his songs recorded on 4 track. It has a groovy cover designed by Iggy and everything. And it is so outstanding that I can�t stop listening to it. It�s been in my discman since last night. Over and over again I play it. It�s not just cause I adore him that I think it�s the most brilliant thing I�ve ever heard. Sean truly is one of the greatest writers I�ve had the pleasure to know.

Lou Reed + Jonathon Richman multiplied by Donovan divided by the square route of Lou Barlow= Sean. That kid, no doubt is going to be a fucking sensation. I am in awe of him.

For example, here�s a couple lines from something he wrote:

Aaron how long have you been sittin� there staring in the mirror

I�ve created a monster

You used to be such a nice hippie

Tell me can you see that now your hair�s so short

I don�t know you with your white button downs and your black shoes

And soon you�ll take me out for martinis

You know I don�t need these

Genius.

I love his voice too. And his guitar. And just everything about his work.

I�ve been thinking a lot about songwriting over the past day or two. I love songs that seem as though they�re about one thing and are actually about another�(i.e. Every Breath You Take)

I was thinking about Bewtitched, which was written 40 years or so before Every Breath You Take but is actually kinda its spiritual predecessor

After one whole quart of brandy

Like a daisy I awake

With no Bromo Seltzer handy, I don't even shake.

Men are not a new sensation; I've done pretty well, I think.

But this half-pint imitation

Put me on the blink

I'm wild again

Beguilded again

A simpering, whimpering child again

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I

Couldn't sleep

And wouldn't sleep

Until I could sleep where I shouldn't sleep

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I

Lost my heart but what of it?

My mistake I agree.

He's a laugh, but I love it because the laugh's on me.

A pill he is

But still he is

All mine and I'll keep him until he is

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered like me.

Seen a lot

I mean I lot

But now I'm like sweet seventeen a lot

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I

I'll sing to him

Each spring to him

And worship the trousers that cling to him

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I

When he talks he is seeking

Words to get off his chest.

Horizontally speaking he's at his very best.

Vexed again

Perplexed again

Thank God I can't be oversexed again

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I

God I love Rogers & Hart. On one level, this song is about the giddy rush of crushing on someone you know isn�t good for you. It�s witty and urbane�especially for having been written in the 40�s.

But beyond that it�s a sad treatise on what happens when you lose yourself and despite all better judgement allow someone else to define you�that feeling when you are under someone�s spell�when all reason goes out the window�when anything that pokes a whole in your bubble of joy must be eradicated. When you get tunnel vision and suddenly one other person takes the place of your mirror reflection. The song is about being diminished�

�a simpering whimpering child again�

This is a song about what happens love becomes an addiction and you will do anything to keep someone else in your life. I love how Betwitched begins with a reference to liquor, because that kind of no holds barred I-don�t-care-about-anything-except-keeping-this-feeling-ignited- inside- of- me- and- don�t- you- dare- scratch- my- rose- colored- lenses is exactly what causes alcoholism. Denial�it ain�t just a river in Egypt.

I think the line,

Lost my heart but what of it?

sums up the song perfectly. In this culture we romanticize addiction and obsession. Phrases like I�ve lost my heart to you. or I�m head over heels in love or I�m crazy about this guy are common place terms for romantic love. Hell, that�s how I talk about Mr. Wonderful. But why do we equate the ultimate form of love with a state of insanity, with giving over responsibility for our own lives and behavior to someone else whom we liken to a God? That�s not love, or if it is then love isn�t a good thing. When you are start sacrificing or ignoring or making excuses, when you feel powerless, when you�ve lost your heart when someone else has become your raison d�etre, something is wrong.

The illusions and the delusions break down and destroy any foundation of true connection which may be there, hence the second part of the song:

Wise at last

My eyes at last

Are cutting you down to your size at last

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered no more

Burned a lot

But learned a lot

And now you are broke, though you earned a lot

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered no more

Couldn't eat

Was dyspeptic

Life was so hard to bear;

Now my heart's antiseptic

Since you moved out of there

Romance-Finis

Your chance-finis

Those ants that invaded my pants-finis

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered no more.

So the person who was once Savior and Hero and held the key to life�s joy is now, once the rose colored glasses have been knocked off your head, THE ENEMY. Your pretty paper mache world, a balloon globe filled with longings and lust and need, goes POP. And suddenly you are hurtling through space, mission aborted, burnt up in the atmosphere.

Why is it that most people who come out of long-term relationships cannot really be friends? Why is it that most marriages that end in divorce end badly? Because of the expectations and the misimpression.

I think that is so perfectly captured in Bewitched, and not just by the lyrics but musically as well�the various dips and key changes, the sense of disorientation that runs beneath every note.

All of this is something I cannot reconcile in myself, and is why I have, as supreme dictator of my own universe, issued a proclamation that until further notice there will be no monogamous romantic relationships in Annaland. Just wonderful friends. And sex.

But this entry is about songwriting. And yeah, I�ll keep y�all posted about any upcoming New York shows Sean performs. �Cause he�s the best writer since Rogers and Hart and you gotta go hear him.