Those of you who read my blog about night driving....this box holds all the precious gems that guided me on those night drives...the songs that compelled me. I decided it's time to go through it and find the ones that I can trash and the ones that I can't live without. Of course, being that tapes are obsolete, the ones I can't live without I'll be hunting for on iTunes. So it's a process and being that I get all gooey from that nostalgic feeling, it's a great process!
I found this song one morning on the way to work a little while back. It's called "He Said" by Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians. I spent countless hours listening to her album "Ghost of a Dog" when I was really young and this song was such a good lesson for me then. It's well written, full of emotion and packed a powerful message. I wanted to share it with you.
"He Said" Lyrics
Just before the lights went out
We sat up and talked about
All the things that we would be
I just wanted him to be with me
When we're young and impressionable and feel the first twinges of connecting with someone on a romantic and oh so intimate level, you feel you'd just die if you had to let that person go. You feel that in this song. The excitement and then aching need.
But he had a mind of his own
And he did not mind being alone
Left me there in our little world
Left me there like a little girl
He said don't get hung up
Hang ups will get you down
He said don't look back
Look up and then look around
But it also teaches about how you'll be just fine afterward. You get the impression that he is older. This sounds like a bit of age and wisdom to me, but it's not words she wants to or is even prepared to hear.
That time I was feeling high
Like I never had to try
To kick myself up out of bed
Kick these worries out of my head
He said it's better this way, yeah
One day you'll understand
He said I'm leavin' today and
He let go of my hand
She's remembering back to a simpler time before she ever knew the pain of loss. But he's forcing her to grow up here and experience it.
I know that I'll never see him again
Not the same way that I saw him then
I know that when I get back on my feet
I will walk away from misery
What do you say when it's all been said
How do you feel when it's all been felt
Where do you go when it's all gone
And you don't care enough to carry on
She knows better, she knows that she'll carry on because there is no choice but she's feeling the feelings of loss in the process, going through the inevitable ups and downs of having to adapt to not being able to cling to a person for all you received from them.
Well, I say close your eyes
Look down deep inside
Someone is there for you
Someone who cares for you
Now she's talking about herself, finding strength inside and pulling that strength from the only person you ever really have completely, yourself. This is what we ALL learn evenutally.
Well, I know it's easier to say then do
Easier to look away than see it through
I know it's easier to think than feel
Easier to make it up than make it real
Yes, we have really weak moments over love, don't we? I LOVE how this song goes back in forth between emotional need and strength and independence. Because that is how life IS. We pick ourselves up by the boot straps because that is survival, emotional survival.
Oh it's hard to love
Oh it's hard not to love
Oh it's hard to love
Oh it's hard not to love
At my age, I still feel this way sometimes...and when we start dealing with friendships that come and go and the circle of life, this takes on even more meaning then just romance.
Oh now take me there don't leave me here
Oh now take me there don't leave me here
Oh take me home and disappear
Oh oh oh no no no no no no
Just feeling the pain that is inevitable.
One of the reasons that lyrics and music speak so much to me is they just verbalize the way life truly is, the way it hits us and the many things we go through and how we emerge forever changed by life.
http://www.last.fm/music/Edie+Brickell+and+New+Bohemians/_/He+Said
I can't find this song on youtube by Edie, I don't think it ever got that much attention. (I always find those songs that are under appreciated!). I did find it on a website called last.fm. If you'd like to hear it, here's a link to listen to the song. I hope you enjoy it.
