you know we're not on our own
I'll be a hold to your fits
this fighting's all that we know
If your not in the mood
you never have to pretend
with nothing to lose
more time to give you, more me to lend
Darlin don't be so dark
only missing things that they do
I've got a hunger and spark
tending them only for you
Let them burn in the air
watch it all trail away
make it easy to share
with nothing to prove, nothing to say...
I think Love is the most under appreciated topic in western music. I know that doesn't sound right... It is probably the most written about subject... it is even popular to have songs about how people are sick of love songs. But somehow, in it's overabundance we neglect interpretation. Often dismissing songs as merely love songs with no further need to investigate - There are a lot of songs where it is necessary not to over think, and I would do the same.
Sometimes I hear a song that resonates into a deeper meaning. Maybe it is a lack or fault in our modern language, that we do not have more specific and detailed words for Love's many aspects that are as conveniently lyrical (fondness, affection, lust), and so they all get grouped together. Probably the blame falls on both listener and writer, who have trapped each other into selling what the other wants, and wanting what the other's selling, but that is another post.
one of my all-time favorite songs ever,
and says more about love than other songs without any words
The kind of Love I was after in Don't You Ever, is a total-love. A compassionate altruistic love, closest to a non-religious Agape, and you can see why it is not a word with much lyrical-pop value. It has a clunky sound, with the "A" tumbling into the caught-in-the-throat "Ga" and the "Pe" tagged on just leaving the singer standing out in his look how smart I am to use this word with all it's foreignness.
I am all for unusual and unique diction in songs, but at some point -a lesson I am still struggling with- it does more harm than good. I don't think anyone wants a rock album with a glossary attached. But it is a technically better word than Love for this song. How else could I express the feeling of giving myself up to somebody? So I was left with using an odd word, or an incomplete word. I chose to leave out the both words all together and let the story imply the meaning... I think that was best.
*sorrow and peace, never release
in joy or in pain, always the same
I hope and pray that in time
lightning will fall, color us all
don't you ever?
Don't You Ever is a Love song, but it is not the main/only subject. The subject is a prayer. A hope for understanding things as they are and not as we see them. Waiting for Satori, waiting for truth to fall down on the couple and the world, even if with violent momentary flash- like lightning. I believe a second of understanding can feed anyone for a lifetime, if it is properly digested.
...I'd like to add, that this song was probably my favorite to record off Shakedown. I think Dan nailed the vibe, and FYI, that is him on rhythm doing a perfect CCR/Stax vibe. Maybe some of that Gospel groove fell into it, helped feed the feeling of the lyrics....
Love can be the strongest springboard for ideas- Which is probably why it is overused. The word, in it's impreciseness, has grown to mean so much. It can launch us anywhere from the depths of desperate longing to the highest moments of bliss and every sort of weird/funny/perverse deviation in-between. Even if the subject is overused, there is still a lot of rich territory for any artist to cultivate idea after idea.
Love is a subject so prevalent I forget it's there even when the words are in front of me. It is not until after I write a song and look back at it, that I notice I have written another song about love. Hopefully it will not be another one to overlook.
your quiet morning eyes
your eyes of sorrow
your indecisive searching eyes
I looked in and you showed me: wanting, loving
and gave up myself
throwing clothes, security
and naked, gave a wide natural-gut grin
beauty like a lover can see.
I want eye’s heavy with night and screaming joy,
eyes trenched in sorrow, I want them too.
too many eyes for I, and never enough
only cause I looked
your eyes of sorrow
your indecisive searching eyes
I looked in and you showed me: wanting, loving
and gave up myself
throwing clothes, security
and naked, gave a wide natural-gut grin
beauty like a lover can see.
I want eye’s heavy with night and screaming joy,
eyes trenched in sorrow, I want them too.
too many eyes for I, and never enough
only cause I looked
-rene
* photo from: http://dangthatscool.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/lightning_storm_over_boston_-_noaa.jpg
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