Lyrics
Associating certain songs with certain situations is nothing new. More or less everybody does it from time to time. Some tunes can mean a lot because they remind us of good times or they were a comfort in difficult times. For me personally I am in dept to a handful of bands that have helped me stay afloat during relationship problems. The best example is probably that of “Pain of Salvation”. The singer, Daniel Gildenlöw, has a gift of interpreting songs and bring across the emotions put into the lyrics:
Pain Of Salvation – Reconcilliation (part) /listen/I've washed my hands of your blood
Thought it would leave me clean
But with time on my hands
It turned to mud forming this crust of sin
Now - to be truly free
I'll let it come to me
So -break me if you must
When you break this crust
Freedom is to see
- Hear this voice, see this man
Standing before you I'm just a child
Just a man learning to yield
I hate these hands soaked in blood
I hate what these eyes have seen
Up to my knees in filth and mud
How it hurts to become clean
Pain Of Salvation - Morning on earth (part) /listen/
- A relation, so oddly old - bred not to love
Suffers the beaten grounds of Idioglossia
We talk but we do not speak
Together only in our incapability to leave this fallen playground
We rule this Empire merely with these few crippled toys
Rust in our faces
This is what we can share - this is all we can lose
Still
Furiously we will linger to it with our lives
Cling to its rust and pains
Barefoot and torn
Bred not but born to love
This song helped me to understand some of what I was going through and why. No one could have said it better....
Dream Theater – The Mirror (part) /listen/
- Temptation-
Why won't you leave me alone?
Lurking Every Corner, everywhere I go
Self Control-
Don't turn your back on me now
When I need you the most
Constant pressure tests my will
My will or my won't
My Self Control escapes from me still...
Hypocrite-
How could you be so cruel
and expect my faith in return?
Resistance-
Is not as hard as it seems
When you close the door
I spent so long trusting in you
I trust you forgot
Just when I thought I believed in you...
"What're you doing?
What're you doing?"
It's time for me to deal
Becoming all too real
living in fear-
Why did you lie and pretend?
This has come to an end
I'll never trust you again
It's time you made your amends
Look in the mirror my friend
I have always admired Dream Theater for their skills with their instruments. It seems that creating meaningful lyrics is also one of their talents as this song clearly shows. What normal relationship has not been through this kind of situation at least once (maybe that's an understatement...but just trying to be diplomatic)?
You could say I have only looked at the dark side of things...True, so when I get the time and inspiration I will try to find some examples of good but positive lyrics.
If you read this and have some songs/lyrics that mean a lot to you, and if you would like to, please feel free to share....
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1 comments :
Man . . .
Lyrics mean the world to me, they can create images in my head, or convey something I can identify. And it doesn't matter what genre', even the Death Metal that "I'm" into will be thought provoking, esoteric, and introspective.
Your 2 are great examples of fine writing (though for PoS and that album, I think of a friend who went through that "ordeal"-as the concept of the album tells. As for the DT song, it was struggles for Portnoy as a recovering Alcoholic, but I do beat myself up at times looking into the "mirror").
I am always amazed by the THOUSANDS of point of "views" by many of these outstanding performers and it doesn't matter what the subject is (except graphic Horror), its very cool to see the intricate and prolific thoughts rockers have.
Something that is of interest is
Love songs done by Prog Rockers and Prog Metalists.
I think Proggers tend to be more profound than any Pop band, because they craft the "words" as much as they do the music, but also most of US Progger types think on a different level, if the mood is positive or negative.
Heres a song from RUSH that breaks down our attempts at love:
"Emotion Detector"
When we lift the covers from our feelings
We expose our insecure spots
Trust is just as rare as devotion
Forgive us our cynical thoughts
If we need too much attention
Not content with being cool
We must throw ourselves wide open
And start acting like a fool
If we need too much approval
Then the cuts can seem too cruel
[Chorus:]
Right to the heart of the matter
Right to the beautiful part
Illusions are painfully shattered
Right where discovery starts
In the secret wells of emotion
Buried deep in our hearts
It's true that love can change us
But never quite enough
Sometimes we are too tender
Sometimes we're too tough
If we get too much attention
It gets hard to overrule
So often fragile power turns
To scorn and ridicule
Sometimes our big splashes
Are just ripples in the pool
[Chorus]
...Feelings run high
-Lyrics: Neil Peart
I use that as a "template" in finding love and when Im in the relationship, and think of what she is feeling. . . I try.
THIS song by YES conveys the search and what I think love "should" be:
"I Am Waiting"
Am I waking to this magic
Am I seeing, all is human,
Human after all...
I wanna be inside your heart
Are you ready
I wanna love forever
Are you thinking
I wanna be inside your heart
What I'm thinking
I wanna know you're with me.
Highways, starways, many ways
To be open tonight.
High time, look inside your life.
I am waiting.
I am waiting; are you ready?
I am waiting; can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
I happened in the water.
The heaven will fall.
The break in the water.
The secret birth.
Said she loves me; I believe her.
Waited lifetimes, say this to you.
I wanna be inside your heart
Are you ready
I wanna love forever
Are you thinking
I wanna be inside your heart
What I'm thinking
I wanna know you're with me.
Highways, starways, many ways
To be open tonight.
High time, look inside your life.
I am waiting.
Say you need me, I'm yours.
Say you need me, just because.
(It's our freedom...)
It's our freedom, hear me now.
We are made to be here now.
We'll be waiting for the word
As the healing of the world.
Make me promises, to be true,
All my life my world is you.
I am waiting; are you ready?
Are you ready?
I am waiting; can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
-Rabin, Anderson
I think thats very profound, prolific, corny, romantic and spiritual in one package. But reaching out for a "resurrection" in a relationship can be powerful too, like these lines in Dream Theaters "Scarred":
Do you feel you don't know me anymore?
And do you feel I'm afraid of your love?
And how come you don't want me asking?
And how come my heart's not invited?
You say you want everyone happy
Well, we're not laughing.
And how come you don't understand me?
And how come I don't understand you?
Thirty years say we're in this together
So open your eyes.
People in prayer for me
everyone there for me
Sometimes I feel I should face this alone
My soul exposed
It calms me to know that I won't
-Portnoy
I've been there, either things falling apart around me or a relationship that I wanted to save.
I have thoughts of soo many songs pop into my head for any given situation. Like a line from the Movie "Almost Famous", "...you can always visit your friends", those albums that get us through it all.
There was a time that I listened to instrumentals on a regular basis, but as one reads more and more Books, with the more Music I heard with a Voice, the more I got into understanding the words . . .
The MORE I wanted to hear what the musicians had to say.
Thanx again BG.
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