A few times in the distant past (February 2017 and August 2018) I did previous posts about my favorite song lyrics. (Feel free to check those previous posts out!) Now, all these years later, I’d like to dip back into that well and share with you more of my favorite song lyrics.
Artist: Goo Goo Dolls
Songwriter: John Rzeznik
Song: “Name”
Lyric: “Scars are souvenirs
you never lose, the past is never far”
Why I Love It: No matter
how long ago you sustained a scar, it remains there for the rest of your life,
a reminder of things that happened in the past. This rings true whether you’re
referring to physical scars – from a past injury or surgery – or emotional
scars from a prior trauma or a past relationship that went sour.
Artist: Simon &
Garfunkel
Songwriter: Paul Simon
Song: “The Sound of Silence”
Lyric: “People talking
without speaking, people hearing without listening”
Why I Love It: This line
sums up, in a lot of ways, our society today, especially in terms of politics
and what passes as “discussion” in this age of sound bites and social media
posts. People are so concerned about
saying their piece that they don’t take the time to stop and figure out a way
to say it coherently or respectfully, without yelling. Likewise, others are so anxious to respond
that they are working on their talking points without actually listening to
what the other person is saying. It’s
wild to me that Paul Simon captured the essence of this dynamic when he wrote
the song in the mid-1960s and that it rings just as true – and maybe more so –
60 years later.
Artist: Indigo Girls
Songwriter: Emily Saliers
Song: “Closer to Fine”
Lyric: “Darkness has a
hunger that’s insatiable, lightness has a call that’s hard to hear, and I wrap
my fear around me like a blanket”
Why I Love It: As someone
who has battled depression in the past, I relate to the hunger of darkness and
how it can sometimes be quite seductive.
At the same time, sometimes it’s easy to miss (or, conversely, tough to
see) the light and the good things in your life or in the world around
you. Too often too many people lean into
the darkness and use their fear to “protect” them for things they don’t like or
don’t understand. In many ways, I think
this is at the root of the MAGA movement in the U.S. – seeing the bogeyman or
the enemy everywhere and dealing with things they don’t understand (different
religions, people from different countries with different languages or
cultures) by wrapping themselves in a blanket of fear rather than making
efforts to actually see the positive aspects of these things.
Songwriter: BJ Barham
Song: “Cherokee Purples”
Lyric: “Ain’t it funny how
a memory comes flooding back so fast when you accidentally stir up moments from
the past”
Why I Love It: I’ve written
before about the power of music and how a song can transport you back to a
specific place in time. The same thing
can happen with certain sounds or smells.
Often, it’s unexpected and it just hits you and a certain scent or sound
can stir up memories and moments from your youth. This whole song is about that
phenomenon but the aforementioned lyric from the song’s chorus really
summarizes it and brings it home.
Songwriter: Eddie Vedder
(lyrics); Pearl Jam (music)
Song: “Rearviewmirror”
Lyric: “Saw things so much
clearer once you were in my rearview mirror”
Why I Love It: Whether we
want to admit it or not, every one of us has had some sort of a toxic
relationship in our lives. Maybe it was
with an ex-spouse or ex-lover or a former best friend. Maybe it was with a boss
or a co-worker. Regardless, because all
of us have experienced a bad relationship or a bad situation, we can all also
relate to this lyric, especially the truth that we oftentimes don’t realize HOW
toxic or HOW bad the relationship or situation was until after we have escaped
and we’re looking back at where we were.
The lyric itself is enough, but the way it is delivered in the song
really drives it home. Over a propulsive
beat that makes you feel like you are driving in a car, leaving that bad situation
or relationship behind, Eddie Vedder delivers the above lyric in a clenched, strangled
near scream that you can completely relate to. I suspect that all of us can
picture a situation or a person when we listen to this song; I know that I
certainly can.
Songwriter: Gary Allan,
Hillary Lindsey, Matt Warren
Song: “Every Storm (Runs
Out of Rain)”
Lyric: “So hold your head
up and tell yourself that there’s something more and walk out that door. Go
find a new rose, don’t be afraid of the thorns ‘cause we all have thorns.”
Why I Love It: Similar to “Rearviewmirror,” this song
touches on the end of relationship, using a storm as a metaphor to describe it. The line “go find a new rose, don’t be afraid
of the thorns ‘cause we all have thorns” was what initially caught my
attention. I loved that imagery, of relating
a new relationship to a rose and not being afraid to grab new one. But I think the prior line, about walking out
the door makes the line about the rose that more poignant. It paints a picture of someone having the
courage to leave one (presumably bad) relationship and likewise having the
courage to be vulnerable and pursue a new relationship. As someone who personally saw one
relationship end badly and who subsequently found his soul mate not too long
afterwards, this whole idea resonates with me.
Songwriter: Andrew Farriss,
Michael Hutchence
Song: “Devil Inside”
Lyric: “Words are weapons,
sharper than knives”
Why I Love It: The old saying “sticks and stones may
break my bones but words will never hurt me” is, to be frank, a bunch of crap.
While it may seem true on the surface, those broken bones tend to heal a lot
quicker than the wounds caused by unkind words.
Words can cause emotional and psychological damage that lasts years and,
in some cases, a lifetime. With that
truth acknowledged, this lyric certainly delivers, conveying in six words the
power that words can have.
Songwriter: Kevin Griffin
Song: “Scared, Are You?”
Lyric: “Kind words are
scarce at best when you need them most”
Why I Love It: Continuing the theme of how powerful
words can be, this lyric looks at things from the opposite side from the lyric
in “Devil Inside.” While that one
focuses on the damage that words can do, this one focuses on how the absence of
kind words can also hurt. We can all
relate to having a really bad day and then a kind word or a kind gesture directed
your way can make a huge difference. It can turn around your whole day and break
you out of your funk. By the same token,
when you’re in a really dark spot and you really need a kind word, sometimes
they are nowhere to be found, which can make that darkness even more
smothering. Needing a kind word or
gesture is something universal, as is the absence of the same, which is why I
can absolutely relate to what Kevin Griffin is saying here.
Songwriter: BJ Barham
Song: “Messy as a Magnolia”
Lyric: “Behind every good
man is a better somebody should have never stuck around”
Why I Love It: I’m convinced that behind every good or
great man is someone else even better who has supported that person and given
them the foundation and the courage to be good.
Oftentimes, that “better somebody” is a spouse or significant other – but
it doesn’t necessarily have to be. It
could be a sibling or a best friend or a parent. Aside from the truth of the point that Barham
is making, I love the fact that he words it in such a way as to make it more
universal than the usual “behind every good man is a better woman.” Incidentally, I think the same sentiment
holds true regardless of the gender of the protagonist or the supporter. The bottom line is that no one can be great
without getting support from others.
Songwriter: Jon Ims
Song: “She’s in Love With
The Boy”
Lyric: “What’s meant to be
will always find a way”
Why I Love It: It’s almost a throwaway line at the end
of the song and I didn’t even pay any attention to it the first 500 or so times
I’d heard it. It wasn’t until the other
day, actually listening to a cover version of the song by American Aquarium,
that the lyric really reached out and grabbed me. Maybe it’s because of how my wife and I met –
the improbability of it but then also the many obstacles that presented
themselves along the way – that the lyric finally hit me the way it did. She and I have talked about how our meeting
and our relationship was “a God thing” and this line has much the same
sentiment, albeit without the overt religious overtones. “What’s meant to be will always find a way.” The inevitability of God’s plan or fate or
whatever you want to call it – that if something is destined to happen, it
will, in spite of any hurdles or obstacles that may appear to get in the way.
In what is often an angry, cynical world, the sentiment is something that can
bring everyone a little hope and happiness.
