Literary Lyrics: "Hopeless Wanderer" by Mumford & Sons

Do you guys have favorite songs? I have one consistent song that is my all-time favorite and that is irreplaceable -- but I also tend to have a "current" favorite song, the one that I feel like listening to on repeat for days at a time. Right now, that song is "Hopeless Wanderer" by Mumford & Sons. Enjoy!

You heard my voice I came out of the woods by choice
Shelter also gave their shade
But in the dark I have no name

So leave that click in my head
And I will remember the words that you said
Left a clouded mind and a heavy heart
But I was sure we could see a new start

So when your hope's on fire
But you know your desire
Don't hold a glass over the flame
Don't let your heart grow cold
I will call you by name
I will share your road

But hold me fast, Hold me fast
'Cause I'm a hopeless wanderer
And hold me fast, Hold me fast
'Cause I'm a hopeless wanderer

I wrestled long with my youth
We tried so hard to live in the truth
But do not tell me all is fine
When I lose my head, I lose my spine

So leave that click in my head
And I won't remember the words that you said
You brought me out from the cold
Now, how I long, how I long to grow old

So when your hope's on fire
But you know your desire
Don't hold a glass over the flame
Don't let your heart grow cold
I will call you by name
I will share your road

But hold me fast, Hold me fast
'Cause I'm a hopeless wanderer
And hold me fast, Hold me fast
'Cause I'm a hopeless wanderer
I will learn, I will learn to love the skies I'm under
I will learn, I will learn to love the skies I'm under
The skies I'm under

Literary Lyrics: "Timshel" by Mumford and Sons

Having recently reread East of Eden, I've become re-enchanted with the whole concept of timshel, which is a Hebrew word used in Genesis in the Old Testament when God is chastising Cain for giving an unacceptable offering. The word means "Thou mayest" and in the book is used to illustrate that all people have a choice to overcome the influences and natural urges of their lives -- basically to triumph over sin.

Lately I've been listening to Mumford & Sons (I know I'm a little behind the times) and when I saw that they had a song called "Timshel" I had to see if it had any tie to East of Eden (because honestly, how could it not?). The references are fairly vague but if you've read the book you can see it -- the references to brothers is clearly a Cain/Abel/Aron/Cal/Adam/Charles reference (yes, lots of brotherly relationships in this book), the reference to a mother could be Cathy (as well as the reference to a cold, cold mind), and the book directly refers to the concept of timshel as man's ladder to the stars. So there you go. Way to write an intelligent song, Mumford & Sons. :)

Timshel

Cold is the water
It freezes your already cold mind
Already cold, cold mind
And death is at your doorstep
And it will steal your innocence
But it will not steal your substance

But you are not alone in this
And you are not alone in this
As brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand
Hold your hand

And you are the mother
The mother of your baby child
The one to whom you gave life
And you have your choices
And these are what make man great
His ladder to the stars

But you are not alone in this
And you are not alone in this
As brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand
Hold your hand

And I will tell the night
Whisper, "Lose your sight"
But I can't move the mountains for you
- Mumford and Sons

Literary Lyrics: "I've Got This Friend" by the Civil Wars

I always think of the Civil Wars in conjunction with fall. I love their unique songs, their beautiful harmonies, and their sparse, rhythmic instrumentation. "I've Got This Friend" is a little more light-hearted than most of the other songs on their album Barton Hollow. I love how light-hearted and sweet it is. 

I've got this friend
I don't think you know him
He's not much for words
He's hidden his heart away

Oh I've got this friend
A loveless romantic
All that he really wants
Is someone to want him back

Ohh, if the right one came
If the right one came along
Ohh, If the right one came, along

I've got this friend
I don't think you know her
She sings a simple song
It sounds a lot like his
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsty.com/the-civil-wars-ive-got-this-friend-lyrics.html ]
Oh I've got this friend
Holding onto her heart
Like it's a little secret
Like it's all she's got to give

Ohh, if the right one came
If the right one came along
Ohh, if the right one came, along

It'd be such a shame
(If they never meet)
She sounds lovely
(He sounds right out of a dream)
If only
(If only)
If only

Ohh
Ohh, if the right one came
If the right one came along
Ohh, (I've got this friend) if the right one came
If the right one came along
Ohh, (I've got this friend)
If the right one came, along 

Literary Lyrics: "Monster" by Meg and Dia

So, I don't actually know this song, but I was at a loss for what to use for this month's Literary Lyrics. I found this list on Wikipedia that references songs about or referencing literature, and I saw that the song "Monster" by Meg and Dia was inspired by Cathy Ames in East of Eden -- also known as the most evil character ever created (in my opinion). I couldn't resist learning about this song. 

His little whispers.
Love Me. Love Me.
That's all I ask for.
Love Me. Love Me.
He battered his tiny fists to feel something.
Wondered what it's like to touch and feel something.
Monster.
How should I feel?
Creatures lie here.
Looking through the window...
That night he caged her.
Bruised and broke her.
He struggled closer.
Then he stole her.
Violet wrists and then her ankles.
Silent Pain.
Then he slowly saw their nightmares were his dreams.
Monster.
How should I feel?
Creatures lie here.
Looking through the windows.
I will.
Hear their voices.
I'm a glass child.
I am Hannah's regrets.
Monster.
How should I feel?
Turn the sheets down.
Murder ears with pillow lace.
There's bath tubs.
Full of glow flies.
Bathe in kerosene.
Their words tattoed in his veins, yeah.



Pretty bleak, but so is the character in the book. Not my usual musical choice, but it was interesting to learn something new. 

Literary Lyrics: "Far Away" by Ingrid Michaelson

Originally I thought of doing the song "Breakable" for this month's Literary Lyrics, in honor of being done with nursing school in less than a week (HOORAY), but when I went back through my Literary Lyrics posts I saw that I'd already done it. Guess favorites really are favorites. However, because I am in the Ingrid mood now, I picked the song "Far Away." I am moving to a completely new place in less than two weeks, and while there are things that I will definitely miss here in Utah (re: family, friends, and mountains) I am excited for a new start -- especially after this rough summer. So here's to daydreaming about a big escape and actually managing it. :)


I will live my life as a lobsterman's wife on an island in the blue bay.
He will take care of me, he will smell like the sea,
And close to my heart he'll always stay.

I will bear three girls all with strawberry curls, little Ella and
Nelly and Faye.
While I'm combing their hair, I will catch his warm stare
On our island in the blue bay.

Far away far away, I want to go far away.
To a new life on a new shore line.
Where the water is blue and the people are new.
To another island, in another life.

There's a boy next to me and he never will be anything but a boy at the bar.
And I think he's the tops, he's where everything stops.
How I love to love him from afar.

When he walks right pass me then I finally see on this bar stool I can't stay.
So I'm taking my frown to a far distant town
On an island in the blue bay.

Far away far away, I want to go far away.
To a new life on a new shore line.
Where the water is blue and the people are new.
To another island, in another life.

I want to go far away.
Away away, I want to go far away, away, away
I want to go far away, far away.

Where the water is blue and the people are new.
To another life, to another life.
To another shore line
In another life.

Literary Lyrics: "I Woke Up in a Car" by Something Corporate

I've loved this song for a long, long time. I actually used to have it as my ringback tone -- you know, the sound you'd get if you called me. It randomly came on my iPod a couple of days ago and reminded me so much of The Disenchantments that I couldn't resist sharing it for this month's Literary Lyrics. Enjoy.

I woke up in New York City
From my sleep behind the wheel
Caught a train to Poughkeepsie
And time stood still
She wrote me a letter from San Diego
To qualify her luck
These flights connect through Arizona
But I think I'll stay stuck
"So"Here I am
Here I am

Well I woke up in a car
I traced away the fog
So I could see the Mississippi on her knees
I've never been so lost
I've never felt so much at home
Please write my folks and throw away my keys
I woke up in a car
I woke up in a car

I met a girl who kept tattoos
For homes that she had loved
If I were her I'd paint my body 
'Till all my skin was gone
She wrote me a letter
As we passed through Rockford
She said she won't forget
Maybe I do maybe I don't
But I know I haven't yet
So here I am
Here I am

Well I woke up in a car
I traced away the fog
So I could see the Mississippi on her knees
I've never been so lost
I've never felt so much at home
Please write my folks and throw away my keys
I woke up in a car
I woke up in a car

And maybe I could live forever
If not ever i had known
That you'd be waiting there whenever
I am all alone
But here I am

Well I woke up in a car
I traced away the fog
So I could see the Mississippi on her knees
I've never been so lost
I've never felt so much at home
Please write my folks and throw away my keys

Well I woke up in a car
I traced away the fog
So I could see the Mississippi on her knees
I've never been so lost
I've never felt so much at home
Please write my folks and throw away my keys
I woke up in a car
I woke up in a car
I woke up in a car

Literary Lyrics: Romeo and Juliet

{image source}

This is originally by Dire Straits... I guess I should give credit where credit is due. However, I infinitely prefer the Killers' cover of the song. I'll give you both versions so you can judge for yourselves. I am mainly posting it because of the obvious literary link to Romeo and Juliet -- I love the way that story has become so iconic that other storytellers can take it and twist it into something new.

A lovestruck Romeo, sings the streets of serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made
Find a streetlight, steps out of the shade
Says something like, "You and me, babe, how about it?"

Juliet says, "Hey, it's Romeo, you nearly gave me a heart attack"
He's underneath the window, she's singing
Hey, la, my boyfriend's back"
You shouldn't come around here, singing up at people like that
Anyway what you gonna do about it?

Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start
And I bet and you exploded in my heart
And I forget, I forget the movie song
When you gonna realize, it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?

Come up on different streets, they both were streets of shame
Both dirty, both mean, yes and the dream was just the same
And I dream your dream for you and now your dream is real
How can you look at me, as if I was just another one of your deals?

Well, you can fall for chains of silver, you can fall for chains of gold
You can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold
You promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin
Now you just say, "Oh, Romeo, yeah, you know
I used to have a scene with him"

Juliet, when we made love, you used to cry
You said, "I love you like the stars above, "I love you till I die"
There's a place for us, you know the movie song
When you gonna realize, it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?

I can't do the talk like the talk on the TV
And I can't do a love song like the way it's meant to be
I can't do everything but I'd do anything for you
Can't do anything except be in love with you

And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be
All I do is keep the beat, the bad company
And all I do is kiss you, through the bars of a rhyme
Juliet, I'd do the stars with you any time

Juliet, when we made love, you used to cry
You said, "I love you like the stars above, I'll love you till I die"
There's a place for us, you know the movie song
When you gonna realize, it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?

A lovestruck Romeo, he sings the streets of serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made
Find a convenient streetlight, steps out of the shade
He says something like, "You and me, babe, how about it?"

Literary Lyrics: Helplessness Blues by the Fleet Foxes

I'm told that the Fleet Foxes are the ultimate in hipster listening. I don't know if I qualify as a hipster, because I really don't care, although I certainly do shop at Urban Outfitters and like to eat granola with soy milk. I love this song for two reasons: It reminds me of Simon and Garfunkel, who are of course my dearest musical loves, and the lyrics are great.

I was raised up believing I was somehow unique

Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see

And now after some thinking, I'd say I'd rather be

A functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me

But I don't, I don't know what that will be

I'll get back to you someday soon you will see

What's my name, what's my station, oh, just tell me what I should do

I don't need to be kind to the armies of night that would do such injustice to you

Or bow down and be grateful and say "sure, take all that you see"

To the men who move only in dimly-lit halls and determine my future for me

And I don't, I don't know who to believe

I'll get back to you someday soon you will see

If I know only one thing, it's that everything that I see

Of the world outside is so inconceivable often I barely can speak

Yeah I'm tongue-tied and dizzy and I can't keep it to myself

What good is it to sing helplessness blues, why should I wait for anyone else?

And I know, I know you will keep me on the shelf

I'll come back to you someday soon myself

If I had an orchard, I'd work till I'm raw

If I had an orchard, I'd work till I'm sore

And you would wait tables and soon run the store

Gold hair in the sunlight, my light in the dawn

If I had an orchard, I'd work till I'm sore

If I had an orchard, I'd work till I'm sore

Someday I'll be like the man on the screen

- Robin Pecknold

Literary Lyrics: "Going to California" by Led Zeppelin

I have a thing for Led Zeppelin. "Going to California" is the first song of theirs that I really truly loved. It is also my sneaky way of telling you all that I am moving to California in August, hooray! I think the amazing lyrics speak for themselves, so have at them. 

Spent my days with a woman unkind, 

Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine.
Made up my mind to make a new start,

Going To California with an aching in my heart.
Someone told me there's a girl out there 

with love in her eyes and flowers in her hair.
Took my chances on a big jet plane, 

never let them tell you that they're all the same.
The sea was red and the sky was grey, 

wondered how tomorrow could ever follow today.
The mountains and the canyons started to tremble and shake
as the children of the sun began to awake.

Seems that the wrath of the Gods
Got a punch on the nose and it started to flow;
I think I might be sinking.
Throw me a line if I reach it in time
I'll meet you up there where the path
Runs straight and high.

To find a queen without a king,
They say she plays guitar and cries and sings... la la la
Ride a white mare in the footsteps of dawn
Tryin' to find a woman who's never, never, never been born.
Standing on a hill in my mountain of dreams,
Telling myself it's not as hard, hard, hard as it seems.

Literary Lyrics: "The New York Song" and "Somewhere" and "Nocturne" by Emily Brown

I'm not usually nearly as hipster as I pretend to be when it comes to music. I stick with what I liked in high school (pop-punk and angsty acoustic) mixed in with everything Ingrid Michaelson has ever recorded. But I have recently made one fantastic local find here in Provo, and her songs have been playing on repeat for the last several weeks. Rather than pick just one, I am giving you my three favorites. The video quality on the first two songs isn't fabulous, but you can visit Emily Brown's website to listen to recording quality songs. (Also, don't confuse her with "Miss Emily Brown," who is Canadian. This is "Emily Brown."

I love her lyrics because they are both heartfelt and clever, particularly the references to the Exodus in "The New York Song." I love her voice because it is strong and vintage-sounding. Do not hesitate to check out this artist. One of the biggest items on my to-do-before-I-move-from-Provo checklist is to see her perform live.

Somewhere

I watched you leave me, and you watched me stay
You must believe me in what I must say
That Christmas must end every year
And you always have to leave me standing here
And the sky cannot always be blue
But it helps, I suppose
Knowing when the wind blows
That somewhere the sun shines on you

Train stations are never forgiving
And when you leave, I have to go on living
But sometimes true love is open to fear
And you always have to leave me standing here
And the sky wasn't always this blue
But it helps me, believing,
When grey skies aren't leaving
That somewhere the sun shines on you

And now that I realize how blind were my own eyes
The sky was never this blue
And it helps to consider
When rain is this bitter
That somewhere the sun shines on you

The New York Song

If you have gone to New York City,
When are you coming home?
'Cause walking through the raining street
Oh I feel so alone

If you have gone across the ocean,
When does the boat return?
For I would walk or part the waves
Though they toss and pull and churn

Chorus
And oh, I never told you
And no, I never will
'Cause singing about it
I'm starting to doubt it
But my heart is beating still

If you have run away from something,
Will you be running back?
For I would wander forty years
To step in all your tracks

Chorus

And if I never say I love you
Then take this with you there
And if you miss me, think on this-
How I wish I was there.

credits

Nocturne

I’m sick of watching cars on the road

And scanning the horizon for the sea

I’m sick of hearing I’m not meant for you

And that you’re no good for me

And I’m tired of knowing you’re not going to call

And I’m a fool for thinking that you will

I’ve always been the first of us to fall

If I’m in love, you’re standing still

So winding road, please keep your promise

And lead me out to where you’re not

I can’t keep you; let’s be honest

Drive me sleepless, get me lost

And as I get further, lights begin to fade

But I still breathe you in the salty air

No matter if I go or if I stay

You’re at my side- you’re everywhere

And you’re right here with me at the water’s edge

So close that I start thinking I’ll walk in

And leave you standing at the sandy ledge

Your soul still sighing in your skin

So waves, be lovers. Love, come closer.

Take my hands, dear. Taste my skin.

If we can’t stay here to keep each other,

Don’t feel sorry. We were fated to wear thin.

So when you look, at night, across the bay

The sails all sighing with the evening breeze

The stars forever promising to stay

Don’t hold your breath. Don’t think of me. 

Cuando yo muero, quiero tus manos en mis ojos

Porque te espero. Quiero tus manos en mis ojos

Cuando yo muero, quiero tus manos en mis ojos

Porque te espero. Quiero tus manos en mis ojos

Cuando yo muero, Cuando yo muero

Cuando yo muero, Quiero tus manos en mis ojos. 

(Last lines derived from Pablo Neruda’s “Soneto de La Noche”)

Literary Lyrics: "Ghost" by Ingrid Michaelson

I should probably be doing a Christmas-themed Literary Lyrics post this month, but I was so awed by this beautiful new song that I couldn't wait to post about it. Ingrid Michaelson has been my favorite singer for years, and her new single gives me chills! I think it shows a certain power, when a song's lyrics can make me ache with sadness even though I am perfectly happy with my own life. And when I want to listen to it again and again, despite the sad feelings it brings up.

Do you remember when the walls fell
Do you remember the sound that the door made when you closed it on me
Do you know that I went down to the ground
Landed on both my broken hearted knees

I didn’t even cry
Because pieces of me had already died

I’m a ghost
Haunting these halls
Climbing up walls that I never knew were there
And I’m lost
Broken down the middle of my heart, heart
I’m broken down the middle of my heart, heart, heart

You know you make me a ghost
You make me a ghost

I’m an invisible disaster
I keep trying to walk but my feet don’t find the solid ground
It’s like living in a bad dream
I keep trying to scream but my tongue has finally lost its sound

I’ve got to say goodbye
To the pieces of me that have already died

I’m a ghost
Haunting these halls
Climbing these walls that I never knew were there
And I’m lost
Broken down the middle of my heart, heart
I’m broken down the middle of my heart, heart, heart

You know you make me a ghost
Oh, you make me a ghost
You make me a ghost
(You take the breath all away from me, you take it away)
You make me a ghost

I don’t cry
I don’t try anymore

I’m a ghost
I’m a ghost
And I’m lost
Broken down the middle of my heart, heart
I’m broken down the middle

I’m a ghost
Haunting these halls
Climbing up walls that I never knew were there
And I’m lost
Broken down the middle of my heart, heart
I’m broken down the middle of my heart, heart, heart

You know you make me a ghost
You know you make me a ghost

Literary Lyrics: Immortal Beloved by Beethoven

A few weeks ago, I read this post by Jillian in which she discussed the life of Beethoven and some of his work. I think everyone if familiar with Mr. Beethoven to some extent -- who doesn't know the tune of "Fur Elise?" I grew up playing his work. I remember spending hours over "Moonlight Sonata" in the sixth grade, and my dad offering my $100 to play it perfectly without any mistakes. I remember learning "Rondo a Capriccio (Rage Over a Lost Penny)" and how at that point it was the longest piece I had ever learned (12 pages. Oh how things change). And much later, I remember auditioning for BYU's School of Music with the Tempest Sonata (and crashing and burning). Piano performance didn't wind up being my future career, obviously. However, I still turn to the piano as often as I can for stress relief, expressing emotions, or to give The Husband his own private concert.

Anyway, I am getting off topic. I knew through Beethoven's music that he was a passionate person, and I'd heard that "Fur Elise" was written in honor of a woman he didn't have the opportunity to be with in his life. But when I read an excerpt from a letter he wrote called "The Immortal Beloved," I was moved to tears. It made me want to learn more of Beethoven's music because the emotion in the letter was so strong and tragic.

Technically, these aren't lyrics. But they are written by a heartbroken musician and they are heartrending and beautiful. There are three letters.

July 6, in the morning
      My angel, my all, my very self - Only a few words today and at that with pencil (with yours) - Not till tomorrow will my lodgings be definitely determined upon - what a useless waste of time - Why this deep sorrow when necessity speaks - can our love endure except through sacrifices, through not demanding everything from one another; can you change the fact that you are not wholly mine, I not wholly thine - Oh God, look out into the beauties of nature and comfort your heart with that which must be - Love demands everything and that very justly - thus it is to me with you, and to your with me. But you forget so easily that I must live for me and for you; if we were wholly united you would feel the pain of it as little as I - My journey was a fearful one; I did not reach here until 4 o'clock yesterday morning. Lacking horses the post-coach chose another route, but what an awful one; at the stage before the last I was warned not to travel at night; I was made fearful of a forest, but that only made me the more eager - and I was wrong. The coach must needs break down on the wretched road, a bottomless mud road. Without such postilions as I had with me I should have remained stuck in the road. Esterhazy, traveling the usual road here, had the same fate with eight horses that I had with four - Yet I got some pleasure out of it, as I always do when I successfully overcome difficulties - Now a quick change to things internal from things external. We shall surely see each other soon; moreover, today I cannot share with you the thoughts I have had during these last few days touching my own life - If our hearts were always close together, I would have none of these. My heart is full of so many things to say to you - ah - there are moments when I feel that speech amounts to nothing at all - Cheer up - remain my true, my only treasure, my all as I am yours. The gods must send us the rest, what for us must and shall be -
Your faithful LUDWIG

Evening, Monday, July 6
      You are suffering, my dearest creature - only now have I learned that letters must be posted very early in the morning on Mondays to Thursdays - the only days on which the mail-coach goes from here to K. - You are suffering - Ah, wherever I am, there you are also - I will arrange it with you and me that I can live with you. What a life!!! thus!!! without you - pursued by the goodness of mankind hither and thither - which I as little want to deserve as I deserve it - Humility of man towards man - it pains me - and when I consider myself in relation to the universe, what am I and what is He - whom we call the greatest - and yet - herein lies the divine in man - I weep when I reflect that you will probably not receive the first report from me until Saturday - Much as you love me - I love you more - But do not ever conceal yourself from me - good night - As I am taking the baths I must go to bed - Oh God - so near! so far! Is not our love truly a heavenly structure, and also as firm as the vault of heaven?

Good morning, on July 7
      Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us - I can live only wholly with you or not at all - Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the land of spirits - Yes, unhappily it must be so - You will be the more contained since you know my fidelity to you. No one else can ever possess my heart - never - never - Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves. And yet my life in V is now a wretched life - Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men - At my age I nedd a steady, quiet life - can that be so in our connection? My angel, I have just been told that the mailcoach goes every day - therefore I must close at once so that you may receive the letter at once - Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together - Be calm - love me - today - yesterday - what tearful longings for you - you - you - my life - my all - farewell. Oh continue to love me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.
ever thine
ever mine
ever ours

I got the text of these letters here. 

And so you can still have some music with your "lyrics" this morning, here is "Moonlight Sonata," which will always be my favorite piece by Beethoven, and the "Sonata Pathetique," which I am sporadically trying to learn. 

Literary Lyrics: Poison and Wine by The Civil Wars

Apparently, this song came out on Grey's Anatomy and was popular for a long time. However, I have never watched Grey's Anatomy and I've only just discovered it on the lovely blog of an acquaintance that I don't technically know well enough to follow, but do anyway.

I am not sure I can explain the gut reaction that I have to this song. It is relatively simple - three chords and a string of contradictions. It captures a feeling that I don't think I am capable of describing in words, and that is why it moves me so much - I've been grasping at threads trying to explain that feeling for years, and while I can't get the hang of it, someone else has, and their words have fortuitously fallen into my lap.

The song has been doubly opportune in that it fell into my lap as I was reading The Night Circus, a book that I don't want to turn anyone away from by over-hyping (although why should that turn people away? Just because the general, common public likes something doesn't mean it has to be despised by the intellectuals) but that has rapidly climbed to a very high rung on my favorite books ladder. The song makes a perfect soundtrack for the book - a hauntingly beautiful melody with deceptively simple words, telling the story of a passionate but impossible love.

You only know what I want you to
I know everything you don't want me to
Your mouth is poison, your mouth is wine
You think your dreams are the same as mine


I don't love you, but I always will.
I always will. 


I wish you'd hold me when I turn my back
The less I give, the more I get back
Your hands can heal, your hands can bruise
I don't have a choice but I still choose you


I don't love you but I always will
I always will. 

Literary Lyrics: "Breakable" by Ingrid Michaelson

Ingrid Michaelson is my favorite.

Literally. Not just, oh I really like her, so I'll say she's my favorite. She is THE favorite.

And with the heavy volume of time I have been spending in the hospital lately, I've found this song especially appropriate. It is the first Ingrid Michaelson song I ever heard, the only one I've performed for an audience, and definitely still my favorite. The words are simple but certainly have some meaning packed into them. Enjoy.

This picture is from myemospace.com. Appropriate, n'est-ce pas?

Have you ever thought about what protects our hearts?
Just a cage of rib bones and other various parts
So it's fairly simple to cut right through the mess,
And to stop the muscle that makes us confess

And we are so fragile,
And our cracking bones make noise,
And we are just,
Breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys

And you fasten my seat belt because it is the law
In your two ton death trap I finally saw
A piece of love in your face that bathed me in regret
Then you drove me to places I'll never forget

And we are so fragile,
And our cracking bones make noise,
And we are just,
Breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys

And we are so fragile,
And our cracking bones make noise,
And we are just,
Breakable, breakable, breakable girls-
Breakable, breakable, breakable girls-
Breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys

Literary Lyrics: The Dangling Conversation

I think "The Dangling Conversation," written by Paul Simon and performed by Simon and Garfunkel, is one of the most poetic songs I've ever head. I almost cried the first time I heard it, and every time it comes on my iPod now I have to stop whatever I'm doing and just listen.

It's a still life water color,
Of a now late afternoon,
As the sun shines through the curtained lace
And shadows wash the room.
And we sit and drink our coffee
Couched in our indifference,
Like shells upon the shore
You can hear the ocean roar
In the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs,
The borders of our lives.
[

And you read your Emily Dickinson,
And I my Robert Frost,
And we note our place with bookmarkers
That measure what we've lost.
Like a poem poorly written
We are verses out of rhythm,
Couplets out of rhyme,
In syncopated time
Lost in the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs,
Are the borders of our lives.

Yes, we speak of things that matter,
With words that must be said,
"Can analysis be worthwhile?"
"Is the theater really dead?"
And how the room is softly faded
And I only kiss your shadow,
I cannot feel your hand,
You're a stranger now unto me
Lost in the dangling conversation.
And the superficial sighs,
In the borders of our lives.

- Paul Simon

Literary Lyrics: If I Die Young

Image source

Guys, this song has been on repeat on my Grooveshark playlist for two days (I'm too cheap to buy it on iTunes). The lyrics I have talked about so far either featured or were featured in literary works, but in this case, I am featuring the song just because the lyrics are gorgeous and well-written. I think this song has also been on my mind because in my nursing clinicals, we had a really good discussion about how nursing causes you to reevaluate your perceptions of death. I'm hoping to work in pediatric oncology, and I'm really hoping especially to work with adolescents, so tragedy is going to be part of my daily rounds. I've been in a more contemplative mood and this song has really seemed to fit with my thoughts. But enough about my ramblings. I'm going to italicize the lines that I think are particularly well done. Actually, that's a lie. I wanted to italicize the whole song.

If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a, bed of roses
Sink me in the river, at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song

Uh oh, uh oh

Lord make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother
She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors, oh and
Life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no
Ain't even grey, but she buries her baby

The sharp knife of a short life, well
I've had just enough time

If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song

The sharp knife of a short life, well
I've had, just enough time

And I'll be wearing white, when I come into your kingdom
I'm as green as the ring on my little cold finger, I've
Never known the lovin' of a man
But it sure felt nice when he was holding my hand, there's a
Boy here in town who says he'll love me forever,
Who would have thought forever could be severed by
The sharp knife of a short life, well,
I've had, just enough time

So put on your best boys and I'll wear my pearls
What I never did is done

A penny for my thoughts, oh no, I'll sell them for a dollar
They're worth so much more after I'm a goner
And maybe then you'll hear the words I been singin'
Funny when you're dead how people start listenin'

If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a, bed of roses
Sink me in the river, at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song

Uh oh (uh, oh)
The ballad of a dove (uh, oh)
Go with peace and love
Gather up your tears, keep 'em in your pocket
Save them for a time when you're really gonna need them, oh

The sharp knife of a short life, well
I've had, just enough time

So put on your best boys and I'll wear my pearls

- Kimberly Perry

PS: Music video = tres cheesy. So just listen to it. Haha.